Lawmakers press OPI for Impact Aid data, and discuss funding pressure points for ELL, special education and advanced opportunities

Committee members pressed the Office of Public Instruction for data on several K‑12 funding pressures, including federal Impact Aid, the use of funds for significant enrollment increases, English-language-learner (ELL) funding, special education costs and the advanced opportunities program wait list.

Senator Wendy Boyd and other members said they want clearer state visibility into how Impact Aid is claimed and used by districts, and they asked OPI to provide condensed data and trend graphics before executive action. Chair Beatty summarized the committee’s request: OPI should report what the state can see about Impact Aid receipts, and provide a high-level summary showing the share of district budgets made up by Impact Aid and disposition of fund balances where available. OPI staff told the committee that a position exists at OPI primarily to help districts apply for Impact Aid, but that the position’s role does not presently include tracking how districts spend the funds.

Committee members asked for specific spending figures related to the statutory allowance for “significant enrollment increases.” Budget office materials supplied to the committee showed those payments (SEI) totaled $1,429,629 in fiscal year 2024 and $777,947 in fiscal year 2025 to date; committee members asked for the date through which the FY25 figure was calculated.

Lawmakers also discussed English-language-learner funding and special education. Representative Keogh proposed the committee consider funding for ELL students based on identified students and teacher training stipends; he suggested an order-of-magnitude figure of about $5 million for discussion. Representative Matthews and others raised concerns that special-education costs have risen and that some districts levy locally for excessive special-ed costs; committee members asked OPI to provide updated special-education population and cost trends so the legislature can assess whether state formula levels remain sufficient.

Members also discussed the advanced-opportunities program and noted demand currently exceeds available funding; several members signaled willingness to consider augmenting the appropriation, depending on other legislative developments.

The committee asked OPI and budget staff to compile the requested data — Impact Aid visibility, SEI historical expenditures, ELL and special-education trends, and advanced-opportunities wait-list figures — and to deliver condensed analyses to the committee ahead of executive action in mid‑February. No formal action was taken during the work session.