I wish each of you a fulfilling new year. Together, I’d like to reflect on the fact that the world has always been full of hope and tragedy. In our modern world, the tragic parts are commoditized, monetized, and pushed straight to you and our children with unprecedented speed and volume. Notwithstanding, I will keep my focus on supporting our students, families, and communities because every day over one million Washington students sit before our highly trained and dedicated public educators. Collectively, our students engage in 6 million learning hours per day and over 1 billion hours of learning per year. Our public schools make our democracy possible, and each day there is so much hope, love, laughter, and learning that occurs in our classrooms across our beautiful state. The hope and the joy do not fill our newspapers, T.V. broadcasts, or social media, but they are present EVERY day in our lives!
Below are 10 things I will be following in 2025; some with embrace, and some with resistance. I hope this list provides you with some educational insights for the year to come:
Federal Issues:
10) Will the Trump administration attempt to eliminate the U.S. Dept. of Education? It would require congressional approval, so it’s unlikely to happen. However, we can expect the new Education Secretary to attempt a roll-back of rights and protections for trans youth. We can also expect the new administration to try and force schools to support their deportation agenda. In Washington state, we will defend our diverse students with every ounce of legal protection we have created in our State Constitution and state statutes.
9) There is a bipartisan push nationally to reform the federal government’s mandatory student testing regime. States are seeking more flexibility on test frequency, and clearer communication that standardized tests are not an adequate measure of schools, students, or educator performance.
Federal and State Issues:
8) Will a combination of the federal government and the State Legislature finally fund special education services consistent with the civil rights expectations embedded in federal and state laws?
7) Some federal and state lawmakers will continue their verbal and policy attacks against public schools. Congress will likely attempt new laws at forcing states into voucher schemes or threaten to withhold federal funds from states that don’t adopt voucher schemes. Republicans in our state will likely renew their push to put forward a ballot initiative to force taxpayer funds to be spent on private school vouchers, possibly including religious schools.
State-only issues:
6) Some state Republicans are pushing to have OSPI appointed by future Governors, thus removing it as an office elected by the people. Governor-elect Ferguson has indicated some support. I do not support this unless it is part of a much larger set of reforms. We have at least six state agencies with high-paid executives with some regulatory authority over K-12. There should be one! We should make state-level oversight more efficient and streamlined. Removing OSPI as an elected position takes a constitutional amendment and thus a 2/3rds vote in the House and Senate, before going to voters for approval. That is all unlikely, but the efficiency reforms I have consistently supported only require a simple majority of our Legislature.
5) Will the Legislature and the new Governor maintain our commitment to child-care access and early learning opportunities consistent with current law?
4) OSPI will finish our media/digital literacy statewide learning standards. Students need to understand the risks and benefits of social media, traditional media, and the many ways that mis- and dis-information are being used to promote propaganda and broad societal mistrust.
3) Every year, tens of millions of dollars in school construction, local jobs, and school safety upgrades are held back by a 60% voter requirement for local construction bonds. Will two or three Republicans in our State House and Senate join Democrats in adopting a simple majority for school bonds, thus driving more local investments and leveraging substantially more state matching funds for local school construction projects?
2) After 2018, the State Legislature forced voter approved local school levies to be cut. They imposed new limits that initially reduced local levies by over $1 billion statewide. This action disproportionately hurt Puget Sound districts (but also some others across the state). These forced levy reductions were never required by our State Supreme Court in the McCleary case. These forced reductions have played a major part in the financial distress of many school districts across the state. Will the Legislature simplify levy calculations and restore local opportunities for communities to support their schools at previous levels?
1) And the number one issue before us in 2025 is whether Washington lawmakers will increase investments in public K-12 operating budgets beyond inflation to stop the per-student funding slide and the reduction of K-12 spending as a share of our state budget? State investments paired with a full restoration of local levy authority will stabilize local school district budgets.
Thanks for following along and for your persistent advocacy for quality public education. I wish you good health and eternal hope in 2025!
Forever in service,
Chris
Washington State Superintendent
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