001All right. Um once again everyone um good afternoon. Logan Nol Andrris with WASDA. Um happy March 20th. Um this will be the last in session live related to the 2026 legislative session. Um today during our time together, we plan to share about um essentially breaking down the policy changes um for districts as a result of this session, funding changes for districts. um we'll get a little bit of feedback from you. Um we have a couple of very simple, you know, one or two choice um questions just to try to use that. We'll start some dialogue with the advocacy action network during the spring and summer to help think about how we might be able to make our legislative updates that much more valuable to you. And then we'll share a little bit about um what
002we've got cooking for the interim. Um this work is year round as you hear us say often and um just because the legislative session has ended um does not mean this work ends. Um just sort of wanted to start um with some gratitude um this afternoon. I know that the outcomes and results of this session are not uh not good um honestly for um a lot of K12 and yet um the work that we did do to fight off um lots of bad ideas that did not become reality and to reduce harm as much as possible around some of the bad things that did come into play could not have been done without a large collective um of of advocates that includes includes all of you for being a part of this space for doing
003advocacy with your legislators. Uh members of WASDA's legislative committee and board of directors um all played significant roles in helping to shape uh shape outcomes and engage. Um also just want to give a shout out to our consultants um Kyla Scarage Blair and Daniel Pelthorp. uh they were a great help to Cynthia and I this year and also to all of our education advocacy partners um and the other statewide associations. Um some of the pictures that you see on the slides here were taken in moments of levity during the session. Um that top photo is a picture of the legislative committee um at legislative conference this past January before session started. And um anyway, just sort of want to say thank you to all of you for being contributors to this work. um and in
004advance. Thank you for the work that we're going to continue to do uh moving forward. Okay. So, um we're going to start with policy um and then we're going to move to budget. Um just one second. I'm sorry. So, we're going to move into policy changes. Okay. So, where we wanted to start for you all is essentially on new school year require or new school district requirements. um some of the bills that passed that will essentially change things for you all. Um the first one that we want to bring to your attention is the new prohibition on some restraint practices as well as new or remodeled isolation rooms. That's House Bill 1795. That bill prohibits prohibits mechanical restraint, chemical restraint, and physical restraint or physical escort of a student's life um unless there's a life-threatening
005situation in schools. Um this uh bill will go into effect or these requirements will go into effect for districts starting July 1st. Um so I want you to know that. Additionally, House Bill 2534 um changes some of the requirements for you all around um children of military families. Um you can read um the bill and our written in session summary to sort of get a um a full detailed list, but um it essentially will expand and clarify enrollment rights um for children of military families that relocate to Washington. There are some timeline changes um for school districts that essentially have to do with um the timeline by which uh families and students will have to provide proof of residency, for example. Um and there's also some new requirements in there for districts about making sure
006that services um that are on existing IEPs for students that might be transferring into your district are provided promptly um for those students. Additionally, House Bill 2557 changes some timelines around special education evaluation reports. Um, essentially, school districts are now required to provide uh these evaluation reports to families um by no later than the 35th school day um of the year. And uh there is uh some other timeline changes around uh the timeline by which school districts will have to um have these meetings with parents and families. So be sure to check that out. And then lastly, House Bill 2632 relates to um non-citizen terminology. um essentially removing references um in state law and all like public documents uh removing the term alien um from those documents and replacing it with non-citizen. Um so just
007want you to know that those are coming down the line. Um and each of those will be um linked and shared in our written in session document. um as well as um any of those that touch on uh model policy, for example, we'll be working to update those as an agency over the course of the spring and summer. So, watch for those changes coming in the next few months. Two more bills um that do add new school district requirements. These ones won't go into place until the 202728 school year. Um but still want you to know about them. House Bill 1295 is about evidence-based uh K4 literacy programs and it basically says when or if a school district decides to update their curriculum around early literacy, reading literacy or writing literacy, um there are some
008new requirements about uh some of the particular components that those curriculums might have to include. um uh thinking about things like multiensory, multimodal students. Uh making sure that those curricula are culturally relevant. Um and there's a number of other requirements in there. Um and this requirement again is only when you go to update those particular curriculum. It's not mandating every district to go out and do those updates by the 202728 school year. It's just saying as you update after that school year or during that school year, um you'll need to make sure that that um curriculum meets some new requirements. Um additionally, Senate Bill 5841 has to do with post-secary financial aid eligibility. Um we talked about this one early on in session and um essentially what this is going to mean for you all.
