By League of Education Voters Policy Team
In the 2023-25 biennial budget compromise, all amounts are per biennium unless noted.
Early Learning |
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| Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) Rate Increases |
+$50 million To increase ECEAP reimbursement rates |
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| Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program Expansions | +$30 million
To expand the program starting in 2023-2024 by converting 1,000 part-day slots to full-day slots and adding 500 school-day slots |
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| Working Connections Child Care (WCCC) Program Expansions |
+$13 million To expand eligibility, including to child care employees, those in specialty courts, and those who are undocumented and meeting income requirements (SB 5225) |
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| Working Connections Child Care Rate Increases (Child Care Centers) |
+$219 million To increase Working Connections Child Care reimbursement rates |
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K-12: Funding and Educator Workforce |
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| K-12 Staff Compensation |
+$261 million For additional inflationary adjustments |
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| Teacher Residency Program Teacher residency programs provide teacher candidates with a paid residency consisting of a full academic year in the classroom |
+$2.3 million To support teacher residency program focused on special education at Western Washington University |
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| Beginning Educator Support Team (BEST) Program Provides mentoring support to beginning educators |
+$2 million To expand the program |
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K-12: Student Supports |
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| Addressing Isolation and Restraint Practices in Schools (HB 1479) |
+$5 million House Bill 1479 did not pass, but funding was included to provide professional development and technical assistance to districts to begin work around eliminating isolation and limiting the use of restraint. Makes no changes to state policies regarding the use of isolation or restraint |
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| Implementing School Mental Health Funding Increases (SB 5019, a follow-up to last year’s HB 1664) |
Not Included Senate Bill 5019 would have ensured mental health funding from last year can only be used to hire mental health professionals and not School Resource Officers (SROs) |
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| Student Mental Health |
No Additional Funding No new funding to better resource teachers, schools, or districts to meet the mental health needs of students |
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| Support for Students Experiencing Homelessness |
+$2.6 million To increase funding for a grant program for school districts that enables students experiencing homelessness to continue attending the same schools, maintain housing stability, and improve academic achievement |
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| Student Food Security |
+$85 million To fund the provision of school meals to all students at schools serving large populations of low-income students and expand access for schools serving grades K-4 (HB 1238) |
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| Inclusive Curriculum (Ensuring student curriculum is diverse, equitable, and inclusive of under-represented identities and perspectives) |
No Changes or Additional Funding Neither Senate Bill 5441 nor Senate Bill 5462 passed this session. No changes or resources were dedicated to ensuring curriculum is inclusive and representative |
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| Open Doors Youth Re-Engagement (A re-engagement system that provides education and services to older youth, ages 16-21, who have dropped out of school or are not expected to graduate from high school by the age of 21) |
+$2.5 million To start a pilot program to enable re-engagement programs to continue serving students during the summer months |
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K-12: Special Education |
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| Special Education Funding Formula |
+$254 million To increase funding for children aged 3-5 receiving special education services and students in the K-12 system (HB 1436) |
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| Special Education Enrollment Cap (Currently, districts can only receive state funding for up to 13.5% of their students receiving special education services) |
+$107 million To increase the enrollment cap from 13.5% to 15.0% starting in 2023-24 (HB 1436) |
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| Special Education Evaluations During the Summer (To fund special education evaluations and support the development of IEPs during the summer for the next 3 years – HB 1109) |
No Additional Funding |
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| Extension of Transition Services (Currently, students who will turn or have turned 21 during this current biennium, did not graduate with a regular diploma, and require recovery services on or after July 1, 2021 were able to continue receiving access) |
No Additional Funding Students who had qualified under this provision will no longer be able to access transition services |
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| Special Education Safety Net (A reimbursement program for districts to account for higher than expected costs of providing special education services) |
+$5.5 million To lower the eligibility threshold for applying for safety net funds |
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| Inclusionary Practices Project (IPP) |
+$5 million To continue providing professional development and technical assistance to districts to support implementation of inclusionary practices. This is a reduction of 50% in previous funding levels (HB 1436) |
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| Accountability in Non-Public Agencies |
+$245,000 To expand accountability and oversight districts and OSPI must exercise for non-public agencies serving students in the K-12 system (SB 5315) |
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K-12: Other Program Areas |
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| Mastery-Based Learning |
+$6 million To continue the work of the State Board of Education to administer a grant program to school districts to help expand implementation and share best practices in mastery-based learning |
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| Outdoor Education |
+$20 million To increase funding by $10 million per year to expand access to outdoor education opportunities with a focus on 5th and 6th graders |
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| Nothing About Us Without Us Act – HB 1541 (Takes steps to ensure more meaningful inclusion of under-represented communities in the policy-making process) |
+$300,000 House Bill 1541 did not pass, but funding was provided to the Office of Equity to develop an equity toolkit intended to address under-representation |
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Higher Education |
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| Higher Education Funding |
+$55 million For increases in higher education operational costs |
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| Washington Career & College Pathways Innovation Program |
+$4 million To support the expansion of the grant program |
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| Financial Aid |
+$13 million To expand eligibility for the maximum Washington College Grant award to 65 percent of median family income |
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Capital Budget |
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| School Construction Assistance Program |
+$588 million To provide matching funds to support districts in building schools |
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Read our 2023-25 Biennial Budget Summary (PDF)
Read our Side-By-Side of the House, Senate, and Governor’s 2023-25 Biennial Budget Proposals (PDF)
Read our 2023 Legislative Platform
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