Hundreds of educators, parents and students urge lawmakers to restore K‑12 funding and protect transition‑to‑kindergarten
Loading...
Summary
K‑12 superintendents, the Washington Education Association, OSPI and student speakers told the Senate Ways and Means Committee that proposed cuts — notably a $59M reduction to local effort assistance and a roughly $39M cut to Transition to Kindergarten — would disproportionately harm rural and property‑poor districts and reduce early learning access.
Dozens of district leaders, union officials and students addressed the Senate Ways and Means Committee during the K‑12 portion of the public hearing to oppose reductions that they say would shrink services and widen inequities.
Marissa Rathbone, testifying on behalf of school leaders (SEG 006), said the proposal’s ‘‘$59,000,000 reduction to local effort assistance disproportionately harms rural and property poor districts’’ and warned the change would weaken a central equity tool in the state funding model. The Washington Education Association and the Washington State School Directors Association made similar arguments, saying cuts to LEA and to Transition to Kindergarten (TTK) would force programs to scale back or close in small districts.
Mitra Chernyska for the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction told the committee the proposal ‘fails to make the meaningful investment in public education that students and communities urgently need’ and said that reducing TTK would ‘‘significantly limit student access’’ to an early learning program many families rely on (SEG 009). Rural principals and superintendents (Lisa Phelan SEG 010; Andy Webb SEG 017; Mandy Raines SEG 011) gave local examples: reduced TTK slots and longer bus depreciation schedules would strain small districts and, they said, push families to leave or programs to close.
Speakers across the K‑12 panel urged alternatives to across‑the‑board cuts and asked that lawmakers preserve existing eligibility and funding levels for early learning and programs targeted to property‑poor districts. Many pointed to compensation for other sectors and to transfers in the Senate proposal as evidence that choices could be made differently.
The committee heard additional K‑12 requests for targeted program funding — including career and technical student organization support, Microsoft productivity certifications and a $400,000 ask to include Pacific Science Center’s Science on Wheels — but the primary, repeated themes were LEA, TTK and equity for rural districts. The hearing proceeded to higher education and other sectors after an extended K‑12 panel.
