YAKIMA, Wash. -- State Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, will be in Yakima on Thursday night to speak with educators about his new proposal to change the way public education is funded in Washington.

Hunter devised a "revenue-neutral levy swap" as a way to make K-12 funding more consistent and less dependent on unstable local levies, which must be approved every two to four years by district voters.

His proposal, which he has not yet introduced as a bill in the Legislature, would increase the statewide property tax rate by $1.17, bringing it up to $3.20 per thousand dollars of assessed property value.

The projected $1 billion from that increase would be evenly distributed to districts based on need, and would allow districts to decrease or eliminate their local levies by the amount of new money they'd receive.

Washington's Constitution says funding basic education is the state's "paramount duty," but several consecutive years of a lagging economy have seen repeated cuts to education funding. And local levies, originally passed to pay for extras and enhancements, are now depended on for more basic funding.

In the Yakima Valley, levy equalization is also crucial money for local property-poor districts. Statewide, levy equalization makes up about $450 million of the available $700 million in education funding that doesn't fall under constitutionally protected basic education, so it's vulnerable for cuts.

But, Hunter says, "If all you do is cut equalization, it's not fair: It doesn't affect everybody across the state," as only the property-poor districts receiving levy equalization would be hurt.

His plan would decrease, though not eliminate, the need for levy equalization.

"The proposal takes half of the levies out of the system," Hunter explained. "It moves it into state collection, but it makes it locked-down, stable, basic education funding."

The funding reform would also allow local levies to be more permanent, leaving them in place until districts want to increase them, instead of requiring district voters to approve them every two to four years whether the tax rate increases or not.

Hunter is visiting Yakima because of the high number of property-poor districts in the area. He'll make one other stop in Eastern Washington, in Spokane on Friday.

Local educators say they still need to learn more about the complicated proposal, but so far, they see some good points and some sources of concern.

Selah School District superintendent Steve Chestnut says he thinks the state's system definitely needs to be more equitable, but Hunter's plan may need fine-tuning.

"We're all so dependent on levy equalization, and I don't think that has been fully factored in," he said.

West Valley superintendent Mike Brophy agreed.

"I applaud (Hunter) for making an effort in this direction; maybe it's a start ... but the concern is that there are still districts, needy districts, that receive and depend on levy equalization, and this would not rectify those problems," he said.

Hunter says he did not intend for the proposal to do away with the need for local levies entirely. But by raising the statewide property tax rate, wealthier districts would still subsidize property-poor districts like those in the Yakima Valley.

Yakima School District, by far the biggest in the Valley, receives about $14.7 million a year in equalization, more than 8 percent of its total budget. West Valley gets a little over $2 million a year, about 5 percent of its annual budget.

In East Valley, superintendent John Schieche said the proposal does sound like a more stable funding plan, but he's worried about losing local control, as more of the money would be collected at a state level under Hunter's plan.

"It does appear to me as though it would take local control away from school districts, where voters have voted for a levy that supports specific kinds of programs for students," he said.

Chestnut liked the idea of not having to resubmit levies every two years, as each new proposal to the voters is an added expense to the district, and the "vast majority" of those levies get approved anyway.

Since the proposal would mean a change in taxes, it would require a two-thirds supermajority vote in the Legislature. Republicans have already voiced concern with its impact on taxpayers.

Hunter will get a chance to further explain his proposal and talk with educators about their concerns at a meeting Thursday evening at Yakima Valley Technical Skills Center at 1120 S. 18th St. in Yakima. The session had limited space, and people interested in attending were asked to RSVP by Monday.

* Molly Rosbach can be reached at 509-577-7628 or mrosbach@yakimaherald.com