By Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org
While the Senate adjourned for the weekend February 9, the House worked into the wee hours last Friday and through late afternoon Saturday in an effort to advance bills before the February 13 deadline by which bills must pass out of the chamber in which they started.
See the full 2024 Bill Tracker here.
Since we’re more than 30 days into the session, our understanding of which issues and budget items are the most in play is starting to emerge. As a reminder, February 14 is the revenue forecast, and the release of supplemental budgets for operating, capital and transportation budgets is expected to follow soon afterwards. In fact, the Senate has already posted a public hearing on their 2024 capital budget proposal for Thursday, February 15th.
Throughout the session, school district leaders, parents, school staff, the Governor’s office and OSPI have made it clear that school districts are facing serious fiscal challenges and, despite this being a supplemental budget year, legislators must use any and all levers to increase funding for public schools to avoid layoffs, school closures and worse. Here’s a look at the various funding bills this session.
Paraeducator staffing ratios
Even prior to the session, proposals from Governor Inslee and OSPI emerged in support of increasing the minimum hourly wages of paraeducators. Senator Derek Stanford, D-Bothell, and Representative Monica Jurado Stonier, D-Vancouver, took a different approach, introducing proposals to increase ratios in the prototypical school funding model. Their bills – 2SSB 5882 and SHB 1960 respectively, have advanced, with the Senate bill passing by a 37-11 margin. Here are the differences between these two bills.
2SSB 5882 would rename “teaching assistance” to “paraeducators” and would increase the ratios from the strike out number shown below to the new ratio:
| In the 2024-25 school year, the minimum allocation is: | Elementary School | Middle School | High School |
| Paraeducators, including any aspect of educational instructional services provided by classified employees. |
0.936 1.054 |
0.700 0.817 |
0.652 0.769 |
| Office support and other noninstructional aides |
2.012 2.130 |
2.325 2.442 |
3.269 3.386 |
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| In the 2024-25 school year, the additional staffing units for each prototypical staffing level are: | Elementary School | Middle School | High School |
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| Paraeducators, including any aspect of educational instructional services provided by classified employees. |
1.0640 .9460 |
0.3000 0.1830 |
0.3480 0.2310 |
| Office support and other noninstructional aides |
0.9880 0.8700 |
1.1750 1.0580 |
0.2310 0.1140 |
The Senate bill also includes the following statement: OSPI shall develop rules that require school districts to use the additional funding provided under this subsection to support increased staffing, prevent layoffs, or increase salaries for the following staff types in the 2024-25 school year: paraeducators, office support, and noninstructional aides. The superintendent shall collect data from school districts on how the increased allocations are used.
It has been scheduled for a public hearing in the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday, February 15th at 4 PM.
SHB 1960, as it passed out of the House Appropriations Committee, would only increase the ratios for “teaching assistance” and not office support.
| In the 2024-25 school year, the minimum allocation is: | Elementary School | Middle School | High School |
| Teaching assistance, including any aspect of educational instructional services provided by classified employees. |
0.936 1.036 |
0.700 0.800 |
0.652 0.752 |
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|
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| In the 2024-25 school year, the additional staffing units for each prototypical staffing level are: | Elementary School | Middle School | High School |
| Paraeducators, including any aspect of educational instructional services provided by classified employees. |
1.0640 .9460 |
0.3000 0.2000 |
0.3480 0.2480 |
Both the House and Senate bills would include the additional staffing units, which, if funded by specific reference to the section in the omnibus operating budget, would become part of basic education and the prototypical school funding model.
SHB 1960 remains in the House Rules Committee and is likely to not advance since the Senate bill has been scheduled for a hearing. Look for the House Appropriations Committee to possibly “strike” the Senate language and amend 2SSB 5882 with language from SHB 1960.
Transportation funding
For the third year in a row, Senator Lisa Wellman, D-Mercer Island, introduced a bill to address the underfunding of student transportation which uses the flawed STARS funding model.
As introduced, SB 5873 would have eliminated the regression analysis and comparison model, moving to passenger counts and total sum of miles driven. The bill also would have directed OSPI to provide an analysis of school district transportation costs and allocations to the Legislature by June 1, 2027. And, among other changes, it would have modified the funding formula, including codifying “distinct passenger categories,” to address additional costs associated with transporting students with disabilities, students who are homeless, students in the foster care system, and students attending skill centers.
