001Okay. And I think we're rolling. Happy October everyone. Um we have quite a bit of information and opportunity for discussion um ready for you today. Um we are going to start with uh some introductions. Um we have a new staff member on our advocacy team, Cynthia Tamayo. Uh I know many of your faces, but for those who I don't know, I'm Logan Noelandr. I am your strategic advocacy director. And um I would love for uh Cynthia to jump in and introduce yourself before we get started. >> Hello everyone. Good afternoon. Uh my name is Cynthia Tamayo. I am the legislative policy specialist here at WADA. Um I'm going on to my second week. Um a little bit about me, I was born and raised in Scadget Valley. So, if you're familiar with the tulip festival,
002I um lived in Burlington, family Mount Vernon, went to Anacorta School District, um I currently live in Lacy. I moved to Lacy in 2017 to get my undergrad um at St. Martins's. Um I've been part of the state government world. Um before this, I was at the Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs as the chief of operations and policy. And before that, I was at the Washington State um Student Achievement Council. Um and so it's a pleasure to be here and I'm really excited to be in the space with all of you. >> Thanks, Cynthia. We're really excited to have you on our team and have you bring all of your um your wealth of legislative experience and policy knowledge to education and to school directors. Um a lot of the folks on this call
003uh you'll get to interact with pretty frequently, which is really great. Um we love this space. Okay. Um, just a quick overview at how we're going to spend um, the next 55 minutes or so. Um, do a quick year- round advocacy check-in. Um, share a little bit about where we are with the status of general assembly. Share some of the results that we've gotten from our member evaluation um, and some next steps. And then we have some content um, for you today to help prepare for legislative session um, including a couple different opportunities for discussion. So, thanks for uh coming ready to engage today. Um, we like to put this up on the slide deck every month just to remind you again that year round uh advocacy happens all the time and right now we're
004sort of right there in between the late September and the October bucket. Uh, in terms of what we're doing um, as school boards, uh, many of you participated in the general assembly just a couple of weeks ago on September 20th, which was lovely. Uh we had over 130 districts participate with us this year and uh you are all in the midst of identifying um recommendations for legislative priorities um for WASDA that the legislative committee uh will take up here in just a couple of weeks at the end of October. Just want to remind you where you are in that cycle as we get ready for the legislative session. Um a couple of highlights that we wanted to share with you um around general assembly. The feedback that you're seeing on the screen here are some
005common highle themes that we saw from the members that uh completed our evaluation afterwards. Um a couple of things I would note for you is that um we had 136 districts represented with 21% of attendees being firsttime attendees. I'm really excited to see that. Um the membership um amended the bylaws um adopted one new position um and made some amendments um and really spent a lot of their effort um consolidating some of our legislative positions which uh based on conversations this group has had I think will make it much easier for you all to prioritize some of the positions um with them being consolidated. Um we generally heard from members that um the event was efficient. Um that the tech and the virtual format worked really well. Members appreciated the opportunity for civil and respectful
006discussion. Um and that the presentation and support materials were generally helpful. And some opportunities that were recommended to us um for us to consider for future years is just more of a year-round communication mechanism for all things general assembly to help people get more familiar with sort of the concept and what it is. Um additionally thinking about um potential hybrid regional participation opportunities. So we're going to take that into con some consideration and think about what we can do there um and then provide some additional tech navigation resources. So, just wanted to pull these themes out for you to see and let you know that um uh we did have quite a few members respond to us um via our evaluation and we're very happy about that. So, what's next with General Assembly? Um submit
007recommendations for legislative priorities. Um many of your districts on the call have already completed this. If you're one of those, thank you very much. Um, if your district has not yet submitted recommendations, uh, we extended the window by which, uh, you can do that and through this Thursday, October 16th at midnight. Um, again, every district in the state, regardless of whether or not you participated at General Assembly, can submit recommendations for their top legislative positions uh, out of our existing catalog. Um, and you have until this Thursday to do that. If you're having any trouble um finding the mechanism to submit those priorities, you can reach out to Cynthia and I anytime. Um we're happy to help you find the link. Um and if you're like, where is that link? Um it would have come
008to um either board chairs or legislative representatives um on boards. Many of you fill one or both of those roles on your boards. So you should have that an email. And if you don't, um don't hesitate to reach out to us. We're happy to help uh get that to you. And just a couple more points around legislative prioritization. Just letting you know sort of what's next and what the process looks like. Um's legislative committee will meet later this month um to hear a whole bunch of policy updates um and then also really be able to dive into the recommendations that come from membership. That's uh where you all are identifying your top priorities for WASDA. Um and the legislative committee will uh develop and recommend a legislative platform uh that WADDA will take in 2026.
