Senate fiscal committee advances big spending for K-12 priorities

Plus other notable K-12 bills and some housing policy on the move

Senate lawmakers advanced some key bills representing more than $1B in new spending for the top three K-12 education priorities: Special education; materials, supplies, and operating costs; and student transportation.¹

Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, and Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, set aside their differences to co-sponsor Senate Bill 5263, which would add nearly $1B in new spending for special education in the 2025-27 biennium. The fiscal committee passed a substitute version of SB 5263 from Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education chair Lisa Wellman that tinkered with some of the numbers and was estimated to save the state about $400-500M over the next four years.

Sen. Chris Gildon, R-Puyallup, introduced an amendment to Wellman’s substitute that would have added a performance audit to ensure special education dollars are being spent effectively, but it failed.

Wellman also introduced a substitute version of Senate Bill 5192 that would boost spending on materials, supplies, and operating costs—a major expense for school districts statewide hit by the effects of inflation and rising insurance costs. Wellman’s version trimmed some of the proposed allocations and would save the state an estimated $173M over four years, legislative staff said.

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