009Um, it'll it'll uh work to make some of our statewide systems talk to each other around high school and beyond planning as well as FAFSA and financial aid completion and application. Um, in particular for for school districts though um there will be some requirements as practical um for school districts to make sure they're reviewing financial aid eligibility um with students. Um there is a to the extent practicable um included in the bill um but still want you all to know um that that's coming down the line starting in the 2728 school year. Other bills that you should know about. Um we're going to go through each one just at a high level. Um again really want to make sure that we are um informing you about what's coming down the line. And again, as you
010have questions, please don't hesitate to use the Q&A box. Um, House Bill 1634, um, essentially, uh, helps to create a technical assistance network at the state level, um, by OSPI as well as the Educational Service District Association. Um, that essentially will provide a framework that school districts can optionally use um, to better support student behavioral health in districts. Um, House Bill 1796, um, essentially expands school districts, uh, authority to incur debt for school construction and related capital purposes. Um, this essentially has to do with borrowing money from a past levy, um, and then paying it back over time. Um, that's not a requirement, but it's an option for districts um, and school districts can start tapping into that option beginning July 1, 2026. House Bill 1960 um is about renewable energy. Um this bill would
011essentially um in areas where there are like lots of wind farms going up and things like that, it would um essentially exempt new energy equipment from property taxes that would normally contribute to your local tax base um to that support school districts. thinking about levies. And it would replace that revenue with a new renewable energy excise tax um that remains uh distributed being distributed to districts um based on existing levy shares. Um we talked about this bill uh a couple times during the session um and didn't get that much feedback. Um our understanding is that it will not impact um that many districts in the state. Um but this bill is out there. um these tax tax changes go into effect January 1, 2028. House Bill 2225 is about AI chatbot companions um and essentially
012requires that um any users of companion chat bots um receive a notification that they are specifically interacting with artificial intelligence um and not a human. Um, and for the case of any AI that you might use in your districts, um, this does not apply to narrowly tailored educational tools that are used in a school or in an instructional setting, um, that is designed solely for the purpose of uh, supporting your curricula and other school activities. Um, House Bill 2317 has to do with early learning licensing. Um, and this bill essentially will exempt school day ECAP programs and Head Start programs, uh, licensing requirements when the program is located at a public school. So, there's some, uh, licensing changes for ECAP and Head Start included there. Finally for this slide, House Bill 2360 um authorizes public
013and private schools to maintain a supply of undesated albuterol um beginning in the 202728 school year. Um essentially allowing nurses and uh some other trained staff to administer it to students um that are experiencing respiratory issues such as like an asthma attack for example. um not a requirement, but it is an option for districts um should you all choose to do that. House Bill 2594 is about equal access to education for our unhous unhoused youth. Um this bill essentially copies and pastes some of the federal McKenna Vento protections that students have right now into state law. Um so uh want to let you know that happened. Um it's a good double protection um for our unhoused youth across Washington state. Additionally, Senate Bill 5272 has to do with intimidation and interference penalties um essentially expanding
014the penalties for school-related crimes of interference um by force or violence and then intimidation by threat or force of violence. Um, so it both changes the timeline and the fines um that are included there. That's a bill that popped back up at the end of session from 2025. Um, but that bill did make its way down the line. Want you to know that Senate Bill 5346 um about student use of mobile devices did pass. Um, this is one that early on in session was actually going to require school districts to adopt model policies. um limiting or prohibiting the use of student uh mobile of students using mobile devices during instructional hours. Um that part of the policy was not included at final passage right now. Essentially that's going to require OSPI to do some research.