The bill emerged from the Senate Ways & Means Committee whittled down to offer a specific focus of an additional $400 for each student who requires special transportation under the McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act. SSB 5873 also would require the June 1, 2027 analysis and would direct OSPI to develop a transparent, predictable, and comprehensive student transportation funding model that addresses the diverse needs of students and the unique characteristics of school districts.
Finally, the bill would require that school districts may only enter into, renew, or extend pupil transportation services contracts with private nongovernmental entities that provide employee health and retirement benefits comparable to those received by school employees. School districts with contracts must include a detailed explanation of any contract cost increase by year, expenditure type, and amount, including any cost increases that result from providing the required benefits. For the first year, one-time funding of $200 per contracted employee per month would be provided, subject to appropriations.
The bill has been pulled from the Senate Rules Committee and is eligible for floor action.
Over in the House, HB 1248 also started its journey in 2023 scrapping the current transportation formula. However, as passed the House by a vote of 57-39 on February 8th, ESHB 1248 has no additional funding for student transportation. The bill now only focuses on health and pension benefits for contracted bus drivers. Similar to the Senate version, the amended bill would require school district contracts for student transportation services to require the contracting employer to provide health benefits and pension contributions equivalent to those of school district classified employees. The bill also would provide supplemental transportation funding for the differences, when costs to provide those benefits increase the total cost of the contract.
School districts also would be required to report a breakdown of the total contract increase to show the required dollar equivalency for health care and retirement benefits; a breakdown from the contractor showing healthcare and pension benefits before and after the implementation of benefits required in the bill; and the amounts received under state transportation formulas before and after the implementation of SEBB to determine funding already being included.
During the floor debate, House Democrats fended off an amendment from Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, that would have removed the emphasis on bus driver benefits and instead would have created a safety net award for school districts with excess special passenger costs for students with disabilities, students experiencing homelessness, and students in the foster care system, by amounts set in the operating budget.
The bill has been scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Education Committee on Thursday, February 15th at the 1:30 PM time slot.
Special education funding
SHB 2180 would lift the enrollment limit for special education excess cost funding from 15% to 17.25%. The bill, requested by Governor Inslee and funded in his proposed budget, looks like the vehicle for special education funding this session. The bill was pulled from House Rules to the floor Friday night and is eligible for floor action in the House.
A striking amendment offered by Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, would phase out the cap entirely, starting with an increase to 15.5% in the 2024-25 school year; 16% in the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years; and elimination of the cap beginning in the 2027-28 school year.
The amendment also would remove the cap, starting in the 2024-25 school year for any school district with fewer than 2,500 students; school districts that received safety net awards in the prior school year; and school districts where at least 10% of student enrollment is identified as having a military parent.
As proposed, the Couture striking amendment would require OSPI to review school districts and charter schools that have been determined to overidentify students as eligible for special education or over-provide special education services and would require the State Auditor to audit for compliance.
The Senate does not have a special education funding bill still in play. However, the Senate passed SB 5852, which would direct that the Safety Net Oversight Committee must limit its review of applications to relevant documentation that illustrates adherence to safety net award criteria and may not reject applications for immaterial errors. The bill also would direct OSPI to conduct a survey of small school districts regarding the safety net application process and by December 2025, OSPI must implement a simplified, standardized safety net application that reduces barriers to safety net funding.
The bill has been scheduled for a public hearing in the House Education Committee on February 14th.
Materials, supplies and operating costs (MSOC) and Experience Factor adjustments
HB 2494 was introduced, heard, and voted out of committee, all on February 5th. SHB 2494 as passed out of the House Appropriations Committee would increase MSOC amounts by about $23 per student. A striking amendment on the House floor proposed by bill sponsor Rep. Steve Bergquist, D-Renton, would shift the timing of the MSOC increase from the 2024-25 school year to the 2023-24 school year, and increase the 2023-24 MSOC rates by $21 per pupil. The proposed amendment would add instructions for distributing the full additional MSOC amount in the 2023-24 school year starting mid-year and would change the effective date from September 1, 2024, to June 6, 2024.
The bill was pulled from the House Rules Committee on February 9th and placed on the House floor calendar.
When the Legislature threw out the Salary Allocation Model and Staff Mix funding formula in favor of a statewide average salary for certificated instructional staff (CIS) in 2017, it upended the way many school districts funded teacher salaries, including being reimbursed for more experienced teachers that also held more advanced degrees and training. To combat the disparity in what the state pays and what it costs to attract and retain experienced teachers, in 2018 the Legislature created an “experience factor,” which adds 4% to the state average salary for CIS who meet certain criteria.
