Olympia board hears legislative priorities as session opens; leaders press lawmakers on MSOC, special education and transportation funding

Director Darcy Huffman, the Olympia School District’s legislative liaison, told the board on Jan. 9 that the district is focused on three funding priorities for the 2025 Washington legislative session: maintenance, supplies and operating costs (MSOC), special education funding and transportation.

Huffman said the governor’s and legislative leaders’ initial planning and the district’s advocacy partners — including WASDA and WASA — show attention to those topics but warned the session begins in the midst of a budget shortfall she described as “anywhere between 10,000,000,000 and 15,000,000,000” in state revenue. “This is the budget time, and they’re excited about that,” Huffman said.

Why it matters: Funding formulas for MSOC, the special-education multiplier and the STARS transportation formula determine how much state money each district receives for core operational needs and for students with higher needs. Board members told lawmakers that gaps in those formulas force the district to use local levy funds for state-mandated services.

Huffman walked the board through a slate of bills she and others are tracking. She cited a bill by Senator Nobles (bill number 5192) that she said would raise MSOC to about $1,723 per pupil with an additional roughly $230 per high-school student, and a House bill (5187) that would study transportation funding. She told the board some numbers in those bills were preliminary and said, “Please do not quote me on that,” when discussing line items.

Two incoming or newly elected legislators joined the meeting and answered questions. The first, identified in the transcript as Representative D’Aulio, said she was assigned to the House Appropriations Committee and described the process of writing a budget under a large deficit. “We really do need to look at where can we cut, so that we can make sure and keep education funding,” she said, adding that she would use equity for students with the highest needs — special education, language learners and homeless students — as a guiding principle.

Representative-elect Parsley, who described herself as new to the Legislature, said she requested a seat on the Finance Committee and stressed the difficulty of balancing cuts and revenues. “I suspect we’re gonna look for cuts, but at some point we’re gonna recognize that revenue has to be also part of the conversation,” she said.

Board members pressed the two legislators on specific asks. Director Roger Flores urged restoration of the National Board certification bonuses and stronger regionalization for salary allocations; he also flagged House Bill 1120 (described in the meeting as a bill to raise certificated and classified allocations) and urged lifting the special-education cap. Director Flores said the district currently uses levy dollars to meet basic special-education obligations and described that practice as legally and operationally untenable.

Other board members asked for clarity about advocacy steps families and staff can take, and Huffman reviewed permissible advocacy versus lobbying. She emphasized that the district would provide information and tools through the district’s legislative action network but would not supply scripted messages for constituents to send to legislators.

Votes at a glance: The board adopted the evening agenda, approved minutes from the Dec. 12, 2024 meeting and adopted the consent agenda by unanimous voice votes earlier in the meeting. A later motion to take a five-minute recess to fix a technical issue was moved and seconded but did not receive support and failed; the transcript records only “Nay. Nay. Nay. No support, we move on,” and does not list a formal roll-call tally for that motion.

What the board asked of the legislators: Directors sought pledges to restore or preserve National Board bonuses, increase the paraeducator allocation (one board member pointed to proposed statutory changes moving a para base allocation in HB 1120 from $45,912 toward $67,325), lift the special-education funding cap, address levy equalization and pursue durable MSOC rebasing that includes an inflationary factor.

Context and next steps: Huffman said the board and district staff will run regular updates through the district’s legislative action network during session (more frequent as March approaches) and provided a list of web resources for tracking bills. The legislators encouraged board members and staff to bring personal stories and school visits to legislators and described plans for the House and Senate budget processes in the months ahead.

Direct quotes in this article are taken from meeting remarks by Director Darcy Huffman and the two legislators who identified themselves in the transcript as Representative D’Aulio and Representative-elect Parsley, and from board members who spoke during the discussion.

Ending: The board directed staff to continue outreach to the district’s legislative delegation and to publicize the district’s legislative-action materials to families and staff as the session begins Monday, Jan. 13, 2025.