015Um essentially pulling together some of the policies and procedures that are out there in districts. Um trying to understand how those were put together. um what worked really well and what might have been barriers for districts. Um and then that bill will also require um OSPI to come back and report all of that um to the legislature. So right now it's mostly a data and research collection bill um for OSPI as of this session. Senate Bill 5922 is about transportation vehicle fund transfers. Um, and it essentially allows districts to transfer vehicle depreciation payments and earn interest um from their transportation budget um into another fund such as maybe the operating budget um subject to approval from OSPI. I'm going to stop and take a look. I see something popped into the question box. Dave Larson
016asks if 2594 included any funding. Um, and asked if it's considered part of basic education. Um, Dave, I can tell you for sure that they did not include any funding for that bill at this time. Um, and I don't know the answer of if they included that as a part of basic ed in our state, but I'll be happy to look into that and get back to you. Okay. A couple more. Um, Senate Bill um, essentially expands uh, it expands eligibility um, and actually automatic eligibility for the Washington College Grant um, to include students that are experiencing foster care ages 13 and up um, or unaccompanied uh, unac students that are unaccompanied and experiencing homelessness. um and they will get full tuition um to any public uh public college um beginning in the 2026 27
017school year. Um all students who fall within um those experiences become automatically income eligible um is essentially the mechanism that they used um for that eligibility. So just good opportunities um to share with students. Additionally, Senate Bill 5969 um requires the statewide online IEP program uh and system to be talking to the statewide online high school and beyond plan system. Uh making sure that those two plans um that students might be working on are uh coordinated and aligned. Um, and it also is supposed to help with reducing duplication of input um that you all are having to do when you're managing two sets of plans. Um, so that bill will go into effect starting next year. A couple more for you. Um, Senate Bill um, essentially extends timber tax revenue distributions to school districts without
018qualifying levies in a given calendar year. um if the district had qualifying levies um in effect during either of the previous two years. So, it's essentially saying, "Hey, we will keep your timber tax distributions um at the same level um for districts." This is a small but important win um for districts who really rely on those funds. Senate Bill 6065 is another transportation related uh bill that allows school districts that are in binding conditions or under enhanced financial oversight to take a temporary interestfree interfund loan from its transportation vehicle fund and then petition OSPI to transfer that money um from the transportation fund into another fund. Um so there is uh some some more flexibility provided for districts there that are in um enhanced financial oversight. Um Senate Bill 6134 uh just good for you
019all to know um it requires some notices uh going to striking workers about applying for unemployment insurance. um the employment security department at the state will now be required to provide that notice um to striking workers applying for um unemployment insurance benefits about the potential overpayment assessment. Um so want you to know that that's out there and happening. Two more. Um Senate Bill 6268 is about online records of special education complaint decisions. um essentially now requiring OSPI to um post publicly on their website um records of all um special education complaint decisions dating back 20 years. Um so there will be sort of a new uh new piece of data and lengthier piece of data that'll be on OSPI's website um about special ed complaints. And then finally, Senate Bill 6268 um is about uh
020essentially how teacher and principal prep programs um are reviewed in our state. Um essentially saying that um there are there are some new requirements that PESB, that's the professional educator standards board, um we'll have to make sure that they're doing um as they are reviewing those preparation programs. So that's a whole lot of bills. Um I talked at you a bunch. Um some of those are um required as we spoke about in the beginning. Um others of those are not required and new sort of options or opportunities um that could you know enhance supports for students um or provide flexibility for districts. Um there will be links to resources um bill summaries um and sort of other supports and services that are connected to all of these topics that come out to you later today
021in our in session um legislative summary report. So be sure to check there for more information. Okay, moving on to funding. Uh we're going to start with um some good news and um that is that the sales tax exemption um from 2025, the temporary staffing, life presentations, taxes um that have really been um a burden and an unintended um consequence of last legislative session um have will officially be exempt um for schools, school districts, and ESDs um beginning July 1st, 2026. six. Um, just want to also let you know that the provision that essentially passed um, this exemption was included as a part of um, Senate Bill 6346, that's the millionaire's tax bill. Um, and it does include a severability clause, meaning that if uh the tax sort of the bigger millionaire's tax issue um