In the 2023 legislative session, lawmakers not only “rebased” the regionalization factors of 6%, 12%, and 18% based on housing costs in the school district, they recalculated the experience factor using 2021-22 school year data – the first full year of students returning to school during the pandemic. Many districts used their federal COVID funding to temporarily hire beginning teachers to reduce class sizes, support student learning recovery, and fill in gaps to support student physical, mental, and emotional health. Since the experience factor is based on a district having a level of CIS with above-average experience and advanced degrees, some school districts lost their experience factor. Fortunately, lawmakers created a soft landing, decreasing the 4% to 2% for the current school year. Without a change, those 29 school districts would be rolled back to 0% and locked out of additional funding through the 2027-28 school year.
Enter HB 2458 this session, which would require the experience factor to be calculated annually, using the most recent staffing data provided by the school district to OSPI. As heard and passed out of the House Appropriations Committee, SHB 2458 removed the annual calculation and would adjust the experience factor using the district’s homeless, bilingual, and total student enrollment. In addition, for those districts not eligible for the 4% experience factor but eligible in the previous year, the bill would create a predictable 2% reduction. Beginning in the 2024-25 school year, for school districts not eligible for two consecutive years, the experience factor would be reduced by 1%.
The bill was pulled from the House Rules Committee on February 9 and placed on the House floor for consideration and action.
Regionalizing enrichment levies
HB 2215 and SB 5956 would have allowed a school district’s maximum per-pupil limit for enrichment levy purposes to be multiplied by the district’s regionalization factor. Both bills had public hearings on February 3 and were scheduled for executive action but did not advance.
Currently, a district’s maximum enrichment levy is the lesser of $2.50 per $1,000 assessed value or the maximum per-pupil limit, which is $2,500 per pupil for districts with fewer than 40,000 students and $3,000 per pupil for districts with 40,000 or more students, both adjusted for inflation. Under the bills, the per-pupil amount would be multiplied by the district’s regionalization factor of 6%, 12% or 18%. Districts that do not receive regionalization would not have been eligible under the bills, even if they had voter-approved capacity. The House bill also would have required OSPI to make recommendations to remedy school funding challenges, including levies, levy equalization, and regionalization by December 1, 2025.
A levy bill from the 2023 session, HB 1244, would increase the maximum per-pupil limit ($2,500) used for enrichment levies for school districts with fewer than 40,000 students over several years to equal the limit ($3,000) used for school districts with 40,000 or more students. The bill advanced to the House Rules Committee last session and remains there at this time.
Advocacy in Action!
- Shoreline School District parent advocate Michelle Harris testified on behalf of Washington State PTA in strong support of HB 2494, increasing the allocation for Materials, Supplies, and Operating Costs (MSOC). Michelle shared that for her district, skyrocketing insurance increases will cost $2 million or about 8% of the enrichment levy. Watch Michelle here.
- With budgets being released soon, look for an Action Alert Monday to encourage your legislators to support bills that increase funding for schools by supporting some of the bills listed above. Please take a couple of moments to complete the Alert, include a personal story, and add your voice supporting fiscal stability of our schools!
The Week Ahead (schedule is subject to change)
Higher Education & Workforce Development (Senate) – SHR 2 and Virtual J.A. Cherberg – 2/14 @ 8:00am
- HB 1946 – Public Hearing – Creating the Washington Health Corps Behavioral Health Scholarship program. (Remote Testimony Available). (If the measure is referred to committee.) (Support)
Early Learning & K-12 Education (Senate) – SHR 1 and Virtual J.A. Cherberg – 2/14 @ 10:30am
- EHB 1714 – Public Hearing – Allowing school districts to apply for financial literacy education professional development grants. (Remote Testimony Available).
