Seeing is believing.

In October, state lawmakers and members of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee will cross the state to hold seven community forums to hear from residents about how the state should meet its constitutional mandate to fully fund education.

The meeting planned for Kitsap County residents will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8 in Bremerton High School’s Performing Arts Center.

Education has been scandalously underfunded for years in Washington state.

In 2012, the Washington State Supreme Court unanimously sided with parents in its McCleary vs. State of Washington decision and ruled that the state was not fulfilling its constitutional duty to fully fund education. And last year, the Supreme Court said the Legislature had not made enough progress in closing the spending gap and held state officials in contempt of court.

Though the Legislature increased spending for basic education in its 2015-17 biennium budget, the court has said the education budget approved by elected officials does not go far enough, and lawmakers must still address key issues such as the state’s over-reliance on local property tax levies to fund education, as well as the lack of funding for school salaries.

Last month, the Supreme Court underscored its frustration with elected officials for their failure to come up with a funding plan by imposing $100,000-a-day sanctions on the state.

That the state has failed its schools and its citizens is beyond argument; studies have shown for years that the state’s salary funding levels are below actual market rate salaries, and the state has yet to come up with a plan for funding the personnel costs of local school districts. Local levies make up the difference needed to recruit and keep quality educators.

We believe in the ability of our teachers, school administrators and district leaders to provide a quality education that will prepare our children for a lifetime of learning; what’s needed is the state’s financial commitment to make it possible.

We also believe that a full house at the Oct. 8th meeting, with a room packed wall-to-wall with parents, teachers, students and the community, will go far in helping lawmakers learn — and believe — that it’s time they get serious in addressing the chronic education shortfall that exists in our state and observe their paramount duty to provide for the education of Washington children.