The Senate- and House-passed 2023–25 operating budgets would change funding for school employee salaries, special education, and transitional kindergarten. The two houses have also passed policy bills on these topics.

School Employee Salary Inflation

Both houses have now passed, and the governor has signed, ESB 5650. The bill specifies that the inflationary adjustment for school employee salaries will be 3.7% for school year (SY) 2023–24. Additionally, beginning in SY 2024–25, the inflationary measure will be based on the previous calendar year rather than the current fiscal year. (I wrote about this change in more depth here.)

Both the Senate- and House-passed budgets would fund inflationary increases of 3.7% in SY 2023–24 and 3.9% in SY 2024–25. The Senate-passed budget would appropriate $264.0 million from funds subject to the outlook (NGFO) and the House-passed budget would appropriate $261.7 million. The Senate outlook assumes this policy would cost $630.2 million in 2025–27 and the House outlook assumes it would cost $627.1 million in 2025–27.

Special Education

The House and Senate have passed different versions of ESHB 1436. Both would increase the special education excess cost multipliers, increase the enrollment cap, and reduce the threshold for safety net awards.

As passed by the House March 2, the bill would increase the special education excess cost multipliers over time so that they reach 1.059 (for students in general education settings 80% or more of the day) and 1.043 (for students in general education settings less than 80% of the day) in SY 2026–27. As passed by the Senate April 12, the bill would immediately increase the multipliers to 1.12 and 1.06 in SY 2023–24. (See the table below.) The House-passed budget would appropriate $75.2 million for this purpose ($46.5 million from the NGFO and $28.6 million from federal relief). The Senate-passed budget would appropriate $267.4 million (all from the NGFO). (See this post for more about the House’s use of federal relief for special education.)

Under current law, the excess cost multipliers are applied to special education enrollment up to 13.5% of total student enrollment in the district. The House-passed version of ESHB 1436 would increase that cap each year until it reaches 15% in SY 2025–26. Then, beginning in SY 2027–28, there would be no cap. As passed by the Senate, the bill would increase the cap to 15% beginning in SY 2023–24. (See the table below.) The House-passed budget would appropriate $57.1 million to increase the cap ($38.5 million from the NGFO and $18.6 million from federal relief). The Senate-passed budget would appropriate $93.0 million (all from the NGFO).

Finally, the bill would also reduce the threshold for safety net awards. Under the House bill, students would be eligible for state safety net funding if their individualized education program costs exceed 2.2 times average per-pupil spending. (It is 2.3 times under current law.) The Senate bill would reduce the threshold to 2 times for school districts with fewer than 1,000 students and to 2.2 times for other districts. The House-passed budget would appropriate $7.8 million (all from federal relief) and the Senate-passed budget would appropriate $11.5 million (all from the NGFO).

Transitional Kindergarten

Currently, districts may offer transitional kindergarten programs for students under five who do not have access to early learning and are in need of additional preparation for kindergarten. The 2022 supplemental budget appropriated $125,000 for the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to study participation in transitional kindergarten programs. The report is due Dec. 31, 2023.

Although that report is not yet ready, the House has passed HB 1550. The bill would overhaul the transitional kindergarten program. The Senate has passed a different version of HB 1550 that would make more modest changes.

As passed by the House on March 2, the bill would establish “the transition to kindergarten program.” It would explicitly not be part of basic education. School districts would have to apply to operate a transition to kindergarten program and they would not be allowed to charge tuition. Districts would have to prioritize children waitlisted for the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) and children who have developmental delays.

Children enrolled in transition to kindergarten programs would be funded by the state at the ECEAP rate divided by 1.091 (and multiplied by the district’s regionalization factor). Districts would have to end their current transitional kindergarten programs by Aug. 31, 2024. At that time, those students could no longer be counted as kindergarten students for the purposes of basic education allocations.

As passed by the Senate on April 12, the bill would maintain the current transitional kindergarten programs but rename them as transition to kindergarten programs. It would require the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to adopt rules as to the administration of and allocation of funding for the programs.

Only the House-passed 2023–25 operating budget would provide new funding to implement HB 1550. On net (after reducing appropriations for current transitional kindergarten), it would increase NGFO appropriations by $14.7 million. Appropriations for the new program would support 5,077 students in SY 2024–25.

(Meanwhile, both the House- and Senate-passed budgets would shift the funding source for transitional kindergarten in SY 2023–24. The Senate budget would reduce NGFO appropriations for transitional kindergarten by $41.8 million and increase appropriations from federal relief by the same amount. The House budget would reduce NGFO appropriations by $61.8 million and increase appropriations from federal relief by the same amount.)