The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) has requested a general fund–state (GFS) increase of $349.7 million for its 2024 supplemental operating budget. This would be a 1.2% increase over the enacted 2023–25 budget. If appropriated, the changes would increase spending by $708.5 million in 2025–27.

The biggest bow wave in the request is for paraeducator compensation. OSPI would increase salaries by $7 an hour plus benefits for all paraeducators hired in school year 2022–23. The increase would be adjusted for inflation. This would increase GFS spending by $193.2 million in 2023–25 and by $510.3 million in 2025–27.

Other major GFS budget requests include:

• $26.9 million in 2023–25 and $53.7 million in 2025–27 to provide school meals (with no out-of-pocket costs) to all elementary school students.
• $30.2 million in 2023–25 and $30.2 million in 2025–27 to continue reimbursing schools participating in the federal Community Eligibility Program, which provides meals to all students in the school regardless of income. This proposal is at the maintenance level; the cost of reimbursement has increased, according to OSPI, because more schools are eligible and the cost of the per-meal state supplement has increased.
• $18.4 million in 2023–25 and $43.9 million in 2025–27 to remove the 15% cap on state special education funding and expand funding for the inclusionary practices project. (Earlier this year, the Legislature increased the special education funding cap from 13.5% to 15%.)
• $44.1 million in 2023–25 (at the maintenance level) for the special education safety net. According to OSPI, safety net funding requests from districts were higher than anticipated in the state budget.
• $8.9 million in 2023–25 and $17.7 million in 2025–27 “to support a variety of initiatives, strategies, and direct services to students aimed at increasing postsecondary credential attainment.”
• $8.7 million in 2023–25 and $17.4 million in 2025–27 “to provide targeted and integrated student supports to prevent students from disengaging with school and reengage students who have disengaged with the support they need to be successful.”

(Previous posts on agency 2024 supplemental budget requests are here.)