“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” – Rudyard Kipling
As we enter the last week of this year’s legislative session, the final days of budget negotiations, floor debates, endless details, and long days will eventually become the stories that define this moment. Amid the frantic pace to make cutoff deadlines in Olympia, along with nonstop national and international headlines, it’s clear we’re living through moments that will one day be told as history.
While some policy bills will make it through and some won’t, all eyes are on budget negotiations. Advocates are very concerned about cuts to K-12 education, particularly to Transition to Kindergarten programs, Local Effort Assistance, and Running Start. While districts will receive a 2.6% COLA for classified, certificated, and administrative state-funded employees (totaling $287 million), and an increase to the monthly amount for health care, the gaps in basic education funding for MSOC, special education, and transportation persist, which means that districts may have to consider cuts for next year. Many are already making these difficult decisions.
Superintendent Chris Reykdal sent another letter to budget writers and legislative leadership that said, “As you negotiate the details of the final budget, I am compelled to restate the deep disappointment felt by educators, school district leaders, students, and families about this year’s budget priorities. I recognize the lack of policy support for education started with the Governor’s budget, and we understood cuts would be necessary, but it appears K–12 took the brunt of cuts at the policy level.”Â
Here are more details about the proposed cuts to specific programs in a letter we signed with all of the statewide associations, including the WEA and the Washington State PTA. Overall, the House budget is generally preferable to the Senate budget, though each proposal contains specific provisions that are stronger than the other. As negotiations move toward a final compromise, advocates are working hard to ensure the best policy language and the strongest possible funding levels are included in the final budget.
“On behalf of the education organizations representing school directors, administrators, business officials, principals, educators, and families across Washington’s public schools, we write to express our deep disappointment and frustration with the proposed operating budgets. In light of the improved revenue forecast, it is especially troubling that K-12 programs serving our most vulnerable students face reductions while other areas receive increases.
Cuts to Transition to Kindergarten (TTK) and Local Effort Assistance (LEA) will widen inequities and disproportionately harm students in property poor and rural communities. We urge you to restore funding for TTK and LEA to current levels. If reductions are unavoidable, they should not exceed the House proposed levels.
To preserve TTK where it is working and often the only early learning option available, we ask that you freeze funding at 2024 – 25 levels. If reductions must occur, minimize slot reductions, prioritize existing programs, allow greater eligibility flexibility that reflects community need, and authorize OSPI to redistribute unused slots.
LEA must also be maintained, at a minimum at the House enhancement level, to uphold the Legislature’s 2025 commitment to equalize levy capacity across communities. Reducing LEA now would retreat from that promise and deepen disparities between districts with differing local levy capacity.
On pupil transportation, many districts have already committed to bus purchases based on the current depreciation schedule and associated state funding. If a new depreciation schedule is needed, it should grandfather buses already ordered or under contract and acknowledge that smaller buses are currently replaced on an eight-year schedule, not 13.
In addition, the House proposed elimination from the depreciation schedule the amount of federal grants or rebates for EV buses breaks trust with districts that have made significant commitments to replace diesel bus fleets with zero-emission buses. Please do not accept this policy change or apply it to future purchases so that districts can plan accordingly.
Finally, please continue to fully fund any new district mandates, preserve MSOC funding at inflation-adjusted levels, and support statewide requirements such as the High School and Beyond Plan with state dollars.
The decisions before you will either uphold or erode Washington’s constitutional promise to its students now. We urge you to choose equity, stability, and opportunity.”
Senator June Robinson, Chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said, “Today’s vote (on the Senate budget – SB 5998 ) reflects incredibly difficult decisions in a constrained fiscal environment. There are reductions in this budget, and none were made lightly. Our priority has been to protect the services people rely on every day, preserve the progress Washington has made in expanding access to health care and behavioral health supports, and maintain the long-term fiscal stability that allows us to continue investing in our communities.”
Senator Chris Gildon, Ranking Member of the Senate Ways and Means Committee said, “This budget is unsustainable and structurally unsound. It’s an $80‑billion house of cards on a shaky foundation of assumptions and short-term fixes. The majority just voted for a plan that, on the four‑year outlook, spends about $5 billion more than the state expects to collect and assumes the most unpopular idea in state history — an income tax that voters have rejected time and again — will not only pass but survive the legal and political challenges that are sure to come.”
As the Seattle Times reported this week, the clock is ticking on getting the “Millionaire’s Tax” ( SB 6346) passed. Governor Ferguson has consistently stated what needs to be included in this proposal for him to sign the bill into law. In a press release today , the Governor said, “Any bill I sign must send a significant percentage of that revenue back to Washington families and small business owners to make life more affordable. We must significantly expand eligibility for the Working Families Tax Credit, and reduce taxes on small business owners.” He continued to say that the latest floor amendment to this bill achieves this goal and that he would sign the bill if the amendment were adopted. This income tax, if adopted, still has a long way to go through court challenges and a vote of the people. Democrats are assuming that tax collections will positively impact the 2029 legislative session, but no new revenue source will help our state budget situation for this year.
For an interesting look at the differences between the House and Senate budgets at this point, check out this article by the Washington Research Council. Their chart shows cuts to sectors like K-12, early learning, and higher education, and the huge increase provided to the state’s liability account to pay for legal settlements and tort claim payouts which have risen dramatically in recent years.
