The Washington State Legislature is under court order to fully fund basic education by 2018. State lawmakers, like Rep. Chad Magendanz speaking to the Issaquah City Council on Monday, believe that they’ll be able to agree on a plan this year.

But on Thursday, Issaquah School District Superintendent Ron Thiele and the School Board asked State Sen. Andy Hill to give Washington state school districts a cushion in case things don’t work out as planned.

In the 2012 McCleary decision, the State Supreme Court determined that the Legislature was shirking its constitutional responsibility to pay for a basic public education out of state coffers. Instead, the state had been leaving school districts to cover the gap with local levy dollars — a practice that is officially unconstitutional.

Since 1978, the Levy Lid Act has limited the amount of local levy tax dollars that can be collected to a percentage of state and federal dollars collected the year before. That percentage began at 10 percent for most districts, but has ballooned to a current rate of 28 percent.

When lawmakers’ McCleary deadline approaches, that cap is scheduled to shrink down to 24 percent, an eventuality that has Issaquah schools officials nervous.

“While we are certain you and the Legislature will continue to work very hard during the 2017 legislative session to solve the fundinc concerns set forth by the Supreme Court, your work will not be done in time to prevent a $7 million … single year shortfall in budget planning,” the officials’ letter read.

Officials requested the Legislature extend the deadline for the levy lid by one year, through 2018. If that’s not possible, the district would have to warn its staff of potential layoffs while the funding situation remained unclear, the letter read.