Washington’s superintendent of public instruction is asking Gov. Bob Ferguson and lawmakers for $2.19 billion in additional K–12 funding in the 2027–29 state budget, setting up a major education debate as the governor prepares his proposal for December.
The Office of Financial Management’s agency-request summary lists $2.189 billion in new near-general-fund spending. State Superintendent Chris Reykdal argues that about $1.2 billion is needed to restore what his office considers ample funding for basic education, while the rest would expand learning assistance for lower-income students and revive Transition to Kindergarten support.
The request is not an appropriation. It is the school agency’s opening bid in a process that runs through Ferguson’s two-year budget, expected in mid-December, and the Legislature’s 2027 session. Lawmakers can accept, reduce, reshape or reject individual pieces. The request identifies spending priorities but does not itself select the taxes, reserves or reductions that would finance them.
Operating costs account for a large share. According to reporting on the proposal, Reykdal seeks $408.6 million in the first fiscal year and $463.4 million in the second for materials, supplies and operating expenses, including insurance and utilities. Roughly 130 districts in a risk-management pool were told to expect average insurance-rate increases of 45% this school year, the report said.
The package also includes about $100 million to shift substitute-teacher costs now carried locally into state funding and nearly $225 million to improve pay for classified employees and paraeducators. Washington currently has 11 districts operating under binding financial conditions, a state oversight arrangement for districts in serious fiscal distress.
Reykdal presented the budget priorities alongside new achievement data at a September 10 press conference. His agency’s official announcement framed the proposal around the state constitution’s education obligation and the continuing effects of higher local costs. That legal argument refers to the state Supreme Court’s McCleary litigation, which ended court supervision in 2018 after lawmakers increased school funding.
The proposal also would restore support for Transition to Kindergarten after the current budget reduced the early-learning program by $27 million. Universal free school meals are not included, even though Ferguson has discussed using future income-tax revenue to extend meal coverage. Reykdal has said immediate operating pressures should take precedence in his agency request.
For families and school employees, no funding change is imminent. The practical indicators will be which items appear in Ferguson’s December budget and whether legislative budget writers agree that insurance, utilities, substitutes and staffing are part of the state’s basic-education responsibility.
The size of the request guarantees scrutiny during a period of projected budget pressure. But the relevant comparison is not simply the $2.19 billion total: lawmakers will need to test each component against enrollment, district financial data and the state’s constitutional duty before deciding what belongs in the final 2027–29 plan.
