Court Opinion

ID: 9547722
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:51:04.125103+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:17:59.675378
License: Public Domain

Utter, J.
(dissenting) — The majority refuses to enjoin the Governor from enforcing Executive Order 81-17 instituting across-the-board expenditure reductions on the grounds that there has been no showing of an immediate invasion of a clear legal right. I disagree. While there may be no clear legal right by schools to a particular dollar amount of funding, the constitution is nonetheless clear that it is the "paramount duty of the state to make ample *537provision for the education of all children residing within its borders ..." Const, art. 9, § 1.
The words "paramount duty" and "ample provision" in our constitution not only declare policy, explain goals and designate objectives to be accomplished, they declare a constitutionally imposed duty. Seattle Sch. Dist. 1 v. State, 90 Wn.2d 476, 479, 585 P.2d 71 (1978). To allow across-the-board reductions completely negates the mandatory language of our constitution. This is not to say that no reductions can be made in the face of a state-wide fiscal crisis. The constitution does not so declare. Its apparent meaning, however, is that the expenditures for education of children residing within the state must be treated in a different manner from other state expenditures. While cuts may be made, they can be made only in a degree that reflects the paramount obligation of the State, within the limits of its resources, "to make ample provision" for education of its children.