Senators say student testimony at joint hearing highlighted overcrowded classrooms, failing school facilities

Senator Coben said lawmakers heard from students and school board members at a joint House–Senate Education Committee hearing who described growing class sizes, cuts to activities and and failing school facilities.

“It was difficult to hear. We had many students talking about their increasingly large class sizes, the lack of course offerings, their fears that their after school programs were going to disappear, the cuts to student activities,” Senator Coben said. “What hit me hardest was the students who talked about the state of the facilities that they are supposed to learn in, sitting next to dripping buckets of water and condemned buildings that don't have operable fire panels.”

The senators said the testimony underscored an urgent need to find a funding path forward for public education. Senator Coben said she was “hopeful that as we continue to have good dialogues here in the legislature about what we can do and what we should be doing to support public education in our state that we will figure out a pathway forward and we will figure it out quickly.”

Senator Stevens, who opened the briefing, and other senators praised student optimism and teachers even as they described the “bleak picture” relayed by school boards and parents. The remarks came as senators discussed the broader state budget outlook and possible new revenues that could affect school funding.

No formal legislation or vote on specific education funding was announced at the briefing; speakers said education funding remains a high priority as the legislature evaluates operating and capital budgets for the session.

Lawmakers did not provide a timetable for specific education funding actions at the briefing. The discussion on education came during a wider update on the session, including transportation and the operating budget.