This story has been updated to add more school district budget details.

More than 1,200 people gathered with school district leaders and local legislators at Edmonds-Woodway High School at a recent town hall aimed at finding solutions to the Washington state’s public education budget crisis.

The Edmonds, Shoreline and Northshore Education Associations on Oct. 23 hosted State Sens. Marko Liias, Jesse Salomon and Derek Stanford and State Reps. Lauren Davis, Roger Goodman, Strom Peterson, Shelley Kloba and Davina Duerr, along with candidate Melissa Demyan.

The crowd in the bleachers cheered and stomped in support of public education as speakers – including Edmonds School Board President Nancy Katims, Meadowdale Middle School Principal Joe Webster and Edmonds-Woodway High School senior Mio Masunaga – spoke about the importance of fully funding basic education for all students.

Between speakers, games of school funding trivia were played. One question asked, “In 2019, education funding was 52% of the state budget. What portion of the state budget goes to education today?” The correct answer was 43%, which triggered gasps and murmurs in the crowd.

Following the rally, attendees went into breakout rooms with state and county leaders to discuss the issues the district, its staff and students face and seek solutions. Edmonds Education Association President Andi Nofziger said conversations varied but had consistent themes.

“All our legislators are supportive of education, but they talked about competing priorities for funding from the Legislature, which was frustrating to many of the audience members,” Nofziger said.

Another consistent theme was Washington’s wealth. Educators and parents alike questioned why a state with so much corporate and individual wealth continues to have underfunded public schools.

“There is an expectation that our leaders in Olympia find the political courage to make ample school funding, both long term and short term, the paramount duty this budget-writing session,” Nofziger said.

Edmonds School Board President Nancy Katims said staff and parents shared their personal stories of the budget deficit’s impact.

Katims said that Sen. Salomon stressed the importance of people sharing their personal stories in the context of the funding crisis. He pointed out that when writing emails to your legislators, each person should make their email personal rather than a copied letter.

Further, Salomon discussed possible additional revenue sources to support schools, such as taking a loan from the state capital fund, raising revenues designed to go directly to districts and raising local levy caps.

Rep. Davis encouraged everyone statewide to hold similar events before the legislative session starts. Although the legislators at the rally strongly support resolving the funding problem, they are only 9 of the 147 in Washington, and more will be needed to get the work done.

“Legislators indicated that a lot of people showing up in Olympia would be noticed and impactful,” Katims said.

Next steps for the participating districts are to continue conversations with educators and legislators, take lobbying trips during the session, work with other local associations and districts to host community events and collaborate with legislators to draft bills for the session.

“We are willing partners in the work,” Katims said.

This story has been updated to add more school district budget details.

The Edmonds School District faces a financial crisis even after making significant cuts in April 2024. Attendees were given a handout to help them understand the complexities of state funding and Washington’s obligations to schools.

The law reads that when it comes to funding basic education, the Legislature must ensure it complies with state constitution, which states, “It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex…”

The mandate requires an extensive core beyond reading, writing and arithmetic: It includes reading comprehension, the core concepts and principles of mathematics, social, physical, and life sciences; civics and history, including different cultures and participation in representative government; geography; arts; and health and fitness analytical and creative thinking, integrating technology literacy and fluency as well as different experiences and knowledge to form reasoned judgments and solve problems.

Further, students must “understand the importance of work and finance and how performance, effort, and decisions directly affect future career and educational opportunities.”

Also, statewide salary allocations are necessary to hire and retain qualified staff for the state’s statutory program of basic education.

The handout stated the statistical data included showed proof that the state was not meeting its duty to amply fund education for all students in ways such as:

– Failure to provide ample funding to ensure all students gain the knowledge and skills to meet all the state learning standards.

– Not providing salary allocations needed to hire and retain qualified staff for the mandatory program of basic education.

– Not revising funding allocations to reflect the changing needs of students and schools.

The under- and unfunded mandates for the district may surprise some. The first five of these programs listed below cost the district almost $12.3 million annually – but there are many more. Katims provided an extensive but incomplete list of mandates.