- HB 1146 – Public Hearing – Notifying high school students and their families about available dual credit programs and any available financial assistance. (Remote Testimony Available). (Support)
- ESHB 1277 – Public Hearing – Improving the consistency and quality of the implementation of the fundamental course of study for paraeducators. (Remote Testimony Available). (Support/Low)
- HB 2110 – Public Hearing – Reorganizing statutory requirements governing high school graduation. (Remote Testimony Available). (If the measure is referred to committee.) (Support)
- HB 1879 – Public Hearing – Naming the curriculum used to inform students about tribal history, culture, and government after John McCoy (lulilaÅ¡). (Remote Testimony Available). (If the measure is referred to committee.) (Support)
Education (House) – HHR A and Virtual JLOB – 2/14 @ 10:30am
- SB 5180 – Public Hearing – Adopting the interstate teacher mobility compact. (Remote Testimony Available). (Support/Low)
- ESB 5462 – Public Hearing – Promoting inclusive learning standards and instructional materials in public schools. (Remote Testimony Available). (Support)
- SB 5647 – Public Hearing – Providing temporary employees with necessary information about school safety policies and procedures. (Remote Testimony Available). (Support)
- SB 5883 – Public Hearing – Concerning the burden of proof for special education due process hearings. (Remote Testimony Available).
- SJM 8007 – Public Hearing – Requesting Congress to fully fund 40 percent of the costs of IDEA. (Remote Testimony Available).
- ESSB 6264 – Public Hearing – Supporting the implementation of competency-based education. (Remote Testimony Available). (Support)
- SB 5852 – Public Hearing – Concerning special education safety net awards. (Remote Testimony Available). (Support)
Postsecondary Education & Workforce (House) – HHR B and Virtual JLOB – 2/14 @ 1:30pm
- SSB 6053 – Public Hearing – Improving equitable access to postsecondary education. (Remote Testimony Available).
Education (House) – HHR A and Virtual JLOB – 2/15 @ 8:00am
- SSB 5648 – Public Hearing – Including state-tribal education compact schools and charter schools as entities able to receive waivers from the state board of education. (Remote Testimony Available). (Support)
- ESB 5790 – Public Hearing – Concerning bleeding control equipment in schools. (REVISED FOR ENGROSSED: Concerning medical equipment in schools. ) (Remote Testimony Available). (Support)
- SSB 5804 – Public Hearing – Concerning opioid overdose reversal medication in public schools. (Remote Testimony Available). (Support)
- E2SSB 5670 – Public Hearing – Permitting 10th-grade students to participate in running start in online settings. (REVISED FOR ENGROSSED: Providing summer running start for rising juniors.) (Remote Testimony Available).
- E2SSB 5849 – Public Hearing – Concerning a computer science competency graduation requirement. (Remote Testimony Available). (If the measure is referred to committee.) (Concerns)
Early Learning & K-12 Education (Senate) – SHR 1 and Virtual J.A. Cherberg – 2/15 @ 1:30pm
- SHB 1044 – Public Hearing – Providing capital financial assistance to small school districts with demonstrated funding challenges. (Remote Testimony Available). (Support)
- ESHB 1248 – Public Hearing – Concerning pupil transportation. (Remote Testimony Available). (If the measure is referred to committee.)
- E2SHB 1956 – Public Hearing – Addressing fentanyl and other substance use prevention education. (Remote Testimony Available). (If the measure is referred to committee.) (Support)
Appropriations (House) – HHR A and Virtual JLOB – 2/15 @ 4:00pm
- 2SSB 5882 – Public Hearing – Increasing prototypical school staffing to better meet student needs. (Remote Testimony Available). (Support)
Ways & Means (Senate) – SHR 4 and Virtual JACB – 2/15 @ 4:00pm
- SSB 6016 – Public Hearing – Supporting school districts and nonprofit organizations that service the communities where renewable energy projects are located. (Remote Testimony Available). (Support)
- SB 5949 – Public Hearing – Concerning the capital budget. (Hearing is on the Proposed Substitute.)
Environment, Energy & Technology (Senate) – SHR 1 and Virtual J.A. Cherberg – 2/16 @ 8:00am
- ESHB 1589 – Exec Session – Supporting Washington’s clean energy economy and transitioning to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy future. (Support)
Postsecondary Education & Workforce (House) – HHR B and Virtual JLOB – 2/16 @ 8:00am
- SSB 6053 – Exec Session – Improving equitable access to postsecondary education.
State Government & Elections (Senate) – SHR 2 and Virtual J.A. Cherberg – 2/16 @ 8:00am
- E2SHB 1692 – Public Hearing – Creating student advisory groups. (Remote Testimony Available). (If the measure is referred to committee.)
Civil Rights & Judiciary (House) – HHR A and Virtual JLOB – 2/16 @ 10:30am
- ESSB 5985 – Public Hearing – Concerning firearms background check program. (Remote Testimony Available). (Support)