Government Relations

2023 Legislative Priorities

Addressing Funding Gaps in Basic Education

We are committed to improving outcomes for all students through the provision of basic education with the services and supports students need to engage in their learning. The current formulas to allocate state funding to school districts for Special Education and Transportation—key components of basic education—result in funding gaps that require districts to use local funds to cover the costs to meet students’ needs. To address these structural issues and ensure every student is provided state-funded access to their basic education and mandated services, the funding formulas for Special Education Funding and Transportation Funding need to be revised to fully fund the costs of these services.

• Special Education. Fully fund special education services at the state level to cover the cost of serving students, as determined by their IEPs (Individual Education Plans) or their Section 504 accommodations. Invest in inclusionary practices and provide resources for required language supports for multilingual families, so all families can engage in the IEP process.
• Transportation. Revise the student transportation funding formula to be transparent, predictable, and fully cover the actual costs of student transportation. Allow additional types of vehicles to qualify for funding to provide more flexibility and stabilize operations. Continue the progress of the 2022 Legislature in providing additional funding to address excess costs to transport special passengers. Additional revisions are necessary to fully fund specialized transportation to accommodate disabilities indicated in students’ IEP or 504 plans and for students in other protected categories, such as students experiencing homelessness and students in foster care.

Supporting Student Learning

We are focusing on the heart of what we do as a school system: providing excellence in education for every student through high-quality teaching and learning experiences to prepare every Seattle Public Schools student for college, career, and community. To do this, students need access to learning supports like tutoring, and guidance on preparing for the next step, like mentoring. We also need to provide culturally responsive curriculum and instruction for students.

• Equity Based Supports. Provide supports for the diverse needs of all students—particularly Black, Native American, and Latinx students. Invest in access to mentoring and tutoring programs that support the whole student and prepare them for college, career, and life.
• Culturally Responsive Curriculum and Courses. Invest in curriculum that is aligned with best practice, culturally responsive, and representative of diverse student backgrounds, history, and experience—including Black Studies, American Indian Studies, and Latinx Studies. Invest in the development and implementation of ethnic studies in districts, in alignment with the Washington State Ethnic Studies Framework and Essential Academic Learning Standards.

Supporting Student Well-Being

We recognize and appreciate the investments the Legislature has made in supporting student well-being in the 2021 and 2022 legislative sessions. To best support our students during the COVID-19 pandemic, we utilized the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to provide additional supports to our students, families, and educators— including trauma-informed mental health and social emotional supports, as well as restorative practices. The ESSER funds and federal funding for meals for all students were one-time funds, but the needs of our students, families, and educators for these supports continue.

• Mental Health and Social Emotional Learning. Invest in maintaining culturally responsive, trauma-informed services and supports in mental health and social emotional learning for students and educators.
• Restorative Practices. Provide resources to transform school environments through restorative justice practices for students, particularly Black, Native American, and Latinx students, and their families. Provide resources that allow us to change school culture, utilize alternatives to exclusionary discipline, repair harm caused by the impacts of disproportionate discipline and structural racismThe interplay of policies, practices, and programs of multiple institutions which leads More, and transform student to student and staff to student relationships.
• Family Inclusion and Partnership. Invest in family engagement staff in Middle and High Schools and increase investments in Elementary Schools. Invest in family engagement supports including interpretation and translation services that honor family and student culture, language, and lived experience to enable all families to engage and be included in their students’ learning, access information, participate in IEP meetings, and connect with basic needs supports.
• School Meals For All Learners. Provide healthy school meals to all of Washington’s learners as an essential support for success in learning. Ensure every student has the same opportunity for meals with state funding to supplement federal reimbursement and cover costs for schools who are not eligible to participate in federal universal meal options.

Providing Stable and Equitable Operations

To accomplish our goals for Seattle students, we must attract and retain diverse, culturally responsive, and effective educators and provide high-quality learning environments and tools for students and educators.

• Equitable Compensation to Retain and Recruit Diverse Work Force. Current law (adopted in 2017’s EHB 2242) requires the Legislature, beginning in 2023, to regularly review and rebase minimum salaries, including regionalization and experience factors, to ensure salary allocations continue to align with staffing costs for the state’s program of basic education. In rebasing minimum salaries, consider the regional actual costs to districts of attracting and retaining a diverse workforce. Develop and implement multiple educator pathways and incentives to ensure sufficient and diverse staff are available to districts.
• High Quality and Sustainable Capital Investments. Provide state capital funding for accessible, high-quality learning environments. Allow the use of capital funds to purchase electric vehicles to address climate change and reduce the district’s carbon footprint. Allow for flexibility in the use of local capital funds to cover maintenance costs and purchase curriculum.