022gets stuck in the courts or in a voter initiative or for whatever reason has a challenge um uh preventing it from being implemented, the K12 sales tax exemption remains in place. Um so really really glad to see the legislature um acknowledge um and address the unintended consequence that they created last year. And so effective in just a couple more months um you all will be exempt um from paying those taxes. Um and then additionally um important to note that MSOC um and state funded staff um did receive the 2.6% inflationary adjustment in the final budget. Um moving on to uh the not good news. Um, just want to let you know where LEA, TTK, and bus depreciation landed in the final budget. Um, local effort assistance um was reduced by about $25 million statewide. And
023um, essentially where this is going to hit um, our districts that receive LEA um, is in calendar year 2027. Um, in summary, in 2025, when legislators passed the budget last year, they raised the levy lid and said, "Okay, over the course of the bienium, we're also going to make sure that we're increasing levy equalization." And um, what they said they were going to do is increase by $150 per student in 2026 and then by $250 per student in 2027. And so where this $25 million uh reduction is hitting is on that 2027 increase. Um so in 2027 your LEA funding will go up by $150 per student, not 250 as originally written. Um this is particularly disappointing due to the promises that were made last session um to not only really try to equalize um
024our districts who need and rely on LEA um but also um there was promises to work to make this uh funding permanent. So, passing a bill. Um, important to note, Representative Steve Burrquist did introduce the bill um at the beginning of session and it did not um it did not progress. On the topic of transition to kindergarten or TTK, um funding was reduced by about $27 million um or about 35% um across the state um reducing available slots by about 2400 um statewide. Um there is a bill um Senate Bill 6260 um that essentially contains the implementation language um that OSPI will have to follow um in order to essentially distribute um the remaining slots that are left. And so um in summary, what that says is that pro the following the following students and
025programs are prioritized for TTK funding. um first um school districts that already operate programs that serve um the particular list of students that we're going to get into. And then after that um it does include the extreme childcare access desert requirement um for any new programs um that might receive uh TTK slots. Um, some of the students that are now going to be uh um that are now going to have access to statewide or state funded TTK programs um are those who qualify for free or reduced price meals um and lack access to child care um students who are eligible for ECAP or Head Start but not scheduled for enrollment. Um, and then students who um are eligible to receive special education or students who are English learners or multilingual learners. Um, that's essentially where
026um where state funded slots um will land next year. Um, OSPI is going to be working over the next couple of months um to put together guidance and information as to how all of this will roll out. Um, so be watching for that. Finally, um on transportation or school bus depreciation, um this has not changed since we last spoke. Um so though the funding in that section was reduced by approximately $21 million statewide, um essentially extending school bus depreciation schedules from 8 to 10 years for category A buses and from 13 to 15 years for category C and D buses. Um particularly this applies um only to buses that were scheduled for depreciation after September 2025. Um additionally reimbursement payments for zero emission buses um are have been adjusted to be at 33% of the
027total um for the 25 26 school years through that says 2028 28 um that should say 202728 school years. Um just sort of want to offer a reflection um that these are particularly troubling and challenging um budget reductions for school districts, especially in the context of basic education um being as underfunded as it is. And um you know, we as a system um are worked so hard um to reduce harm as much as we possibly could with our legislators and with the budget this session. and um just just want to acknowledge um that these cuts are really hard um for us to share with you and I'm sure even harder um for you all to have to navigate at the district level. So just um just feel like it's important to acknowledge that. Additionally, um
028on the topic of the capital budget related to school facilities, um there was a total investment of just over $94 million this year um for modernization and safety programs. Um including the numbers you see on your screen. Um there's funding for um small district modernization program, $71 million. Um that includes um both planning grants um for districts who applied there as well as um some of the actual construction grants for districts as well. Um just about $14 million for seismic safety and then another sort of collective $9 million for distressed school districts and um the SCAP enhancement program pilot. Um so want to um particularly plug uh that there was funding granted for schools in the capital budget. Um the small district modernization program was one uh one of the items that was on our
