Education funding/use

AN ACT Relating to increasing school district flexibility in 1
expenditure of basic education funding; amending RCW 28A.150.260; and 2
repealing RCW 28A.300.476. 3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
Sec. 1. RCW 28A.150.260 and 2025 c 334 s 1 are each amended to 5
read as follows: 6
The purpose of this section is to provide for the allocation of 7
state funding that the legislature deems necessary to support school 8
districts in offering the minimum instructional program of basic 9
education under RCW 28A.150.220. The allocation shall be determined 10
as follows: 11
(1) The governor shall and the superintendent of public 12
instruction may recommend to the legislature a formula for the 13
distribution of a basic education instructional allocation for each 14
common school district. 15
(2)(a) The distribution formula under this section shall be for 16
allocation purposes only. Except as may be required under subsections 17
(4)(b) and (c), (5)(b) ((and (c))), (8), and (9) of this section, 18
chapter 28A.155, 28A.165, 28A.180, or 28A.185 RCW, or federal laws 19
and regulations, nothing in this section requires school districts to 20
use basic education instructional funds to implement a particular 21
S-3827.1
SENATE BILL 6122
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Senator Braun
p. 1 SB 6122
instructional approach or service. Nothing in this section requires 1
school districts to maintain a particular classroom teacher-to-2
student ratio or other staff-to-student ratio or to use allocated 3
funds to pay for particular types or classifications of staff. 4
Nothing in this section entitles an individual teacher to a 5
particular teacher planning period. 6
(b) To promote transparency in state funding allocations, the 7
superintendent of public instruction must report state per-pupil 8
allocations for each school district for the general apportionment, 9
special education, learning assistance, transitional bilingual, 10
highly capable, and career and technical education programs. The 11
superintendent must report this information in a user-friendly format 12
on the main page of the office's website. School districts must 13
include a link to the superintendent's per-pupil allocations report 14
on the main page of the school district's website. In addition, the 15
budget documents published by the legislature for the enacted omnibus 16
operating appropriations act must report statewide average per-pupil 17
allocations for general apportionment and the categorical programs 18
listed in this subsection. 19
(3)(a) To the extent the technical details of the formula have 20
been adopted by the legislature and except when specifically provided 21
as a school district allocation, the distribution formula for the 22
basic education instructional allocation shall be based on minimum 23
staffing and nonstaff costs the legislature deems necessary to 24
support instruction and operations in prototypical schools serving 25
high, middle, and elementary school students as provided in this 26
section. The use of prototypical schools for the distribution formula 27
does not constitute legislative intent that schools should be 28
operated or structured in a similar fashion as the prototypes. 29
Prototypical schools illustrate the level of resources needed to 30
operate a school of a particular size with particular types and grade 31
levels of students using commonly understood terms and inputs, such 32
as class size, hours of instruction, and various categories of school 33
staff. It is the intent that the funding allocations to school 34
districts be adjusted from the school prototypes based on the actual 35
number of annual average full-time equivalent students in each grade 36
level at each school in the district and not based on the grade-level 37
configuration of the school to the extent that data is available. The 38
allocations shall be further adjusted from the school prototypes with 39
p. 2 SB 6122
minimum allocations for small schools and to reflect other factors 1
identified in the omnibus appropriations act. 2
(b) For the purposes of this section, prototypical schools are 3
defined as follows: 4
(i) A prototypical high school has 600 average annual full-time 5
equivalent students in grades nine through 12; 6
(ii) A prototypical middle school has 432 average annual full-7
time equivalent students in grades seven and eight; and8
(iii) A prototypical elementary school has 400 average annual 9
full-time equivalent students in grades kindergarten through six.10
(4)(a)(i) The minimum allocation for each level of prototypical 11
school shall be based on the number of full-time equivalent classroom 12
teachers needed to provide instruction over the minimum required 13
annual instructional hours under RCW 28A.150.220 and provide at least 14
one teacher planning period per school day, and based on the 15
following general education average class size of full-time 16
equivalent students per teacher: 17
General education18
average class size19
Grades K-3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.0020
Grade 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.0021
Grades 5-6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.0022
Grades 7-8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28.5323
Grades 9-12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28.7424
(ii) The minimum class size allocation for each prototypical high 25
school shall also provide for enhanced funding for class size 26
reduction for two laboratory science classes within grades nine 27
through 12 per full-time equivalent high school student multiplied by 28
a laboratory science course factor of 0.0833, based on the number of 29
full-time equivalent classroom teachers needed to provide instruction 30
over the minimum required annual instructional hours in RCW 31
28A.150.220, and providing at least one teacher planning period per 32
school day: 33
Laboratory science34
average class size35
Grades 9-12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.9836
(b)(i) Beginning September 1, 2019, funding for average K-3 class 37
sizes in this subsection (4) may be provided only to the extent of, 38
p. 3 SB 6122
and proportionate to, the school district's demonstrated actual class 1
size in grades K-3, up to the funded class sizes. 2
(ii) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall 3
develop rules to implement this subsection (4)(b). 4
(c)(i) The minimum allocation for each prototypical middle and 5
high school shall also provide for full-time equivalent classroom 6
teachers based on the following number of full-time equivalent 7
students per teacher in career and technical education:8
Career and technical9
education average10
class size11
Approved career and technical education offered at12
the middle school and high school level. . . . . . . . . . . . 23.0013
Skill center programs meeting the standards established14
by the office of the superintendent of public 15
instruction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.0016
(ii) Funding allocated under this subsection (4)(c) is subject to 17
RCW 28A.150.265. 18
(d) In addition, the omnibus appropriations act shall at a 19
minimum specify: 20
(i) A high-poverty average class size in schools where more than 21
50 percent of the students are eligible for free and reduced-price 22
meals; and 23
(ii) A specialty average class size for advanced placement and 24
international baccalaureate courses. 25
(5)(a) The minimum allocation for each level of prototypical 26
school shall include allocations for the following types of staff in 27
addition to classroom teachers: 28
29
30
Elementary
School
Middle
School
High
School
31
32
Principals, assistant principals, and other certificated building-level
administrators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.253