009Um following that, our board of directors will meet um just a couple days later actually to uh review and ultimately approve um the platform that does go through our board of directors. Um and then after that happens, we'll be sort of right at the end of October leading into November, uh we'll be able to uh have members come together at our annual conference, um November 20th through 22nd, uh where we'll have some professional development and a couple different breakout sessions um for you all to be able to dive in a little bit deeper into some of the priorities um that WASDA will navigate as we go into the 2026 session. uh giving you all the opportunity to um participate and um you know really bring your perspectives into the talking points and messaging that we
010carry forward there. >> Going to stop and just see if there's any questions about any of that information before we continue. Okay, great. Um, we have a couple of slides for you about the 2026 legislative session and um, what we know so far. Um, as of today, we are just 90 days away from the legislative session. We will start January 12th, 2026. We are not that far away. 90 days feels like a long time. And it also feels like we're going to be saying happy first day of session tomorrow. Um just a little bit of context, uh this upcoming session will be a short session. Uh meaning it's just 60 days long. Um we'll start January 12th and end March 12th. And um the legislature, as uh many of you know, generally operates in two-year
011cycles called a bianium. And our short sessions are the second year of a bianium generally uh existing for the purpose of course corrections um identifying uh things that they might have passed last session that may not be working um filling holes in the budget that kind of thing. Um what we're hearing generally um uh as many of you have seen in written updates from us over the past couple months and weeks um is that the we will just sort of be seeing and experiencing ongoing budget constraints um and possible cuts um across all sectors not just education. Um, in general, we're hearing that sort of the high level focus of our legislature right now, um, is generally around public safety, health care, and then sort of federal impacts and really just making sure to balance,
012um, balance the budget, um, at the state level. Some of the known education issues that we're aware of uh that our partners are sort of working on and legislators are working on is potential funding increases around MSOC. That's the materials, supplies, and operating costs budget for uh your districts. Um that is one part of what much of the education community pushed last year called the big three. Um MSOC is getting a lot of attention amongst our legislators right now. Um there are other conversations happening around substitutes, math, um unfunded mandates, um taxes on school districts, um and generally funding formula equity. Um that last part is more of a long-term conversation, um that we'll get into here in a little bit. Um and all 2025 bills are considered still active as we go into the
0132026 session. So that's a little bit of context. Um, additionally, we are continuing to see um a declining revenue forecast in our state. Um the most recent revenue forecast that came out was uh about three or four weeks ago now um essentially showing that uh our near general fund which is the fund uh that funds our state budget revenue collections through 2029 are now $93 million lower than what they expected as of June 2025. Um this generally stems from uh less less sales tax. Um mo mo much of our state revenue is funded from sales tax. Um thinking about retail, construction, shopping, etc. Um and so those revenues are essentially slowing down. Um therefore slowing down um revenue coming in at the state level. Um, generally what this means for us, um, is, uh, we
014can expect they're going to need to find some way to fill the revenue holes. And as we look specifically at 2025 27, so the budget that we are in right now for this bianium, uh, we're specifically looking at for this specific budget, a $412 million deficit below what we saw in June. Um so you know we did see during the 2025 session um an operating budget um that was passed um that funded schools um healthc care social services in the education community in particular uh we saw some money come in for special education and based on the budget shortfall that we had last year we knew this budget was already fragile when it passed. Um and that budget was passed uh along with an historic tax package including billions of dollars in new revenue um
015combined with spending cuts. And even with all of that, we're still seeing revenues fall short um as we get ready for the next session. And so um just want to sort of give you the context that uh $412 million short is currently where where our budget is looking like right now. So, just wanted to share some of that context with you. Any questions on that before we move into a discussion around unfunded mandates. Okay. Thanks for thanks for listening, y'all. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news as we get ready for session. I know it's tough. Um, part of what our lawmakers are talking about right now, um, are essentially thinking about where the state is with its budget and knowing that when we think about revenue, um, they've essentially got holes to fill,
