i L i n d . n e t

The state of Washington is violating its constitution by failing to provide adequate financial support for its public schools, a Superior Court judge ruled yesterday.

In a 73-page written opinion, Judge John P. Erlick said the Washington constitution makes public education the “paramount” responsibility of government, and the failure to provide “provide stable and dependable funding for such costs of basic education” is a constitutional violation.

You can listen to Judge Erlick summarizing his decision via public radio station KPLU.

He ordered the state to “determine the cost of amply providing for basic education and a basic program of education for all children”, and then to provide an amount as close “as reasonably practicable” to the actual educational costs.

Erlick’s decision acknowledged the financial crisis facing the state, which has a looming budget deficit of as much as $6 billion for 2010, and left it up to the legislature to devise a funding plan.

This court must acknowledge the deep financial crisis that the State currently faces. It is the Constitutional duty and responsibility of the courts to determine ultimately the scope and reasoning of Const. Art. IX, § 1, and whether the Legislature is complying therewith…. And it is the Constitutional duty and responsibility of the Legislature to act and fulfill its own Constitutional mandate. In the words of President John F. Kennedy, “There are risks and costs to any program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.” All children in Washington “have a ‘right’ to be amply provided with an education. That ‘right’ is constitutionally paramount and must be achieved through a ‘general and uniform system of public schools.’ ”. It is the framers of our Constitution who established the pre-eminence of education in this state. It is the responsibility of the Legislature to effectuate that primary priority of funding basic education, and to determine how that can be accomplished. But it must be accomplished.[legal citations removed]

Could a similar lawsuit succeed here in Hawaii? It appears unlikely.

Washington’s state constitution contains a brief but explicit education provision.

It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex.

This provision is apparently unique.

Washington law recognizes that no other State Constitution imposes a higher
education duty upon the State than Article IX, §1 of the Washington State Constitution does. The Washington Supreme Court has held that the education duty mandated by Article IX, §1 “is unique among State constitutions”, and that “No other State has placed the common school on so high a pedestal.”

Here is the comparable provision from Hawaii’s state contstitution, found in Article X.

Section 1. The State shall provide for the establishment, support and control of a statewide system of public schools free from sectarian control, a state university, public libraries and such other educational institutions as may be deemed desirable, including physical facilities therefor. There shall be no discrimination in public educational institutions because of race, religion, sex or ancestry; nor shall public funds be appropriated for the support or benefit of any sectarian or nonsectarian private educational institution, except that proceeds of special purpose revenue bonds authorized or issued under section 12 of Article VII may be appropriated to finance or assist:
1. Not-for-profit corporations that provide early childhood education and care facilities serving the general public; and
2. Not-for-profit private nonsectarian and sectarian elementary schools, secondary schools, colleges and universities.

In Washington, schools are not to be treated as one priority among many others. Instead, the constitution sets education apart as the state’s “paramount duty”, and requires “ample” resources to be devoted. Whether the word “support” in Hawaii’s constitution (”The State shall provide for the…support…of a statewide system of public schools…”)provides a similar enforceable duty on the part of the state is a question for lawyers, but it seems unlikely to me.

I got up late this morning and saw the announcement of Frank Fasi’s death in the Advertiser’s Breaking News section.

A friend of ours once observed that you can judge a person by the stature of their enemies. If that’s true, then Frank Fasi was a great politician. He shook the party establishments from the populist outside. We can thank Fasi for the “resign to run” law, which was meant to take his city hall base away if he wanted to run for governor. We have Fasi to thank for the green space that surrounds the city complex of buildings downtown. I vividly remember the news photos of Fasi taking part in the midnight raid to execute his plan to dig up the parking lot behind city hall and replace it with grass. He took direct action while the city council debated, green before its time. We can thank Fasi for putting the “shaka” into campaigns. And if Honolulu’s all evevated rail system is eventually built, part of the credit will have to go to Fasi, since the current plans are little changed from those developed during his administration. The train will be considered either Fasi’s triumph or Fasi’s revenge, depending on how the public reacts to it.

Frank Fasi was part of my life. During the fall of 1960, I had my first taste of political excitment with JFK’s run for president. That excitement trickled down the political chain, and I asked my parents to put up a sign for then-Democrat Fasi in front of our house in heavily Republican Kahala. I can’t even remember if that was a run for mayor or what may have still been the Board of Supervisors. He lost, but he kept trying until he became mayor.

Then there was the lesson I got while working for Neil Abercrombie when Neil was on the City Council. I recall sitting in on a meeting between Neil, Fasi, and corporation counsel Richard Wurdeman. I think the meeting was to discuss Neil’s attempt to find a way to fund a senior housing project in Manoa. There was resistance from some other council members and community groups, and at some point Neil asked Fasi if they could produce a legal opinion. Fasi turned to Wurdeman, who said something along these lines. “Sure. What do you want it to say?”

Aha. A lesson in how things really work. Legal opinions on request. It’s something I think about every time someone holds up a handful of papers and announces, “but we’ve got a legal opinion.”

I was sued by the mayor in 1991 over comments about the appearance of corruption that were broadcast by a local news station. He withdrew the lawsuit later under pressure from the Republican Party.

Fasi was old school in some ways. He wasn’t shy to describe his approach. Reward your friends and punish your enemies. Other pols tend to believe that but not say it out loud. Fasi wasn’t shy.

But while rewarding his friend, Frank was a master of the small stuff. Voters might not understand city contracting and how it could be used to reward political friends, but Fasi knew voters remember the small stuff. Fill the pothole on their street, or send a crew to clean their neighborhood park, just respond directly to their minor, everyday complaints, and the votes would follow.

Fasi also knew something about image and action. Flooding? Hurricane? Fasi would be there on a truck, or in a civil defense jeep, hard hat and slicker, rain pouring, inspecting the scene. Not behind a desk back downtown waiting for reports to come in, not in a helicopter flying over days later. You’ve got to admire the guy for that impulse.

And there was Fasi the accessible. Remember those early mornings at Heidi’s, the little bakery and coffee place in Bishop Square where Fasi and his cronies used to gather every morning?

Several years ago, a reader submitted this classic Fasi story dating from 1989:

I will never forget a moment from Fasi: I’d lived in Hawaii only a month or so, and I was walking up Alapai Street where it meets Kinau. As I approached the top of the street, I could see a guy sweeping the street. Someone had smashed beer bottles on the street and a man in a white jumpsuit was sweeping it up, broom and dustpan in hand. No press. No truck. No anything.

Just me and Fasi. I said, Mayor Fasi, cleaning up a little? And he said, Yeah, there’s glass all over the street. Someone needs to clean it up. Why not me?

Apparently, he had gone down to the Board of Water Supply, grabbed a broom and dust pan and came back up to sweep.

He had my vote, right there.

Vintage.