Our priority request to the Legislature this year was to increase funding for supports for students with disabilities and to remove the artificial cap on state funding for students with disabilities. Lawmakers did both, bringing our state much closer to fully funding these essential services. All of our students have a right to basic education and deserve to thrive in their learning environments. This is not only a key Washingtonian value—it’s a constitutional obligation. 

Because of the impacts of inflation and rising costs, our school districts are struggling to keep up with materials, supplies, and operating costs (MSOC). As a result, my request to the legislature included fully funding MSOC as a top priority. While the Legislature made progress on this issue this session, there is still more work to be done to fully cover the costs school districts are facing. Our districts may continue to experience financial distress, and my office will do all that we can to mitigate those impacts. 

A key emphasis of my advocacy this session was that investments in our public schools should not be sustained on the back of the social safety net that protects our most vulnerable children and families. Education and the social safety net are two systems that are designed to work together in support of student learning and well-being. Student learning is affected when students are hungry, when they are facing housing instability, and when they do not have access to health care. I am grateful to our Legislature for hearing this message and maintaining funding for essential human services that affect children and their families. 

I know that the state Legislature, Governor Ferguson, and I share the common goal of ensuring that all Washington children, no matter their background, have the necessary resources and supports to become the leaders of the future that we need. I'm grateful to all of the legislators who worked this session to invest in this common goal and make crucial progress towards fully funding our greatest asset—public education. 

Going forward, the Legislature tasked my office to identify a more adequate and equitable funding model for our public schools. I look forward to updating this analysis and providing the Governor and lawmakers with a roadmap that moves our state beyond the very bare minimum of investments that are contained in the current “prototypical” funding model. It will take genuine changes in expenditure and revenues to go from basic funding to excellence in funding.