1.353

1.880
33
34
Teacher-librarians, a function that includes information literacy, technology,
and media to support school library media programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

0.663

0.519

0.523
35
36
Paraeducators, including any aspect of educational instructional services
provided by classified employees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.012

0.776

0.728
37 Office support and other noninstructional aides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.088 2.401 3.345
p. 4 SB 6122
1 Custodians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.657 1.942 2.965
2 Nurses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.585 0.888 0.824
3 Social workers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.311 0.088 0.127
4 Psychologists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.104 0.024 0.049
5 Counselors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.993 1.716 3.039
6 Classified staff providing student and staff safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.079 0.092 0.141
7 Parent involvement coordinators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.0825 0.00 0.00
(b)(((i) The superintendent may only allocate funding, up to the 8
combined minimum allocations, for nurses, social workers, 9
psychologists, counselors, classified staff providing student and 10
staff safety, and parent involvement coordinators under (a) of this 11
subsection to the extent of and proportionate to a school district's 12
demonstrated actual ratios of: Full-time equivalent physical, social, 13
and emotional support staff to full-time equivalent students.14
(ii) The superintendent must adopt rules to implement this 15
subsection (5)(b) and the rules must require school districts to 16
prioritize funding allocated as required by (b)(i) of this subsection 17
for physical, social, and emotional support staff who hold a valid 18
educational staff associate certificate appropriate for the staff's 19
role.20
(iii) For the purposes of this subsection (5)(b), "physical, 21
social, and emotional support staff" include nurses, social workers, 22
psychologists, counselors, classified staff providing student and 23
staff safety, parent involvement coordinators, and other school 24
district employees and contractors who provide physical, social, and 25
emotional support to students as defined by the superintendent.26
(c))) The superintendent shall develop rules that require school 27
districts to use the additional funding provided under (a) of this 28
subsection to support increased staffing, prevent layoffs, or 29
increase salaries for the following staff types in the 2024-25 school 30
year: Paraeducators, office support, and noninstructional aides. The 31
superintendent shall collect data from school districts on how the 32
increased allocations are used. 33
(6)(a) The minimum staffing allocation for each school district 34
to provide district -wide support services shall be allocated per one 35
thousand annual average full -time equivalent students in grades K -12 36
as follows: 37
p. 5 SB 6122
Staff per 1,0001
K-12 students2
Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.6283
Facilities, maintenance, and grounds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.8134
Warehouse, laborers, and mechanics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.3325
(b) The minimum allocation of staff units for each school 6
district to support certificated and classified staffing of central 7
administration shall be 5.30 percent of the staff units generated 8
under subsections (4)(a) and (5) of this section and (a) of this 9
subsection. 10
(7) The distribution formula shall include staffing allocations 11
to school districts for career and technical education and skill 12
center administrative and other school-level certificated staff, as 13
specified in the omnibus appropriations act. 14
(8)(a) Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, the minimum 15
allocation for each school district shall be $1,614.28 per full-time 16
equivalent student for materials, supplies, and operating costs to be 17
adjusted annually for inflation beginning in the 2026-27 school year. 18
For purposes of this subsection, "inflation" means the implicit price 19
deflator for the previous calendar year as of the beginning of the 20
school year, using the official current base, compiled by the bureau 21
of economic analysis, United States department of commerce.22
(b) In addition to the amount provided in (a) of this subsection, 23
each school district shall receive a minimum allocation of $214.84 24
for each full-time equivalent student in grades nine through 12 for 25
materials, supplies, and operating costs, to be adjusted annually for 26
inflation beginning in the 2026-27 school year. For purposes of this 27
subsection, "inflation" means the implicit price deflator for the 28
previous calendar year as of the beginning of the school year, using 29
the official current base, compiled by the bureau of economic 30
analysis, United States department of commerce. 31
(c) The increased allocation amounts of $35.27 per full-time 32
equivalent student provided under (a) of this subsection and $4.69 33
per full-time equivalent student in grades nine through 12 provided 34
