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Legislative Priorities

First page of the PDF file: LegislativePriorities

School boards discuss Legislative Priorities for 2025

board members talking around a table

The School Boards of Lakewood School District and Arlington Public Schools met on Oct. 21, 2024, during a special joint meeting to discuss their Legislative Priorities for the 2025 regular session of the Washington State Legislature, which begins in January. Board directors met in the Lakewood High School library.

As a top priority, both governing bodies are asking the Legislature to fully fund special education. The current funding model puts a cap on services at 16% of a school’s student population. In the 2024-25 school year, 18% of students in Lakewood qualify for at least one special education service. Districts rely on their local levies to backfill this gap in funding.

Another common priority is an increase in funding for Materials, Supplies, and Operating Costs, also known as MSOC. Like other households and businesses, schools across the state have seen an increase in the cost of things like fuel, food, utilities and insurance. Lakewood’s insurance costs have increased 111% over the last five years. Food costs have gone up 74% in three years. Funding from the state for these costs has not kept up with inflation.

board member speaking

Funding for pupil transportation has also not covered the actual costs of services. In its list of priorities, Arlington Public Schools is asking the legislature to fix the formula to more accurately represent the costs of making sure students are safely transported to and from school.

Lakewood School District lists as its final priority, modification of the regionalization factor and experience factor assigned to districts since the McCleary decision. While the regionalization factor was originally designed to reflect a community’s housing costs, Lakewood receives a lower regionalization factor than its neighbors, a methodology that exacerbates inequities.

Other points of discussion included developer impact fees — which Lakewood does not qualify for under the current state formula — and the reliance on portables to meet capacity needs.

board members talking while around table