School operating costs

AN ACT Relating to funding for school materials, supplies, and 1
operating costs; amending RCW 28A.150.260; and creating a new 2
section. 3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that inflation has 5
reduced the purchasing power of Washington's school districts, 6
limiting their ability to fund essential materials, supplies, and 7
operating costs. Current state allocations for materials, supplies, 8
and operating costs have not kept pace with actual costs. Therefore, 9
it is the intent of the legislature to support students, school 10
districts, and basic education by increasing materials, supplies, and 11
operating costs funding.12
Sec. 2. RCW 28A.150.260 and 2025 c 334 s 1 are each amended to 13
read as follows: 14
The purpose of this section is to provide for the allocation of 15
state funding that the legislature deems necessary to support school 16
districts in offering the minimum instructional program of basic 17
education under RCW 28A.150.220. The allocation shall be determined 18
as follows: 19
Z-0558.1
SENATE BILL 5918
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Senators Wellman, Conway, Hasegawa, Nobles, Riccelli, Slatter,
Stanford, and C. Wilson; by request of Superintendent of Public
Instruction
Prefiled 12/18/25. Read first time 01/12/26. Referred to Committee
on Early Learning & K-12 Education.
p. 1 SB 5918
(1) The governor shall and the superintendent of public 1
instruction may recommend to the legislature a formula for the 2
distribution of a basic education instructional allocation for each 3
common school district. 4
(2)(a) The distribution formula under this section shall be for 5
allocation purposes only. Except as may be required under subsections 6
(4)(b) and (c), (5)(b) and (c), (8), and (9) of this section, chapter 7
28A.155, 28A.165, 28A.180, or 28A.185 RCW, or federal laws and 8
regulations, nothing in this section requires school districts to use 9
basic education instructional funds to implement a particular 10
instructional approach or service. Nothing in this section requires 11
school districts to maintain a particular classroom teacher-to-12
student ratio or other staff-to-student ratio or to use allocated 13
funds to pay for particular types or classifications of staff. 14
Nothing in this section entitles an individual teacher to a 15
particular teacher planning period. 16
(b) To promote transparency in state funding allocations, the 17
superintendent of public instruction must report state per-pupil 18
allocations for each school district for the general apportionment, 19
special education, learning assistance, transitional bilingual, 20
highly capable, and career and technical education programs. The 21
superintendent must report this information in a user-friendly format 22
on the main page of the office's website. School districts must 23
include a link to the superintendent's per-pupil allocations report 24
on the main page of the school district's website. In addition, the 25
budget documents published by the legislature for the enacted omnibus 26
operating appropriations act must report statewide average per-pupil 27
allocations for general apportionment and the categorical programs 28
listed in this subsection. 29
(3)(a) To the extent the technical details of the formula have 30
been adopted by the legislature and except when specifically provided 31
as a school district allocation, the distribution formula for the 32
basic education instructional allocation shall be based on minimum 33
staffing and nonstaff costs the legislature deems necessary to 34
support instruction and operations in prototypical schools serving 35
high, middle, and elementary school students as provided in this 36
section. The use of prototypical schools for the distribution formula 37
does not constitute legislative intent that schools should be 38
operated or structured in a similar fashion as the prototypes. 39
Prototypical schools illustrate the level of resources needed to 40
p. 2 SB 5918
operate a school of a particular size with particular types and grade 1
levels of students using commonly understood terms and inputs, such 2
as class size, hours of instruction, and various categories of school 3
staff. It is the intent that the funding allocations to school 4
districts be adjusted from the school prototypes based on the actual 5
number of annual average full-time equivalent students in each grade 6
level at each school in the district and not based on the grade-level 7
configuration of the school to the extent that data is available. The 8
allocations shall be further adjusted from the school prototypes with 9
minimum allocations for small schools and to reflect other factors 10
identified in the omnibus appropriations act. 11
(b) For the purposes of this section, prototypical schools are 12
defined as follows: 13
(i) A prototypical high school has 600 average annual full-time 14
equivalent students in grades nine through 12; 15
(ii) A prototypical middle school has 432 average annual full-16
time equivalent students in grades seven and eight; and17
