February 16, 2024

TALKING WITH YOUR LEGISLATORS ABOUT THE REVENUE FORECAST

This week, the Economic & Revenue Forecast Council’s first quarterly revenue forecast update projected another $121.8 million above the November forecast—on top of $1.14 billion of additional revenue beyond expected revenues between March and November 2023. Additionally, revenues are up $215.4 million in 2025-27.

Here are some ways you can (and should) communicate with your legislators about your budget needs given this emerging information:

Many school districts are in financial crisis, being forced to reduce budgets, dip into reserves, and overly rely on enrichment levies. Some school districts are, or are considering, closing schools. Others have begun reducing staff, and several are being forced to reduce nonessential programs or seek loans from their county treasurers to meet payroll.
This is because, in part, district expenses have been increasing at a faster rate school districts have seen a net reduction in state funding in the last few years.
Additionally, emergency state stabilization funding (e.g., for enrollment, levy/LEA, and experience factor) and federal pandemic-related funding previously provided is no longer available or is being considered for this session to protect school district budgets.
To secure more needed funding in the upcoming budget, newly available revenue indicated by the February revenue forecast should be dedicated to the state’s paramount duty: K-12 education.
At a minimum, additional available revenue projected in the February revenue forecast should be provided to help stabilize school district budgets and address the fiscal crisis facing our school districts.
This additional funding will help address (but not solve) ongoing underfunding of basic education, including special education, pupil transportation, and Materials, Supplies, and Operating Costs (MSOC)—and provide additional financial stability.
Thank you for the supports you (legislators) can provide this session to respond to the needs of the public education system and toward the funding of basic education.

Source: Dan Steele, Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA)

WILL THE CAP BE LIFTED? NOT WITHOUT YOUR HELP.

HB 2180 – Increasing the special education enrollment funding cap.

Only one bill remains alive that would improve funding directly for Special Education. HB 2180 passed off the House Floor earlier this week and is waiting for a hearing in Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education.

Action

Call, text, and/or email members of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Committee to ask them to schedule and vote on HB 2180.

Talking Points

The entire system benefits by prioritizing our students with disabilities.
School district expenditures for special education and related services still substantially exceed special education funding.
Districts are forced to use levy dollars (if they have them) to provide the required services and supports to some of our most vulnerable students.
This is not only a legal imperative, but a moral one.
Raising the cap only costs the state a small overall dollar amount but has significant impact for those 120+ districts and their students who would benefit from it.

Every day matters and your timely and ongoing advocacy is essential. Follow us on Instagram @wssda_1477 for action alerts and feel free to contact us anytime for ideas, tools, and support at strategicadvocacy@wssda.org.

OPERATING AND CAPITAL BUDGET PROPOSALS

We understand that the House and Senate proposed operating budgets will be released this upcoming Sunday and Monday. There will be a very quick turnaround (like 24 hours) between their release and their public hearings in House Appropriations and Senate Ways and Means. We will be on the ground to respond to the good and bad of those proposed budgets. To support our messaging, you may consider some of the talking points below in your communications to legislators (especially those on budget committees).

Transition from ESSER

On average, ESSER funds made up just 3-5% of a school district’s budget. These funds bought learning devices, connectivity, PPE, kept our bus drivers and teachers employed during the pandemic to continue serving students as we adjusted to a new, remote learning environment.
When you look at the net impact of ESSER funds, these temporary dollars only slightly offset the permanent state funds that our schools lost due to changes in student enrollment levels during the pandemic.
The collective impact of declining enrollment was about $600M per year, while temporary increases from federal funds was about $800M per year. There were a lot of big expectations for how those funds would be used, and a lot of it did go to really incredible student-centered initiatives. Yet, it was only a net increase of $200M so a lot of it was used to just maintain operations and robust student supports.

Overall K12 Funding/Enrollment decline

With ESSER going away, fewer permanent funds means that some of our districts are making really difficult decisions about their budgets. This in itself is not new, districts are used to engaging in budget reductions as enrollment fluctuates.
However, due to the increasing inflation over the past few years, we are seeing worrysome trends in funding for our state’s paramount duty: our public schools.
Marginal loss to revenue is devastating to districts.
EX: if a district is down 3% in enrollment, that’s about 1 student fewer per class. To have a class of 24 instead of 25, a district does not reduce the number of bus drivers, does not reduce the number of educators or counselors, does not reduce program offerings. But the 3% in lost revenue forces those kinds of decisions anyways, at the detriment of students and staff.
We can see that the share of the state’s budget that the legislature invests in schools has been in a downward trend since 2019, declining from 51% of the budget to now just 43%.
We are grateful for the legislature’s investments in things like special education, counselors, nurses, and other support staff ,HOWEVER, While the actual dollar amounts provided by the legislature have increased, the buying power of those dollars has actually been decreasing since the 2019-20 school year.
If you look at total K-12 spending (local and state) funding per student (take into account all of the increased investments, the lower enrollment, and adjust for inflation) we are investing $1,000 LESS PER PUPIL than we were 5 years ago. This is equivalent to almost $1B in state resources. Yet, our systems are expected to provide the same, if not better, level of programming.

