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March 2026 Recap: Highlighted Updates from SBE |
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Welcome to the March edition of the SBE Round-Up!
Here's a recap of some things the Board has been up to this month:
This year's legislative platform focused on safeguarding recent progress while identifying opportunities to restore or strengthen critical investments, aligning with the Board’s mission to advance an equitable and inclusive education system that prepares every student to thrive in a changing world.
This session, we tracked 243 bills. Of those, 17 passed the Legislature and have either been signed by the governor or are scheduled to be signed soon.
Below is a list of a few notable bills we tracked this year that have been signed into law:
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ESHB 1795: Addressing restraint or isolation of students in public schools and educational programs.
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SSB 6268: Maintaining an online record of special education complaint decisions.
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SB 5969: Fulfilling high school and beyond plan requirements with individualized education program transition plans.
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ESHB 2557: Providing parental access to special education evaluation reports.
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SSB 5841: Concerning the completion of postsecondary financial aid applications.
The State Board of Education and the FutureReady Task Force are close to completing a first draft of conceptual recommendations for updating Washington’s high school graduation requirements.
On March 20, the FutureReady Task Force met to build consensus on credit and subject-area requirements and began synthesizing ideas into a comprehensive set of conceptual recommendations. Members made meaningful progress toward agreement and will continue this work at their next meeting on May 21. The Board will also discuss emerging concepts at its April meeting.
We anticipate completing a first draft of conceptual recommendations following the Task Force’s May 21 meeting. We anticipate completing technical recommendations in mid-summer 2026. These technical recommendations will be used to prepare a legislative proposal for consideration during the 2027 legislative session.
Read our latest FutureReady newsletter to learn how the initiative is developing, how we’re using comprehensive community feedback to guide recommendation development, and ways you can get involved!
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Members of the FutureReady Task Force and State Board of Education staff pose for a group photo after a meeting at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Friday, March 27.
This year’s program will honor schools based on their performance during the 2024–25 school year. We will use the same award criteria as in previous years and, based on feedback we’ve received from districts, we are working on a new system for communicating to schools which metrics they met to be recognized.
Please note: This program is different from the State Superintendent’s Award for Educational Excellence, which was introduced this year as a replacement for the U.S. Blue Ribbon Program. OSPI’s award focuses on district-level performance and is calculated using a slightly different set of metrics. Earning OSPI’s new award does not guarantee that schools in your district will be recognized by the Washington School Recognition Program.
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Upcoming Events & Meetings
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April Board Meeting
The Board’s next meeting is scheduled for April 15-16 via Teams Webinar.
Find the agenda and materials for all SBE meetings on SBE’s meetings page. Agendas are typically posted one week in advance of the meeting
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FutureReady Task Force March Meeting
The next FutureReady Task Force meeting is set for May 21, 2026. The meeting will be held virtually. Check the Task Force's webpage for more information.
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