Senate Democrats leave Ferguson’s universal school meals behind

Plus more questions on that $100M for cops and some recommended reading

The fate of a proposal to offer free meals in Washington public schools to all students—one of Gov. Bob Ferguson’s top budget priorities—is looking dicey.

Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee Chair Lisa Wellman told The Observer she doesn’t plan to advance Senate Bill 5352, introduced at Ferguson’s behest by Sen. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane. Instead, she plans to focus on other education spending priorities. Chiefly, securing more than $1B for the "Big 3” in basic education, a point of broad consensus among Washington’s 295 public school districts.

“The money isn’t there,” for universal school meals at this time, said Wellman, D-Mercer Island. Wellman said she had already spoken with Ferguson’s office, and House Finance Chair April Berg, who sponsored a companion measure in the House.

Wellman is right that the cost for the state is politically complicated in a down-budget year. The fiscal notes for SB 5352 and HB 1404 have not been posted, but Berg says the policy would cost about $108M annually. In his four-year budget forecast document, Ferguson estimated universal school meals would cost about $480M. The money would expand access to meals to all 1.1M public school students, an increase of about 325K kids.

Gov. Bob Ferguson looking grim at Thursday’s press conference. (Photo by Tim Gruver.)