WASHINGTON — Funding for schools in Washington State is under pressure from national and local forces.
Locally, what state lawmakers have allocated for education spending has fallen from 52% in 2018, when the State’s Supreme Court found lawmakers were finally meeting their legal school funding obligations, to 43% today. School districts say inadequate state spending, namely in Special Education and Transportation, has cut into their spending and, at times, forced them to pass levies to fund programs the state otherwise should be.
Reykdal sent a letter to lawmakers this week expressing his concern, “As we approach the halfway point of Session, it is clear the two chambers are very far apart in their approaches to funding the state’s basic education obligation.”
Reykdal requested $2.9 billion to fully fund basic education programs, as well as maintenance, supply, and operation costs for districts. Reykdal requested $501 million for 2026 and an additional $1.5 billion in 2026. In SB 5263, passed this week, state senators fulfilled the request while also removing a cap on special education enrollment that limits how much districts receive from the state. Reykdal noted that State House Representatives keep what he calls the “legally questionable” cap in place, with around $150 million generated for special education programming.
Similarly, state senators have passed $190 million in maintenance funding over two years, while the state House has proposed $50 million.
“It’s the one place in the Constitution that says it’s the paramount duty. It’s the number one priority. So I’m not too shy about saying this is what we need,” Reykdal said in an interview with KIRO 7 News.
Reykdal says schools will likely face program cuts if significant investments are not made, pointing to cuts some schools have already made
Reykdal said in the letter it is ‘heartening’ that lawmakers are considering new revenue for schools, amid a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall. That may mean taxes, as Reykdal advocates for not cutting social safety net programs in order to fully fund basic education, saying, “making cuts in one area will affect the other.”
“We’re still a state that under-taxes, relative to the national average... Low-income people bear the brunt of it because of our dependence on sales tax,” explains Reykdal.
Nationally, Reykdal fears that cuts to Department of Education staff could be a harbinger of financial cuts to come to schools across the nation.
“The current regime in Washington, D.C. is not interested in growing federal budgets, even education budget. So I think it’s only going to get worse,” Reykdal said to KIRO 7.
Reykdal believes Washington State will be better off than most states, as federal funding makes up an average of 6.95% of district budgets. However, his office posted a map showing communities that are more reliant on federal funding, showing that rural districts on the Olympic Peninsula, Northern, Eastern, and Central Washington are the most reliant on federal funding, some up to 44%, paying more than $15,000 per student.
In announcing cuts to staffing, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said it represents a “commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers.”
“My vision is aligned with the President’s — to send education back to the states and empower all parents to choose an excellent education for their children,” McMahon said on the Department of Education webpage.
Reykdal countered, saying that was a pretense to privatizing education through school choice and school vouchers, limiting federal funding for schools.
“We keep saying is it’s kind of already the framework. So we get all the decisions in the States right now around our credit requirements and our grad requirements and our curriculum choices,” Reydal said, “What the federal government does is take care of the most vulnerable people.”
There are three buckets of federal funding Reykdal worries about: Title I funding for low-income students, special education grants, and meal programs. Especially given the state’s already tight budget, he doesn’t see a scenario where the State’s budget would be able to supplement what federal funding provides.
“If the feds would pull away dollars and then give us our money back, we could figure it out, right? We donate $22 billion a year more in our income taxes than we get back in the state. $22 billion a year. That would solve our state’s budget deficit for years and years and years to come,” Reykdal said.