016not necessarily funding to give out. They're starting to ask us questions about, you know, what types of unfunded mandates could they make more flexible or potentially soften or remove um as a way to offer some sort of relief to school districts. Um that question keeps coming to um to us at WASDA quite a bit and um I thought that'd be an interesting conversation to bring to you all to see if you have um any ideas or recommendations as to um how we might navigate that. Um I wanted to show this slide on the screen. Um shout out to Tom Ahern. Um he's an attorney at Foster Garvey. uh was one of the main attorneys behind the McCclary case and uh I was on a meeting recently along with some of you I think uh with
017the rural education center uh where he was talking about unfunded mandates and uh brought this slide forward um essentially showing us that in order for something to truly be identified as an unfunded mandate um it has to check five boxes. Um each of those here are highlighted on the screen. Um so first of all an unfunded mandate has to be a new cost uh uh and that was imposed after July 1st 1995. Um unfunded mandates or things that we claim to be in that space u must be imposed by the legislature. Um so for example if there is a program or um an activity that's imposed by say um OSPI or Department of Commerce or the federal government um in this space um those would not count. Unfunded mandates are um required and imposed by
018the legislature. Um, additionally, as we look at the purple or pink box, um, we see that unfunded mandates must be new programs or existing programs with increased level of services to pro, uh, to count as an unfunded mandate. Um, it must be directed towards any political subdivision of the state. That's a very easy one for us to check off as, uh, that very directly implies to school districts. Um, is that is you. So, that yellow box you can sort of always check. Um, and then the green box here, um, in general, especially as we think about, um, unfunded mandates and sort of legal claims, um, it's always good to have numbers around what the costs of our unfunded mandates would be. Um, a good piece of data to have as we're considering um, this topic.
019So, we're about to put you all into breakout room uh break breakout rooms um to just consider um what ideas might come to mind from you um in terms of things we might put forward to um our legislative partners um as to things they might be able to provide some flexibility on for us this year. um to get your brains thinking. Um some of the ideas and categories that we've heard so far from our partners are uh things that might reduce duplication um or simplify the administration of existing laws for you at the local level. Um simplifying and streamlining reports um and reporting. We know that you all do a lot of that. Um some opportunities to potentially limit public records requests. Um that could be things like um creating uh a space where public
020records requests for a district could be limited to the media and taxpayers or parents in your individual district as an example. Um also thinking about mandates that might be excessively prescriptive or burdensome. Um and then in general any other flexibility um or waiverss to authority that could be helpful for you. So, what I'm hoping we can do is spend, just looking at the time here, it's 12:17. Um, thinking that we can spend the next 10 minutes or so um in small in small rooms. We'll put you there. Okay. Um, so we are going to keep on moving um into um some notes around the 2026 session. Um and then we'll still have about 10 or 15 minutes or so for um some continued dialogue. Um so we have 90 days um like we shared until
021the legislative session starts. Um and just wanted to sort of give you some tips and tricks um from our end about things you can do um to prepare and get organized. um sort of first and for foremost we provided you a lot of context around what we're hearing um as it relates to the budget and sort of legislative appetite around um education issues for the next session. Um so I think it's just important to sort of ground yourself in uh the context that we have so far. We'll continue sharing with you uh more learnings as we get them. Um also um just thinking about how at the local level you can start um if you haven't already gathering data to support priorities for the upcoming session. Um thinking about um for example if you were
022going to share with your legislators uh the impacts around um insurance premiums as a connection of an advocacy point to MSOC. Um thinking about what data you can gather to help tell that story. Um, additionally, um, legislative work, um, tends to, uh, be all about relationships in a lot of ways. And so, um, would encourage you to consider sending emails to your legislators, um, any time, actually, as early as like right now, um, to share some of your district's priorities for the upcoming session. Um, and WASDAS, if you're so willing, um, as they'll be out in the next couple of weeks. um and invite them to visit a school um in your district or invite them out to coffee. Um just figure out how you might be able to have a conversation with them ahead
023of session to say, "Hey, I'm I'm a constituent in your district. Um I am a member of the school board in, you know, insert school district here. um and would love to talk with you about some of the priorities that we see for 2026 and some of the impacts um that we're seeing on our students and on our districts. Um, in our legislative impact toolkit, uh, the document that this group has been reviewing for the last three or four months now, on page 48, um, you will find a plethora of email templates, um, that will support you in either helping to just introduce yourself and build a connection, um, invite them to visit a school or to a schoolboard meeting, um, and lots of other things. So, I would encourage you to check out those
