In August 2015, the Washington State Supreme Court fined the state $100,000 per day until the legislature funds education in a more equal manner. The problem is that wealthy districts have adequate funds for education, but less wealthy districts do not. Therefore, the state is not providing equal education in the public schools, which violates the State Constitution.

According to this story, the only progress toward reforming education funding in this year’s legislative session is a bill that authorizes a study of the problem. The story also says that the regular 2016 legislative session is only twenty days away from adjournment, and so far only one bill on any subject has passed the legislature this year.

Washington state has had a top-two system starting in 2008. Proponents of top-two systems constantly say that top-two systems produce legislators who work together better and are less partisan. The reason education is such a problem in Washington state is that the Democrats have a majority in the House, and Republicans in the State Senate. The two parties don’t agree, so it is very difficult to get a bill through the legislature. The mainstream press in California, the other top-two state, never mentions the evidence from Washington state that top-two systems by themselves do not create smooth government.

Political science research has generally found that the amount of partisanship and polarization in state legislatures is not related to what kind of primary that state uses.