Policy Bills
All of the action this week has taken place in fiscal committees, on the floors of the House and Senate, and behind closed doors as legislators work to reach agreement on a final budget. Monday, March 2 was the cutoff for bills to pass out of fiscal committees, and today, March 6, is the deadline for bills to pass off the floor of the opposite chamber. After today, attention shifts almost entirely to floor action on the remaining bills needed to implement the budget. Legislators are expected to work through the weekend as they aim to wrap up the session by Thursday, March 12, with the budget bill traditionally being the final measure passed before adjournment sine die.
The bill related to restraint and isolation (HB 1795) passed off the Senate floor yesterday, and while it was amended slightly, it is expected that the House will agree to this change. The bill does these things:
- Prohibits mechanical restraint, chemical restraint, and physical restraint or physical escort of a student that is life-threatening.
- Specifies that isolation may not be used as a planned behavioral intervention in individualized education programs or 504 plans and allows restraint only under specified circumstances.Â
- Prohibits the construction, repurposing, or otherwise establishing any new room or other enclosed area for the primary purpose of student isolation.
- Applies student restraint and isolation requirements to all providers of public educational services, except for licensed or certified health professionals of an inpatient health care facility.
The current definition of isolation and the current reporting requirements will stay the same.
As of this writing, several education policy bills still remain on the floor calendars in the House and the Senate. They may not make it past today’s cutoff. This includes SB 5841 (FAFSA), HB 1634(behavioral health framework), SB 5240 (anaphylaxis medications), and HB 1295 (reading and writing literacy for K-4).
Here is my complete bill tracking list. It is a little bit smaller than last week’s and will be a little bit smaller next week.
List of Bills
Budget
SB 5998 Supplemental operating budget (Ormsby, Robinson)
Health/Safety
HB 1634 Providing schools with assistance to coordinate comprehensive behavioral health supports for students (Thai)
HB 1795 Addressing restraint or isolation of students in public schools (Callan)
HB 2360 Expanding access to albuterol in public and private schools (Donaghy)
HB 2429 Supporting children and youth behavioral health (Callan)
SB 5240 Anaphylaxis medications in schools (Wellman)
SB 5272 Extending penalties for violence at schools and extracurricular activities (Lovick)
Students
HB 1295 Reading and writing literacy in elementary school (Pollett)
HB 2594 Unhoused children and youth (Reeves)
SB 5346 Restricting mobile device usage by public school students. (Liias)
SB 5956 AI, student discipline, and surveillance in public schools (Nobles)
SB 6222 Student access to surplus technology (Hunt)
High School
SB 5828 Washington College Grant and College Bound Scholarship for private four year, not-for-profit universities (Nobles)
SB 5841 Concerning the completion of postsecondary financial aid applications (Boehnke)
SB 5969 Fulfilling HSBP requirements with IEP transition plans (Cortes)
Miscellaneous
HB 2557 Providing parental access to special education evaluation reports (Berg)
HB 2636 Public education reviews (Rude)
SB 6278 Concerning the ongoing review of approved teacher and principal preparation programs by PESB (Wellman)
Help Us Advocate for You: AWSP Member Survey
Your voice matters—and so does your experience. This 10-minute survey helps us understand what it’s really like to lead a school in Washington right now: workload, staffing, safety, compensation, support systems, and what would most improve the role. We use these results to advocate for principals and assistant principals with state leaders and education agencies. Your responses also help us track trends over time and strengthen our case with credible, long-term data. Take the survey by April 30. Five respondents will win a $50 Amazon gift card!
AWSP and WSPEF Legislative Priorities
The AWSP and WSPEF Legislative Priorities document was developed over the past several months through conversations with members, partners, and stakeholders, as well as participation in multiple workgroups. This year, for the first time, we intentionally named the “bookends” of leadership by placing both AWSP and the Washington School Principals’ Education Foundation (WSPEF) at the top of the document—anchored by students at the center of everything we do.
Your Voice
There is one final “Action Alert” for this year’s legislative session related to protecting funding for K-12 education in the final operating budget.Please take a quick moment to advocate for this! Click here to find the Action Alerts and scroll down to the “Take Action” button. You’ll enter your mailing address and then see your Senator, two Representatives, and the Governor, and a pre-written message that will be sent to them. You can edit the message if you’d like.
Keep telling your stories about what students and educators need to create successful learning environments. Check out the “Important Links” below to find out how to contact your own legislators. They care very much about hearing directly from their constituents. When we weigh in as an association, it is helpful and important, but having many of you reach out directly with a short email to legislators can be much more powerful. Find your legislator and email them here if you have any thoughts to share.
Get Involved
Many thanks for all that you do for students and staff. If you have questions or comments or want to get involved, please reach out to me.
Thank you so much!
Roz Thompson, Government Relations and Advocacy Director, AWSP
Retirement, Health Benefits, & Beyond for March 5, 2026
By Fred Yancey, The Nexus Group
It has been said that laws are like sausage. It is better not to see them being made. Yet, here we are, rushing to meet the March 6th deadline for legislators to consider opposite house bills. The remainder of the time until Sine Die on March 12th will be spent on working out the differences between what the House and Senate adopted as both houses amend many of the bills. Meanwhile, working on the budgets continues. Read more from Fred.