024templates in case those are helpful for you. Um and then of course um continue to engage with us um to learn about some of the statewide priorities that'll be coming out from WASDA here in the next couple of weeks informed by you all um and to stay informed with resources um to engage. Um we'll be spending quite a bit of time together in this space and other spaces. Uh really really focusing on what you all need um to best uh prepare and engage with our lawmakers um during a really short 60-day session. Um I also wanted to take this moment um to highlight just that communicating with legislators can feel um really challenging sometimes. um we get that feedback quite often and so um just sort of pulling out again from our legislative impact toolkit
025um that it is fully an option for you and we would encourage you to practice communication as feels good for you. Um you can feel free to practice that with yourself um with a colleague on your school board. Uh maybe you'd like some feedback from Cynthia or I here at WASDA. Um all of those are um good opportunities. We're here to support you in any way if you think that's helpful. Um, and also happy to help you think about um, crafting talking points um, to effectively support your messaging if that's um, something else you might be looking for. Um, of course um, use templates um, if that's interesting to you. Um, in addition to the email templates that are in our toolkit, um, we've also provided sample letters that you might send them, phone scripts
026if you're calling to leave a voicemail or talk with a member of your legislative staff. Um, so check those out inside of our impacts toolkit. Um, and then also, you know, bring bring ideas to this group. Um, where you're getting a lot of information today, which I hope is helpful. Um, but also and as we're about to go into more breakout groups here in a minute, um, you know, the purpose of this group in general is for you all to learn from each other and share ideas with each other. Um, and so if you're having, you know, problems or issues or just want feedback on how to do something, don't hesitate to ask your colleagues either at the local level, um, on your own boards or in this space. Um, additionally, uh, some more resources,
027um, that you will get leading up to session, um, of course is our WASDA priorities. I know I've been talking about those a lot, so I won't overburden that comment. Um, those should be out at the very end of October, um, or early November. Um, if you are coming to annual conference, uh, would point out at least two breakout sessions, um, that'll be, um, happening during that time that Cynthia and I will be hosting. um one that is specific to the 2026 legislative session and another that's more focused on uh year-round advocacy and how many of you in ledger rep roles or other roles on your school boards can most effectively engage year round. Um and then also um additional talking points and updates from us uh will be coming to you leading up to
028session. Um during the session, uh much of what you've experienced from WAS's advocacy team in the past um will continue. Um you can fully still plan to count on in session. Uh that's our written weekly legislative update as well as in session live. Um that is our webinar weekly update. Um we've gotten lots of feedback that both of those are very very helpful. Um so you can totally still count on those. Um, additionally from Cynthia and I, you can count on um, bill analysis and uh, bill tracking. Of course, there are lots of bills um, that continue to move through the legislature. And so um, we really try to create a hub um, for some of that tracking and analysis for you. Um we will continue to send action alerts out um via email, social
029media, um and lots of other new ways that we're thinking about to let you know uh when bills or public hearings are coming up that we really would encourage you to weigh in on. Um we'll be sending some individualized messaging in that way. Um and then also this group um will continue to have space throughout the legislative session. Um it may or may not be on Tuesdays at noon. um we sort of need need to figure out like what our legislative calendar looks like. Um but in some way, shape or form, this space will continue to exist um for you all to participate outside of all the other legislative spaces. And then one other thing that I would um share with you is that legislative conference for 2026 um is happening. Registration is open now.
030Um and I will drop the link for that into the chat. You can also find it on WADA's website. Um, this conference is something that we've done annually for many years in partnership with WASA, the superintendent association, and WASBO, the school business officer association. Um, this conference will be um held at the Hilton Seattle Airport, the same location as last year um on January 9th and 10th, just ahead of the legislative session. So, just wanted to make sure this was on your radar. Um, and let you know that registration opened up for that uh oh, about 10 days or so ago. And I'll make sure you get that link in chat. Okay, it is 12:42. We are right on time with where I was hoping we'd be right now, which makes me really happy. Um,
031we are going to um ask you to step into some breakout rooms again.