The Senate and House are moving different bills that would increase state allocations to school districts for physical, social, and emotional staff (like school nurses and psychologists). Both bills would increase allocations to the same levels by SY 2024–25, but one would be less costly over the four-year budget window, due to differences in implementation timing.

SB 5595 was requested by the Office of Financial Management (and was included in Gov. Inslee’s budget proposal). I wrote about the allocations in the bill here. The allocations for school nurses would be phased in over three years, but the allocations for social workers, psychologists, and counselors would be fully implemented in the first year.

A substitute was approved by the Senate Committee on Early Learning & K–12 Education Jan. 17 and was heard by the Senate Ways & Means Committee Jan. 31. The substitute bill does not change the allocation levels, but it would allow the allocations for physical, social, and emotional support staff to also be used for contractors in those roles. Under SSB 5595, the allocations could be used “only for salaries and benefits for staff employed or contracted to serve as physical, social, and emotional support staff.”

The fiscal note for SSB 5595 estimates that it would increase spending from funds subject to the outlook (NGFO) by $174.0 million in 2021–23, $616.1 million in 2023–25, and $704.0 million in 2025–27. The increased allocations would not be fully phased in until SY 2024–25, which means that 2025–27 (beyond the outlook window) would be the first biennium in which the allocations are fully implemented for two full years.

Meanwhile, HB 1664 is moving in the House. Initially, it would have matched SSB 5595’s allocations for nurses but would not have changed the allocations for the other staff members. A substitute bill was approved by the House Committee on Education Jan. 20 and a second substitute bill was approved by the Appropriations Committee yesterday.

As approved by Appropriations, 2SHB 1664 would completely match the allocations in SSB 5595 by SY 2024–25. However, it would phase in the allocations for social workers, psychologists, and counselors over three years (as with the allocations for nurses). 2SHB 1664 would only provide the allocations “up to the combined minimum allocations . . . to the extent of and proportionate to a school district’s demonstrated actual ratios of: Full-time equivalent physical, social, and emotional support staff to full-time equivalent students.” An amendment to 2SHB 1664 was also adopted by Appropriations that specifies that if the funding for this bill is not included in the budget, the bill would be null and void.

There is not an official fiscal note for 2SHB 1664, but the Office of Program Research (OPR) estimates that 2SHB 1664 would increase NGFO spending by $88 million in 2021–23 and by $533 million in 2023–25. (That’s $166.7 million less over four years than SSB 5595.) OPR did not provide an estimate of 2SHB 1664’s cost in 2025–27, but it would likely jump to $730.0 million in 2025–27 (beyond the outlook window). (That’s the estimate for the biennium for SHB 1664, which would have used a different implementation schedule than 2SHB 1664, but which would have funded the same allocations for SY 2024–25.)

Finally, SB 5563 would provide enrollment stabilization to school districts for SY 2021–22 (see here for more on the bill). The bill was approved by the Senate Committee on Early Learning & K–12 Education Jan. 21 and was heard by the Senate Ways & Means Committee Jan. 31. The fiscal note for the bill estimates that it would increase NGFO spending by $628.5 million in 2021–23 and by $15.8 million in 2023–25. (Of that, $565.1 million in 2021–23 is for enrollment stabilization. The rest is for local effort assistance.)