029platform our priorities list um for 2026. I'm so thankful to see um funding come to schools through this mechanism. Uh I have been mentioning our final session summary document. Um this is your sneak preview of the top. Uh this will be coming out later this afternoon um through our typical in session channel um coming by email. Um and this document will essentially break down um all of what we talked about today. Um there's a word document that we made that essentially um provides lots of details and resources for you. um as well as um lots of other ways that we're going to continue the work. So um be sure to watch for that. Um and we hope that that's a document that's helpful for you all um in communicating with your schoolboard colleagues um and
030with your communities about um what has happened essentially during the 2026 session. Um as you're looking through it um if you have any questions for us again, please don't hesitate to reach out and ask. Cynthia and I are here. Okay. Um I'm going to stop my screen share um and pass the mic over to Cynthia um who just has a couple questions um that she's going to walk through with you all. Um just trying to get some feedback um that will help to guide some of our work in the advocacy action network this spring and summer to um help improve our um in session uh legislative updates. Cynthia, take it away. Yeah, thanks Logan. Um, so hi everyone. Um, I'm just going to be gathering some feedback about in session and um, particularly in session
031live. Um, by chance, Logan, do you have the questions the >> Yes, I think I can. I hit launch. >> Okay, perfect. Um, so you should be able to see a poll and there's about four questions. they are not too lengthy. Um and so the first question is has WASDA in session been um worth your time? Um second question is do you have um adequate re do you have adequate resources um to update your board colleagues as a result of WASDA in session? How could in session live be improved? Um you can check all that apply. Would you like to have more voices, guest presenters, um have it be more conversational, or if you have anything else that you would like to add? Um and then the fourth question is, was the WASDA bill watch
032helpful? Um and this is for us. We want to make sure that we are giving you the most valuable resources and spending um time with us in the most productive way. Um, and so I see some of those are folks are filling it out. So, thank you. And this will just make us continue to be better and better each year. So, thanks everyone. I'm going to end the poll and I will pass it to Logan and we'll do um what's up next during interim. >> Thanks Cynthia and thanks everyone for engaging. Um we know that we don't have a space necessarily here to sort of have a two-way dialogue. Um so we wanted to ask you some you know sort of yes or no single answer type questions. Um but if you have um further
033thoughts or feedback for us um we would of course welcome that. Um feel free to send us an email um and um feel free to join our advocacy action network conversations this summer um where we'll be holding some space to talk through them in more detail. Okay, getting our slides back up on the screen. Um we are going to share a little bit about um what's coming next. Um, as we get ready for the interrum, uh, I must have I must have made some slides here. Uh, I just talked about the advocacy action network. Um, that group will be getting together on March 24th, um, at noon. That is on Tuesday. Um and during that time um we're really going to be focusing on um essentially kicking off and navigating um the interim again that
034period between legislative session end and the next legislative s legislative session starting. Um we will be um also joined by um some of our partners that have been doing work on educational funding. Um so you don't want to miss that um space and we hope you'll join us. That group will also meet monthly um over the course of the interim when we're together um next week. We'll essentially be sharing with you the schedule um for the next um seven or eight months uh that'll get us through December. Um, so, uh, we're trying to give you all, um, a schedule in advance, um, and, um, as much as we can sort of fill in early, um, topics, um, that we'll want to talk about together so that you have a predictable, um, schedule and sort of
035are informed about, um, what we'll be talking about each month so that you can decide, um, where and when um, your time is best spent. Um, additionally, um, I mentioned at the beginning, especially around, uh, our policy bills, um, there will be model policies, um, that work their way through the WASDA system, um, over the course of the next couple of months. Um, we sort of inside the agency, uh, made this big document with all the bills and passed it over to our policy and legal department um, who will be working to make tweaks um, as necessary to model policies. um as a result of all this work. So um watch for the summer issue um of that document from our policy and legal team um later this year. And then again, we just really
036wanted to say thank you so much um for engaging. We hope this was a useful and valuable space to you. Um Cynthia and I are always open to um hearing from you about your experience um taking feedback that will help us to create um the best space possible um for you all to receive legislative updates for us. Um during the interim again um most of our space and energy will be um dedicated towards our advocacy action network for updates like this um as we prepare for the next legislative session. So, sign up over there um if you haven't done that yet. Um and we'll see many of you um around this spring and summer at regional meetings. Um we hope to see you in person in your areas um as well as through um our
037ongoing um advocacy work. So, once again, thank you for being with us. Um thank you for spending your lunch hours with us on Fridays during the session. And um Cynthia and I will see you soon. Thanks everyone. Take care.