(iii) A prototypical elementary school has 400 average annual 18
full-time equivalent students in grades kindergarten through six.19
(4)(a)(i) The minimum allocation for each level of prototypical 20
school shall be based on the number of full-time equivalent classroom 21
teachers needed to provide instruction over the minimum required 22
annual instructional hours under RCW 28A.150.220 and provide at least 23
one teacher planning period per school day, and based on the 24
following general education average class size of full-time 25
equivalent students per teacher: 26
General education27
average class size28
Grades K-3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.0029
Grade 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.0030
Grades 5-6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.0031
Grades 7-8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28.5332
Grades 9-12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28.7433
(ii) The minimum class size allocation for each prototypical high 34
school shall also provide for enhanced funding for class size 35
reduction for two laboratory science classes within grades nine 36
through 12 per full-time equivalent high school student multiplied by 37
a laboratory science course factor of 0.0833, based on the number of 38
full-time equivalent classroom teachers needed to provide instruction 39
p. 3 SB 5918
over the minimum required annual instructional hours in RCW 1
28A.150.220, and providing at least one teacher planning period per 2
school day: 3
Laboratory science4
average class size5
Grades 9-12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.986
(b)(i) Beginning September 1, 2019, funding for average K-3 class 7
sizes in this subsection (4) may be provided only to the extent of, 8
and proportionate to, the school district's demonstrated actual class 9
size in grades K-3, up to the funded class sizes. 10
(ii) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall 11
develop rules to implement this subsection (4)(b).12
(c)(i) The minimum allocation for each prototypical middle and 13
high school shall also provide for full-time equivalent classroom 14
teachers based on the following number of full-time equivalent 15
students per teacher in career and technical education:16
Career and technical17
education average18
class size19
Approved career and technical education offered at20
the middle school and high school level. . . . . . . . . . . . 23.0021
Skill center programs meeting the standards established22
by the office of the superintendent of public 23
instruction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.0024
(ii) Funding allocated under this subsection (4)(c) is subject to 25
RCW 28A.150.265. 26
(d) In addition, the omnibus appropriations act shall at a 27
minimum specify: 28
(i) A high-poverty average class size in schools where more than 29
50 percent of the students are eligible for free and reduced-price 30
meals; and 31
(ii) A specialty average class size for advanced placement and 32
international baccalaureate courses. 33
(5)(a) The minimum allocation for each level of prototypical 34
school shall include allocations for the following types of staff in 35
addition to classroom teachers: 36
37
38
Elementary
School
Middle
School
High
School
p. 4 SB 5918
1
2
Principals, assistant principals, and other certificated building-level
administrators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.253

1.353

1.880
3
4
Teacher-librarians, a function that includes information literacy, technology,
and media to support school library media programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

0.663

0.519

0.523
5
6
Paraeducators, including any aspect of educational instructional services
provided by classified employees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.012

0.776

0.728
7 Office support and other noninstructional aides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.088 2.401 3.345
8 Custodians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.657 1.942 2.965
9 Nurses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.585 0.888 0.824
10 Social workers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.311 0.088 0.127
11 Psychologists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.104 0.024 0.049
12 Counselors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.993 1.716 3.039
13 Classified staff providing student and staff safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.079 0.092 0.141
14 Parent involvement coordinators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.0825 0.00 0.00
(b)(i) The superintendent may only allocate funding, up to the 15
combined minimum allocations, for nurses, social workers, 16
psychologists, counselors, classified staff providing student and 17
staff safety, and parent involvement coordinators under (a) of this 18
subsection to the extent of and proportionate to a school district's 19
demonstrated actual ratios of: Full-time equivalent physical, social, 20
and emotional support staff to full-time equivalent students.21