Source: Jenny Plaja, Executive Director of Government Relations, OSPI

PREPARING FOR PLATFORM REVISION WINDOW

The Platform Revision Window will open March 11th and close April 8th. During this time, school boards can propose revisions to WSSDA’s advocacy platform. Find some helpful tips below.

PROPOSAL PREPARATION

☐ Consider the issues within the school board’s purview needing legislative advocacy.

☐ Review WSSDA’s (225) member-adopted positions to see if your board’s interests are already represented.

☐ Before crafting a new position to propose, determine if your board can amend an existing WSSDA position instead.

☐ Reach out to your Director Area representative on the Legislative or Resolutions Committee if you have questions about how the committee will process your board’s submission and possibly help fine-tune your proposal.

☐ Schedule one or more board meetings to discuss and vote on your board’s proposal(s) prior to the deadline. Your board’s approval is required for all proposal submissions.

☐ Consider sharing your board’s proposal with other boards to also approve and submit.

PROPOSAL CONTENT

☐ Do not include references to the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) or Revised Code of Washington (RCW) because they are regularly subject to change, which could invalidate the position.

☐ If proposing a position, note that permanent positions begin with “WSSDA believes…” and legislative positions begin with “WSSDA will support or initiate legislation that…”

☐ If you cite an acronym, please be sure it is completely spelled out the first time it is used in the proposal so others will understand it.

☐ Build your proposal language in a Word document to check for spelling, grammar, and word count. Be concise.

☐ Provide any data, statutory references, workgroup reports, or other resources to help in building a complete rationale statement.

NOTE

☐ Be prepared to provide the board meeting date of when the proposal was approved.

For more information about how to engage in the platform revision process, contact strategicadvocacy@wssda.org.

HOW WSSDA WEIGHED IN

Guided by WSSDA's member-adopted positions, we weighed in on multiple bills that still remain alive following this week's house of origin cutoff. Some of your fellow school board members provided thoughtful and relevant testimony as follows:

HB 1146 - Notifying high school students and their families about available dual credit programs and any available financial assistance. (Sign In Pro)

ESB 5462 - Promoting inclusive learning standards and instructional materials in public schools. (Sign In Other, Written Comments)

SB 5883 - Concerning the burden of proof for special education due process hearings. (Testify Other - Mike Hoover, WSSDA Consultant)

SJM 8007 - Requesting Congress to fully fund 40 percent of the costs of IDEA.(Testify Pro, Lisa Keating, Tacoma SD)

E2SSB 5670 - Permitting 10th grade students to participate in running start in online settings. (Sign In Pro)

SHB 1044 - Providing capital financial assistance to small school districts with demonstrated funding challenges. (Testify Pro, Crystal Moldenhaur, Longview SD)

SHB 2381 - Increasing eligibility for economy and efficiency flexible school calendar waivers. (Sign In Pro)

E2SHB 1956  - Addressing fentanyl and other substance use prevention education. (Sign In Pro)

2SSB 5882 - Increasing prototypical school staffing to better meet student needs. (Testify Pro, Marissa Rathbone, WSSDA Staff)

E2SSB 5849 - Concerning a computer science competency graduation requirement. (Testify Other, Cindy McMullen, Central Valley SD)

SB 5949 - Concerning the capital budget. (Testify Pro, Mike Hoover, WSSDA Consultant)

You can also track education bills and weekly schedules on the WSSDA website.

NEXT WEEK IN THE LEGISLATURE

The following bills will be up for public comment in the opposite chamber and must be passed out of committee by February 21st in order to progress.

Community Safety, Justice, & Reentry (House) - 2/19 @ 1:30pm

ESSB 5891 - Designating trespassing on a school bus as a felony offense.

Early Learning & K-12 Education (Senate) - 2/19 @ 1:30pm

E4SHB 1239 - Establishing a simple and uniform system for complaints related to, and instituting a code of educator ethics for, conduct within or involving public elementary and secondary schools.

E2SHB 1368 - Requiring and funding the purchase of zero emission school buses.

ESHB 2494 - Increasing state funding for operating costs in schools.

Education (House) - 2/19 @ 1:30pm

ESSB 5850 - Supporting students who are chronically absent and at risk for not graduating high school.

ESB 5344 - Establishing a public school revolving fund.

SB 5903 - Concerning representation in the educator preparation act.

Consumer Protection & Business (House) - 2/20 @ 1:30pm

E2SSB 5838 - Establishing an artificial intelligence task force.

Ways & Means (Senate) - 2/20 @ 4:00pm

HB 2044 - Standardizing limitations on voter-approved property tax levies.

SHB 1985 - Providing a benefit increase to certain retirees of the public employees' retirement system plan 1 and the teachers' retirement system plan 1.

Check next week's schedule on the Washington State Legislature Online website.