Public School Funding

To everyone who took action—by writing to legislators, signing petitions, attending town halls, and more—your efforts have made a difference! The 2025 Legislative Session wrapped up on April 27, and thanks to your involvement, our lawmakers addressed several key issues championed by the MISD PTA Advocacy Team and the Washington State PTA this school year. Keep in mind that our Governor has yet to sign these bills into law.

Below, we've highlighted the progress made, as well as the work that still lies ahead. This is just the beginning, and we need YOU to continue standing with us to advocate for the full funding of public education in Washington State.

• Special Education: Lawmakers took a meaningful step forward by eliminating the longstanding cap of 16% on special education spending. Although the accompanying $150 million funding increase is welcome, it will not affect our district and it falls short of what's needed as the state continues to underfund special education by over $500 million annually.

• Materials, Supplies, and Operating Costs (MSOC): The good news is that the legislature will add $35 per student to help schools address the financial strain due to inflation and rising operational costs. Unfortunately, that amount is not enough as districts still need about $565 per student to close the gap between actual expenses and what the state provides.

• Transportation Costs: Transportation funding reform came off the table early and remains woefully underfunded for most school districts, including MISD.

• EP&O Levy & LEA Funding: A bill passed by the legislature will allow school districts to raise $500/more per student through future voter approved EP&O levies who’s dollars fund school enrichment programs. For MISD, that levy will likely be on the ballot again in February 2026. Unfortunately, this bill does not offer any new support for the property-poor districts that struggle to raise cash locally. Therefore, the state still needs to take action on increasing Local Effort Assistance (LEA) funding, as this is the tool the state has to provide equitable funding to districts that do not have the same ability to raise local levy funds.

In response to all the legislative outcomes above, our MIHS PTSA board and membership will be discussing and proposing a "Resolution on Advocacy for Funding Education in Mercer Island School District" put together by our MISD Advocacy team composed of PTA representatives from all 6 of our schools and our PTA Council.

Please come to the membership meeting on Thursday, May 8th at 9:30am to be a part of the discussion and vote on this proposed resolution! Our voices made a difference this year but our district needs significantly more funding from the state to cover the basic cost of education. Please join us in continuing to advocate for funding in 2025.