24 credits required for graduation: The state requires students to earn 24 credits to graduate, which means districts must hire staff to cover six class periods per day plus a planning period for each high school student to be able to take six classes for each year in high school. Katims said the state only funds staffing for five periods plus a planning period.

“In Edmonds School District, this is costing us about $5.7 million this year,” Katims said.

Work experience: Katims explained that the law calls for districts with more experienced teachers to have a 4% salary funding increase. However, the data are reviewed only every four years, “which means some districts receive funding when no longer eligible, while newly eligible districts receive nothing.”

“Basing funding on obsolete data is unacceptable and results in this being an unfunded mandate,” Katims said. “This is costing us about $4.2 million this year.”

Health benefits for substitutes: The district is required to provide health benefits to substitute teachers who have worked a certain number of hours, which is not funded by Washington state. Katims said this cost the district over $1 million last year.

Americans with Disabilities Act: The Edmonds School District spent nearly $745,000 in 2023-24 to comply with ADA standards, including wheelchair ramps and interpreters for deaf or hard of hearing individuals, among other services.

“Many of our buildings pre-date ADA,” Katims said. “The state does not provide funding for these requirements.”

Sick leave cash-out: Katims explained that the state has rules in which a certain amount of sick leave can be cashed out at retirement, which has no funding allocated for this purpose. The district spent slightly over $650,000 in 2023-24 in sick leave cash-outs.

“This is not specific to school districts but many state agencies,” Katims said.

Clean Buildings Act: The Clean Buildings Act, also known as the Green Buildings for Washington law, sets targets for energy efficiency and sustainable construction projects. The projected timeline is for all high schools and certain middle schools to meet efficiency standards by 2027. The remaining middle schools, some elementary schools and the central office will meet these standards by 2028.

No additional funding for the Clean Buildings Act is allocated to schools, but non-compliance penalties exist.

“The challenge is both funding for materials — switching to LED lighting, for example — and for staff to do the work,” Katims said. “We have a lean maintenance staff in an effort to put more resources into teaching.”

The BECCA Bill: When a student is truant, school districts must follow a series of steps: Contact parents, schedule a conference, file a truancy petition with the juvenile court, and implement and maintain a Community Engagement Board, among other things.

Katims explained that Washington school districts do not receive additional funding to cover the costs of staff or the professional development needed.

“With about 20,000 students in the district, this is not a trivial requirement,” Katims said.

Daily recess: Starting this school year, RCW 28A.230.295 requires each elementary school to provide a minimum of 30 minutes of daily recess.

“There is no additional funding to cover staffing or supervision costs, nor did state legislators even ask district leaders about funding implications,” Katims said.

High school and beyond plans: As a graduation requirement, students must complete a four-year plan. The program starts in seventh grade with career interest and skills tests and continues into high school. Again, there are no funds to help.

“Implementing this program has costs relating to technology, professional development, staff time and more,” Katims said.

State audit: The state requires a state audit of  school districts annually. A team of state auditors interview staff and go through files.

“Then we have to pay the fee for these auditors, plus the cost of their travel to the district, the time of our staff to take them through the process, etc., with no funding support from the state, nor an option to hire our own auditors who might cost less,” Katims said.

State assessments: The state requires every district to administer several state assessments, including the Smarter Balanced Assessment for all students in grades 3-8 and 10, the WIDA assessment to evaluate English proficiency for all multilingual students, and other evaluations for special education, kindergarten and dyslexia screening.

Katims said the assessments require technology, materials for accommodations, professional development for staff, and additional staff time for proctoring and coordination.

New course requirements: “Every time the state requires a new course, either as a graduation requirement or simply to be offered, this costs districts money in terms of curriculum materials and professional development,” Katims said.

She gave examples of civics, financial literacy and media literacy, saying, “While these courses are all valuable for our students, the state provides no funding to support the implementation every time they decide to add a new requirement.”

Public Records Act: Common to any public entity, public record requests require significant staff time to meet the “huge burden” of meeting public records, Katims said. She explained that the district receives “unreasonable” requests that cover large timespans, overly general topics or cross over many employees’ work documents.

“What could help tremendously is revising the expectations for public records requests for school districts to mitigate against the many frivolous requests,” Katims said.

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— Story and photos by Rick Sinnett