under (b) of this subsection are intended to address growing 35
materials, supplies, and operating costs and may not be expended for 36
any other purpose. 37
(d)(i) Beginning in the 2026-27 school year, each school district 38
shall annually report all expenditures for materials, supplies, and 39
p. 6 SB 6122
operating costs including, but not limited to, expenditures in the 1
following disaggregated categories, to the office of the 2
superintendent of public instruction: 3
(A) Technology, including further disaggregation within this 4
category for technology devices, technology support staff, software 5
licensing, and technology or software maintenance and repair;6
(B) Election fees associated with school district board of 7
directors elections; 8
(C) Utilities; 9
(D) Insurance; 10
(E) Curriculum and textbooks not included under the technology 11
category; 12
(F) Library materials not included under the technology category;13
(G) Other supplies not included under other categories;14
(H) Nontechnology-related contracted instructional professional 15
development for certificated and classified staff;16
(I) Facilities maintenance materials, supplies, and operating 17
costs not funded by transfers from other funds; 18
(J) Security and central office administration;19
(K) Dues and fees; and 20
(L) Property and equipment not funded by transfers from other 21
funds. 22
(ii) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall 23
report additional categories as determined necessary to meet other 24
state and federal reporting requirements. 25
(9) In addition to the amounts provided in subsection (8) of this 26
section and subject to RCW 28A.150.265, the omnibus appropriations 27
act shall provide an amount based on full-time equivalent student 28
enrollment in each of the following: 29
(a) Exploratory career and technical education courses for 30
students in grades seven through 12; 31
(b) Preparatory career and technical education courses for 32
students in grades nine through 12 offered in a high school; and33
(c) Preparatory career and technical education courses for 34
students in grades 11 and 12 offered through a skill center.35
(10) In addition to the allocations otherwise provided under this 36
section, amounts shall be provided to support the following programs 37
and services: 38
(a)(i) To provide supplemental instruction and services for 39
students who are not meeting academic standards through the learning 40
p. 7 SB 6122
assistance program under RCW 28A.165.005 through 28A.165.065, 1
allocations shall be based on the greater of either: The district 2
percentage of students in kindergarten through grade 12 who were 3
eligible for free or reduced-price meals for the school year 4
immediately preceding the district's participation, in whole or part, 5
in the United States department of agriculture's community 6
eligibility provision, or the district percentage of students in 7
grades K-12 who were eligible for free or reduced-price meals in the 8
prior school year. The minimum allocation for the program shall, 9
except as provided in (a)(iii) of this subsection, provide for each 10
level of prototypical school resources to provide, on a statewide 11
average, 2.3975 hours per week in extra instruction with a class size 12
of 15 learning assistance program students per teacher.13
(ii) In addition to funding allocated under (a)(i) of this 14
subsection, to provide supplemental instruction and services for 15
students who are not meeting academic standards in qualifying 16
schools. A qualifying school, except as provided in (a)(iv) of this 17
subsection, means a school in which the three-year rolling average of 18
the prior year total annual average enrollment that qualifies for 19
free or reduced-price meals equals or exceeds 50 percent or more of 20
its total annual average enrollment. A school continues to meet the 21
definition of a qualifying school if the school: Participates in the 22
United States department of agriculture's community eligibility 23
provision; and met the definition of a qualifying school in the year 24
immediately preceding their participation. The minimum allocation for 25
this additional high poverty-based allocation must provide for each 26
level of prototypical school resources to provide, on a statewide 27
average, 1.1 hours per week in extra instruction with a class size of 28
15 learning assistance program students per teacher, under RCW 29
28A.165.055, school districts must distribute the high poverty-based 30
allocation to the schools that generated the funding allocation.31
(iii) For the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, allocations under 32
(a)(i) of this subsection for school districts providing meals at no 33
charge to students under RCW 28A.235.135 that are not participating, 34
in whole or in part, in the United States department of agriculture's 35
community eligibility provision shall be based on the school district 36
percentage of students in grades K-12 who were eligible for free or 37
reduced-price meals in school years 2019-20 through 2022-23 or the 38
prior school year, whichever is greatest. 39
p. 8 SB 6122
(iv) For the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, a school providing 1
meals at no charge to students under RCW 28A.235.135 that is not 2
