Change brings up different emotions. Spring is one of those seasons where change is happening in our schools with students preparing to graduate or move on to the next grade level, and staff looking to retire or move on to different buildings or roles. This is exciting, stressful, and bittersweet all at the same time.
Change is also coming as the Legislature makes decisions about the 2025-27 budgets and passes bills that will become new laws. In just about a week and a half, we will know more and we can move forward with changes that may need to happen as a result of these decisions. For now, some of it is unknown, which is very unsettling. Despite this, we move forward to plan for next year. Even legislators are thinking ahead to their interim work, and this long-term planning can bring excitement for changes that could be positive for our K-12 education system.
Representative Sharon Tomiko Santos is using the 2016 No Time to Lose report to form a workgroup to begin the process of creating a stronger student-centered education system in Washington. Senator Lisa Wellman is always attuned to the importance of technology, and she recently sent this article from Cascade PBS that recapped our state’s AI Summit. Washington is leading the way in using AI in instruction, and we should be so proud of this. I’m curious to know what might be coming our way for the 2026 session related to AI. As we wait for more specific budget news, we can be inspired by possible changes that could be beneficial for our students. But back to the budget.
A revised revenue package that would raise about $12 billion over the next four years was introduced by House and Senate Democrats this week. Here is a list of the bills:
- SB 5815/HB 2081 would increase business and occupation taxes
- SB 5814/HB 2083 would expand the sales tax to more services and require a tax prepayment.
- SB 5812/HB 2049 would increase the property tax growth limit.
- SB 5813/HB 2082 would increase the capital gains and estate tax rates.
- SB 5794/HB 2084 would repeal various tax preferences.
- SB 5811/HB 2077 would tax zero-emission vehicle program surpluses.
These bills will move through fiscal committees and the two chambers over the next few days (remember that any bills that are considered “NTIB” or necessary to implement the budget can be heard and acted upon until the very end). It’s all about fiscal committees and final floor action for the next nine days of session. Budget writers have agreed on these new sources of revenue, but the question has been how Governor Ferguson would respond. He released a statement yesterday that said, “While our budget situation is currently challenging, it may soon become dire with additional cuts and chaos from the Trump Administration. We must defend Washington in the face of that.” He thanked legislators for their continued hard work and urged, “a balanced approach, using a reasonable amount of progressive revenue and adopting solutions to reduce our spending.” Conversations will continue behind the scenes to make decisions on priorities and appropriate funding levels, and we will anxiously wait for more information.
Legislators passed SB 5263 (Special Education) and SB 5192 (MSOC) this week, but districts remain concerned that the levels of funding provided by these bills still do not come close to meeting the documented shortfalls in these two areas. In short, local districts will have to continue paying for basic education costs that should be covered by the state. Further, if HB 2049/SB 5812 pass, these bills would allow districts to collect more local levy dollars, but this would leave out those districts that rely on levy equalization funds. This will further exacerbate inequities across our state.
Details about SB 5263
- Removes the 16% cap on special education funding.
- Increases funding to a single multiplier of 1.16 for eligible students aged 0-21.
- Enhances funding for the Early Support for Infants and Toddlers program.
- Begins with the 2025-26 school year.
- Allocates about $245 million for special education for 2025-27, significantly less than the Senate’s proposed $914 million.
Details about SB 5192
- A striking amendment reduced the bill from the Senate version to $1,614.28 per student, lowering the increase from $77.49/student to $35.27/student and changing the additional grades 9-12 funds to $214.84/student, lowering the increase from $14.94 per student to $4.69 per student.
- Begins with the 2025-26 school year.
More Bills
Here is a look at some of the bills that made it past Wednesday’s cutoff date. My complete bill tracking list is linked here (it’s now only four pages long…down from a total of 25
