Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Education Finance Legislation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
District finance director summarizes 2025 legislative outcomes affecting schools
Summary
Sean Fitzgerald, the district’s executive director of business and finance, summarized 2025 legislative activity for the board, highlighting changes to special education funding, MSOC increases, a TK enrollment cap, levy-lid adjustments and the Clean Buildings Energy Act language.
Sean Fitzgerald, Wenatchee School District executive director of business and finance, briefed the board on the 2025–26 legislative session at the May 13 meeting and outlined bills the district will track for funding and compliance.
Fitzgerald said Senate Bill 5263 (special education) passed and condensed the previous two-tier funding model into one model while increasing funding levels and lowering the safety net threshold; he noted the state removed the enrollment funding cap that had previously limited special-education funding beyond 16% of enrollment.
On MSOC (materials, supplies and operating costs), Fitzgerald described a final increase of about 5.3% after initial proposals of larger increases were amended. He said the legislature provided an additional enhancement for grades 9–12 and tied that enhancement to an annual adjustment based on IPD for those grades, while other MSOC funding remains subject to ad hoc legislative adjustments.
Fitzgerald said pupil transportation funding bills did not pass and that school bond reforms (simple majority / 40% validation) did not pass; he called out Senate Bill 5769 restricting TK enrollment to 2024–25 levels and said OSPI had sent district-specific caps (the district received a cap of 59 student FTE for next year, per recent OSPI numbers).
On the Clean Buildings/Energy Act, Fitzgerald said the enacted language (House Bill 1543) contains optional language about alternative metrics and expanded building exemptions for K–12 in cases tied to financial hardship, and he said the district will await state guidance on compliance and exemptions.
Fitzgerald recommended the board and district staff continue monitoring OSPI guidance and the governor’s signatures on bills that remained on the desk; board members thanked him for the summary and asked follow-up questions during the meeting.
