Last updated: September 1st, 2025

Contents

  • Summary of recommended new policies
  • Discussion

(1) All school district personnel at all WA public school districts should adhere to statewide salary schedules.

(2) There should be no local Enrichment Levies that certain school districts still incorrectly call EP&O Levies.

(3) Excessive, spiraling school district administrator compensations should be prohibited.

(4) All capital projects for public school districts (traditional public school districts and public charter schools) should be completely funded with State allocated funding.

(5) There should be no local School District Capital Levies and no local School District Bonds.

(6) There should be no pensions for public school district personnel - only 401k plans similar to the private sector.

(7) The OSPI needs to correct and clarify their Per Pupil Expenditure (PPE) reports to include all expenses.

(8) There should be more public charter schools with funding at the same level as the traditional public school districts.

(9) There should be school vouchers/credits to give families more choices than the one monopoly choice.

Discussion

(1) All school district personnel at all WA public school districts should adhere to statewide salary schedules.

We had the McCleary Decision. There should be no threats of strikes at certain individual school districts right before school starts in the fall. The current situation allows for each individual school district to have negotiations between local union leaders and local school district administrators - closed sessions. State legislators and local taxpayers are not represented at these meetings. When the meeting participants announce they have come to an agreement of higher compensations, where does that extra money come from? State legislators don’t just grant more money to that particular school district over other districts. The only source is from local Enrichment Levies which were originally advertised to the public as a source of small amounts of funds for student enrichment programs. And when that levy limit is reached, school district reps complain to the public and state legislators that they have budget shortfalls since (they claim) they are not fully funded. This illogical cycle is abusive to parents and taxpayers and must be corrected.

(2) There should be no local Enrichment Levies that certain school districts still incorrectly call EP&O Levies.

The state needs to provide funding for staff compensations based on statewide determined salary schedules. The state needs to provide prescribed funds for extracurricular activities including music and sports programs. As of 2026, WA legislators enacted an Enrichment Levy Lid Increase that allows for higher maximum amounts that school districts can request from local property taxpayers and those amounts can increase at inflation plus an additional 3.3% compounded annually. This fuels inflation. School districts should become more financially efficient - not less so. And these escalating local taxes will again result in unequal funding among school districts (wealthier school district areas are more able and likely to pass whatever their local school districts request) which led to the McCleary Decision in the first place.

(3) Excessive, spiraling school district administrator compensations should be prohibited.

Once statewide salary schedules for all school district personnel are enacted, there should be no excessive compensations for district administrators. There shouldn’t be a salary bidding contest pitting one district against another. School district administrator compensations should be set by state legislation - similar to the compensation rules for state legislators themselves. Many of the existing 295 school district superintendents collect more compensation, from taxpayers, than the governor! See the following interactive chart that highlights the current problem. There should be no golden handshakes where school district superintendents cash in large amounts (an extra $100,000+) of unused vacation pay when they retire or resign voluntarily or otherwise. They are not hourly workers. In the modern age that we are in, PTO is flexible in the private sector. School districts (via state legislation) need to modernize their policies too. Unused PTO is a thing of the past.

Link to the report on superintendent compensations by school district

There should be no uneven and unfair teacher compensations. See the following interactive chart that highlights the existing situation.

Link to the report on median teacher compensations by school district

Similar to school district superintendents, school districts currently can lure away teachers from other districts because of the uneven and unfair compensations from district to district. Teachers’ compensation should be set with statewide salary schedules which is not the case currently. Higher pay should be reserved for districts with more challenging student populations - namely higher poverty rates.

(4) All capital projects for public school districts (traditional public school districts and public charter schools) should be funded with State allocated funding.

The quality of school buildings should not be dependent on zip code. Students in school districts in less affluent areas should have the save level of well maintained buildings (no more, no less) as the wealthier areas such as Bellevue, Mercer Island and Seattle.

(5) There should be no local School District Capital Levies and no local School District Bonds.

Larger school districts, such as the Seattle School District, do not run school district bonds. They only run capital levies. Other school districts have to run expensive 20+ year bonds which, with current high interest rates, nearly double the actual costs to local property taxpayers since bond interest is almost as much as bond principal. Almost all school districts in their bond tax measure resolutions in the Local Voters’ Pamphlets (LVP) fail to mention the bond interest that taxpayers/voters are voting on. Until capital levies and school district bonds can be eliminated, at the least, school districts should be required to follow the intent of TILA (Truth In Lending Act) policies.

Link to the report on local voters’ pamphlets

(6) There should be no pensions for public school district personnel - only 401k plans similar to the private sector.

The vast majority (85+%) of their customers (parents and soon students) all have 401k plans – not pensions. Public school district personnel first need to educate themselves about 401k plans and start funding their own. Then they need to teach about 401k plans, investments, and other financial literacy topics to their students. They will then be practicing what they preach/teach. Currently, when school district staff compensations are reported, usually, the pension funding portion is never mentioned which gives a false, lowered compensation amount. But taxpayers are paying for that funding. The rest of society includes total compensation including the amounts that individuals need to set aside for their own retirements. And the rest of society worries a bit about inflation and have to do their best to account for it. Public school district staff need to join the rest of society and fund their own retirement plans and they need to help combat inflation.

(7) The OSPI needs to correct and clarify their Per Pupil Expenditure (PPE) reports to include all expenses.

Currently the OSPI’s PPE reports (including their online school district report cards) do not include capital outlays nor interest on debt. The OSPI PPE statistics only include school districts’ General Fund expenses. Besides a General Fund, each WA school district also has a Capital Projects Fund, a Transportation Vehicles Fund, a Debt Service Fund, and an ASB Fund for different expense categories. This fact needs to at least be clearly stated on the OSPI’s district report cards until the OSPI produces PPE statistics that include all expenses. The OSPI’s PPE fails to give the general public and state legislators a complete understanding of what school districts are actually spending. For example, for the 2023-2024 school year (the latest available budget data year) for the Seattle SD, the OSPI reports $22,600 for per pupil expenditures for the year. However, if all expenses are included, the Seattle SD actually spent $27,600 per pupil for the year.

Link to the report on total per pupil expenditures by school district

(8) There should be more public charter schools with funding at the same level as the traditional public school districts.

Currently WA’s public charter schools are funded at a lower amount than the traditional public school districts. Charter schools are not allowed to run local school levies nor local school bonds.

(9) There should be school vouchers/credits to give families more choices than the one monopoly choice.

Public school districts will benefit from a little competition - improvements in student academic performance as well as in financial efficiencies. Some of our current State legislators went to private school in their youth. More of today’s families with young children should also have those same kinds of choices including private school and/or homeschool.

Link to info on the recently passed federal tax credit for education scholarships