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As the Legislature begins its second special session, OSPI offers a new K–12 plan

Yesterday the Legislature began the second special session of the year, because the Legislature has not come to an agreement on an operating budget or an education plan to comply with the state Supreme Court’s McCleary decision. As the Seattle Times reports, Gov. Inslee said yesterday that neither the property tax levy swap in the […]

School-siting bill clears state House, heads to governor's desk

Legislation long sought by overcrowded school districts to grant flexibility for building new schools cleared its final legislative hurdle this week. The state House Tuesday approved changes made by the Senate last week to House Bill (or as it’s now known as, Engrossed Substitute House Bill) 1017, which allows school districts – in some circumstances – to build […]

Our education funding comparison table has been updated

Yesterday we posted a policy brief comparing the various education funding proposals. After publication, we received additional information from the Office of Financial Management that allowed us to fill in some of the holes regarding Gov. Inslee’s proposal. Also, we changed the first row of the table to show the full NGFS+ policy change for […]

New brief: Comparing the Education Funding Proposals, Second Edition

In a new policy brief, we provide a side-by-side comparison of the education funding plans that have been proposed by the governor and Legislature. This is an update of the comparison we published last month. The update reflects changes made to the House- and Senate-passed plans, as funded in the operating budgets passed by each chamber. […]

Policy Today podcast: What the new federal education law means for states, with AEI's Rick Hess

House budget would strike levy accountability provisions enacted earlier this year

Earlier this year, the House passed an education funding plan (HB 1843). The House-passed 2017–19 operating budget would not fund that bill; instead, it would fund HB 2185. HB 2185 has not been heard by committee. It is largely the same as HB 1843, but there are a few noteworthy changes. First, as we’ve noted […]

Relief may be in sight for school districts with school-siting bill

This year’s contender for the Little Legislation That Could, House Bill 1017, appears to finally be on its way to passage in the state Legislature. The bill, allowing schools to be sited outside of the state Growth Management Act’s officially-designated “urban growth areas,” has been on legislators’ plates for awhile. During executive session of the […]

State school funding system ruled unconstitutional…in Kansas

Washington isn’t the only state grappling with K-12 education funding issues. On March 2, the Kansas state Supreme Court ruled that the State of Kansas was violating the state constitution by not adequately funding public schools. Sound familiar? The Kansas City Star reports: The court determined that the state is failing to provide roughly one-fourth of its […]

Bill to avert levy cliff includes levy accountability provisions

Currently school districts are allowed to levy maintenance and operation (M&O) levies of up to 28 percent of their state and federal revenues. That maximum is scheduled to revert to 24 percent in 2018. This is the levy cliff. The House passed a levy bill (SHB 1059) earlier this year to keep the maximum at […]

The House’s education funding plan would cost much more than the Senate’s

The state released its fiscal note of SSB 5607 (the Senate-passed education funding bill) on Friday. It shows a substantial gap between the resources needed to fund the Senate and House plans. According to the fiscal note, SSB 5607 would increase state spending by $2.424 billion in 2017–19, $4.081 billion in 2019–21, and $1.860 billion […]