(ii) The superintendent must adopt rules to implement this 22
subsection (5)(b) and the rules must require school districts to 23
prioritize funding allocated as required by (b)(i) of this subsection 24
for physical, social, and emotional support staff who hold a valid 25
educational staff associate certificate appropriate for the staff's 26
role. 27
(iii) For the purposes of this subsection (5)(b), "physical, 28
social, and emotional support staff" include nurses, social workers, 29
psychologists, counselors, classified staff providing student and 30
staff safety, parent involvement coordinators, and other school 31
district employees and contractors who provide physical, social, and 32
emotional support to students as defined by the superintendent.33
(c) The superintendent shall develop rules that require school 34
districts to use the additional funding provided under (a) of this 35
subsection to support increased staffing, prevent layoffs, or 36
increase salaries for the following staff types in the 2024-25 school 37
p. 5 SB 5918
year: Paraeducators, office support, and noninstructional aides. The 1
superintendent shall collect data from school districts on how the 2
increased allocations are used. 3
(6)(a) The minimum staffing allocation for each school district 4
to provide district -wide support services shall be allocated per one 5
thousand annual average full -time equivalent students in grades K -12 6
as follows: 7
Staff per 1,0008
K-12 students9
Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.62810
Facilities, maintenance, and grounds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.81311
Warehouse, laborers, and mechanics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.33212
(b) The minimum allocation of staff units for each school 13
district to support certificated and classified staffing of central 14
administration shall be 5.30 percent of the staff units generated 15
under subsections (4)(a) and (5) of this section and (a) of this 16
subsection. 17
(7) The distribution formula shall include staffing allocations 18
to school districts for career and technical education and skill 19
center administrative and other school-level certificated staff, as 20
specified in the omnibus appropriations act. 21
(8)(a)(i) Except as provided in (((b))) (a)(ii) and (iii) of this 22
subsection, the minimum allocation for each school district shall be 23
$1,614.28 per full-time equivalent student for materials, supplies, 24
and operating costs , to be adjusted annually for inflation beginning 25
in the 2026-27 school year. ((For purposes of this subsection, 26
"inflation" means the implicit price deflator for the previous 27
calendar year as of the beginning of the school year, using the 28
official current base, compiled by the bureau of economic analysis, 29
United States department of commerce.30
(b))) (ii) In addition to the amount provided in (a)(i) of this 31
subsection, each school district shall receive a minimum allocation 32
of $214.84 for each full-time equivalent student in grades nine 33
through 12 for materials, supplies, and operating costs, to be 34
adjusted annually for inflation beginning in the 2026-27 school year. 35
((For purposes of this subsection, "inflation" means the implicit 36
price deflator for the previous calendar year as of the beginning of 37
the school year, using the official current base, compiled by the 38
bureau of economic analysis, United States department of commerce.39
p. 6 SB 5918
(c))) (iii)(A) Beginning in the 2026-27 school year, in addition 1
to the amount provided in (a)(i) of this subsection, each school 2
district shall receive a minimum allocation of $100 per full-time 3
equivalent student for materials, supplies, and operating costs, to 4
be adjusted annually for inflation from the 2026-27 school year.5
(B) Any school district receiving less than $100,000 under 6
(a)(iii)(A) of this subsection, to be adjusted annually for inflation 7
from the 2026-27 school year, shall receive an additional allocation 8
to bring total funding under this subsection (8)(a)(iii) to $100,000, 9
to be adjusted annually for inflation from the 2026-27 school year. 10
Additional allocations provided under this subsection (8)(a)(iii) may 11
not be included in calculations under RCW 28A.150.390, 43.216.580, or 12
28A.300.072.13
(iv) For purposes of this subsection (8)(a), "inflation" means 14
the implicit price deflator for the previous calendar year as of the 15
beginning of the school year, using the official current base, 16
compiled by the bureau of economic analysis, United States department 17
of commerce.18
(b) The increased allocation amounts of $35.27 per full-time 19
equivalent student provided under (a)(i) of this subsection and $4.69 20
per full-time equivalent student in grades nine through 12 provided 21
under (((b))) (a)(ii) of this subsection are intended to address 22
growing materials, supplies, and operating costs and may not be 23
expended for any other purpose. 24
(((d))) (c)(i) Beginning in the 2026-27 school year, each school 25