participating in the department of agriculture's community 3
eligibility provision continues to meet the definition of a 4
qualifying school under (a)(ii) of this subsection if the school met 5
the definition during one year of the 2019-20 through 2022-23 school 6
years, or in the prior school year. 7
(b)(i) To provide supplemental instruction and services for 8
students whose primary language is other than English, allocations 9
shall be based on the head count number of students in each school 10
who are eligible for and enrolled in the transitional bilingual 11
instruction program under RCW 28A.180.010 through 28A.180.080. The 12
minimum allocation for each level of prototypical school shall 13
provide resources to provide, on a statewide average, 4.7780 hours 14
per week in extra instruction for students in grades kindergarten 15
through six and 6.7780 hours per week in extra instruction for 16
students in grades seven through 12, with 15 transitional bilingual 17
instruction program students per teacher. Notwithstanding other 18
provisions of this subsection (10), the actual per-student allocation 19
may be scaled to provide a larger allocation for students needing 20
more intensive intervention and a commensurate reduced allocation for 21
students needing less intensive intervention, as detailed in the 22
omnibus appropriations act. 23
(ii) To provide supplemental instruction and services for 24
students who have exited the transitional bilingual program, 25
allocations shall be based on the head count number of students in 26
each school who have exited the transitional bilingual program within 27
the previous two years based on their performance on the English 28
proficiency assessment and are eligible for and enrolled in the 29
transitional bilingual instruction program under RCW 30
28A.180.040(1)(g). The minimum allocation for each prototypical 31
school shall provide resources to provide, on a statewide average, 32
3.0 hours per week in extra instruction with 15 exited students per 33
teacher. 34
(c) To provide additional allocations to support programs for 35
highly capable students under RCW 28A.185.010 through 28A.185.030, 36
allocations shall be based on 5.0 percent of each school district's 37
full-time equivalent basic education enrollment. The minimum 38
allocation for the programs shall provide resources to provide, on a 39
p. 9 SB 6122
statewide average, 2.1590 hours per week in extra instruction with 1
fifteen highly capable program students per teacher.2
(11) The allocations under subsections (4)(a), (5), (6), and (8) 3
of this section shall be enhanced as provided under RCW 28A.150.390 4
on an excess cost basis to provide supplemental instructional 5
resources for students with disabilities. 6
(12)(a) For the purposes of allocations for prototypical high 7
schools and middle schools under subsections (4) and (10) of this 8
section that are based on the percent of students in the school who 9
are eligible for free and reduced-price meals, the actual percent of 10
such students in a school shall be adjusted by a factor identified in 11
the omnibus appropriations act to reflect underreporting of free and 12
reduced-price meal eligibility among middle and high school students.13
(b) Allocations or enhancements provided under subsections (4), 14
(7), and (9) of this section for exploratory and preparatory career 15
and technical education courses shall be provided only for courses 16
approved by the office of the superintendent of public instruction 17
under chapter 28A.700 RCW. 18
(13)(a) This formula for distribution of basic education funds 19
shall be reviewed biennially by the superintendent and governor. The 20
recommended formula shall be subject to approval, amendment or 21
rejection by the legislature. 22
(b) In the event the legislature rejects the distribution formula 23
recommended by the governor, without adopting a new distribution 24
formula, the distribution formula for the previous school year shall 25
remain in effect. 26
(c) The enrollment of any district shall be the annual average 27
number of full-time equivalent students and part-time students as 28
provided in RCW 28A.150.350, enrolled on the first school day of each 29
month, including students who are in attendance pursuant to RCW 30
28A.335.160 and 28A.225.250 who do not reside within the servicing 31
school district. The definition of full-time equivalent student shall 32
be determined by rules of the superintendent of public instruction 33
and shall be included as part of the superintendent's biennial budget 34
request. The definition shall be based on the minimum instructional 35
hour offerings required under RCW 28A.150.220. Any revision of the 36
present definition shall not take effect until approved by the house 37
ways and means committee and the senate ways and means committee.38
p. 10 SB 6122
(d) The office of financial management shall make a monthly 1
review of the superintendent's reported full-time equivalent students 2
in the common schools in conjunction with RCW 43.62.050.3
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. RCW 28A.300.476 (Physical, social, and 4
emotional support staff —Report. (Expires June 30, 2030.) ) and 2022 c 5
109 s 2 are each repealed.6
--- END ---
p. 11 SB 6122