district shall annually report all expenditures for materials, 26
supplies, and operating costs including, but not limited to, 27
expenditures in the following disaggregated categories, to the office 28
of the superintendent of public instruction: 29
(A) Technology, including further disaggregation within this 30
category for technology devices, technology support staff, software 31
licensing, and technology or software maintenance and repair;32
(B) Election fees associated with school district board of 33
directors elections; 34
(C) Utilities; 35
(D) Insurance; 36
(E) Curriculum and textbooks not included under the technology 37
category; 38
(F) Library materials not included under the technology category;39
(G) Other supplies not included under other categories;40
p. 7 SB 5918
(H) Nontechnology-related contracted instructional professional 1
development for certificated and classified staff; 2
(I) Facilities maintenance materials, supplies, and operating 3
costs not funded by transfers from other funds; 4
(J) Security and central office administration;5
(K) Dues and fees; and 6
(L) Property and equipment not funded by transfers from other 7
funds. 8
(ii) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall 9
report additional categories as determined necessary to meet other 10
state and federal reporting requirements. 11
(9) In addition to the amounts provided in subsection (8) of this 12
section and subject to RCW 28A.150.265, the omnibus appropriations 13
act shall provide an amount based on full-time equivalent student 14
enrollment in each of the following: 15
(a) Exploratory career and technical education courses for 16
students in grades seven through 12; 17
(b) Preparatory career and technical education courses for 18
students in grades nine through 12 offered in a high school; and19
(c) Preparatory career and technical education courses for 20
students in grades 11 and 12 offered through a skill center.21
(10) In addition to the allocations otherwise provided under this 22
section, amounts shall be provided to support the following programs 23
and services: 24
(a)(i) To provide supplemental instruction and services for 25
students who are not meeting academic standards through the learning 26
assistance program under RCW 28A.165.005 through 28A.165.065, 27
allocations shall be based on the greater of either: The district 28
percentage of students in kindergarten through grade 12 who were 29
eligible for free or reduced-price meals for the school year 30
immediately preceding the district's participation, in whole or part, 31
in the United States department of agriculture's community 32
eligibility provision, or the district percentage of students in 33
grades K-12 who were eligible for free or reduced-price meals in the 34
prior school year. The minimum allocation for the program shall, 35
except as provided in (a)(iii) of this subsection, provide for each 36
level of prototypical school resources to provide, on a statewide 37
average, 2.3975 hours per week in extra instruction with a class size 38
of 15 learning assistance program students per teacher.39
p. 8 SB 5918
(ii) In addition to funding allocated under (a)(i) of this 1
subsection, to provide supplemental instruction and services for 2
students who are not meeting academic standards in qualifying 3
schools. A qualifying school, except as provided in (a)(iv) of this 4
subsection, means a school in which the three-year rolling average of 5
the prior year total annual average enrollment that qualifies for 6
free or reduced-price meals equals or exceeds 50 percent or more of 7
its total annual average enrollment. A school continues to meet the 8
definition of a qualifying school if the school: Participates in the 9
United States department of agriculture's community eligibility 10
provision; and met the definition of a qualifying school in the year 11
immediately preceding their participation. The minimum allocation for 12
this additional high poverty-based allocation must provide for each 13
level of prototypical school resources to provide, on a statewide 14
average, 1.1 hours per week in extra instruction with a class size of 15
15 learning assistance program students per teacher, under RCW 16
28A.165.055, school districts must distribute the high poverty-based 17
allocation to the schools that generated the funding allocation.18
(iii) For the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, allocations under 19
(a)(i) of this subsection for school districts providing meals at no 20
charge to students under RCW 28A.235.135 that are not participating, 21
in whole or in part, in the United States department of agriculture's 22
community eligibility provision shall be based on the school district 23
percentage of students in grades K-12 who were eligible for free or 24
reduced-price meals in school years 2019-20 through 2022-23 or the 25
prior school year, whichever is greatest. 26
(iv) For the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, a school providing 27
meals at no charge to students under RCW 28A.235.135 that is not 28
participating in the department of agriculture's community 29
eligibility provision continues to meet the definition of a 30
qualifying school under (a)(ii) of this subsection if the school met 31
the definition during one year of the 2019-20 through 2022-23 school 32
years, or in the prior school year. 33
(b)(i) To provide supplemental instruction and services for 34
students whose primary language is other than English, allocations 35
shall be based on the head count number of students in each school 36
who are eligible for and enrolled in the transitional bilingual 37
instruction program under RCW 28A.180.010 through 28A.180.080. The 38
minimum allocation for each level of prototypical school shall 39
provide resources to provide, on a statewide average, 4.7780 hours 40
p. 9 SB 5918
per week in extra instruction for students in grades kindergarten 1
through six and 6.7780 hours per week in extra instruction for 2
students in grades seven through 12, with 15 transitional bilingual 3
instruction program students per teacher. Notwithstanding other 4
provisions of this subsection (10), the actual per-student allocation 5
may be scaled to provide a larger allocation for students needing 6
more intensive intervention and a commensurate reduced allocation for 7
students needing less intensive intervention, as detailed in the 8
omnibus appropriations act. 9
(ii) To provide supplemental instruction and services for 10
students who have exited the transitional bilingual program, 11
allocations shall be based on the head count number of students in 12
each school who have exited the transitional bilingual program within 13
the previous two years based on their performance on the English 14
proficiency assessment and are eligible for and enrolled in the 15
transitional bilingual instruction program under RCW 16
28A.180.040(1)(g). The minimum allocation for each prototypical 17
school shall provide resources to provide, on a statewide average, 18
3.0 hours per week in extra instruction with 15 exited students per 19
teacher. 20
(c) To provide additional allocations to support programs for 21
highly capable students under RCW 28A.185.010 through 28A.185.030, 22
allocations shall be based on 5.0 percent of each school district's 23
full-time equivalent basic education enrollment. The minimum 24
allocation for the programs shall provide resources to provide, on a 25
statewide average, 2.1590 hours per week in extra instruction with 26
fifteen highly capable program students per teacher.27
(11) The allocations under subsections (4)(a), (5), (6), and (8) 28
of this section shall be enhanced as provided under RCW 28A.150.390 29
on an excess cost basis to provide supplemental instructional 30
resources for students with disabilities. 31
(12)(a) For the purposes of allocations for prototypical high 32
schools and middle schools under subsections (4) and (10) of this 33
section that are based on the percent of students in the school who 34
are eligible for free and reduced-price meals, the actual percent of 35
such students in a school shall be adjusted by a factor identified in 36
the omnibus appropriations act to reflect underreporting of free and 37
reduced-price meal eligibility among middle and high school students.38
(b) Allocations or enhancements provided under subsections (4), 39
(7), and (9) of this section for exploratory and preparatory career 40
p. 10 SB 5918
and technical education courses shall be provided only for courses 1
approved by the office of the superintendent of public instruction 2
under chapter 28A.700 RCW. 3
(13)(a) This formula for distribution of basic education funds 4
shall be reviewed biennially by the superintendent and governor. The 5
recommended formula shall be subject to approval, amendment or 6
rejection by the legislature. 7
(b) In the event the legislature rejects the distribution formula 8
recommended by the governor, without adopting a new distribution 9
formula, the distribution formula for the previous school year shall 10
remain in effect. 11
(c) The enrollment of any district shall be the annual average 12
number of full-time equivalent students and part-time students as 13
provided in RCW 28A.150.350, enrolled on the first school day of each 14
month, including students who are in attendance pursuant to RCW 15
28A.335.160 and 28A.225.250 who do not reside within the servicing 16
school district. The definition of full-time equivalent student shall 17
be determined by rules of the superintendent of public instruction 18
and shall be included as part of the superintendent's biennial budget 19
request. The definition shall be based on the minimum instructional 20
hour offerings required under RCW 28A.150.220. Any revision of the 21
present definition shall not take effect until approved by the house 22
ways and means committee and the senate ways and means committee.23
(d) The office of financial management shall make a monthly 24
review of the superintendent's reported full-time equivalent students 25
in the common schools in conjunction with RCW 43.62.050.26
--- END ---
p. 11 SB 5918