Richard Ramsey (786-7909)
Prototypical School Model. The state's public school funding model allocates funding to school districts based on assumed levels of staff and other resources necessary to support a prototypical school serving an assumed number of students at defined elementary, middle, and high schools levels. The use of prototypical schools is intended to illustrate the level of resources needed to operate a school of a particular size using commonly understood terms such as class size, hours of instruction, and specified staff positions.
The structure of the formula, which appears in statute, provides allocations for classroom teachers at an assumed class size, plus other building-level staff. Based on these staffing ratios, the state uses salary assumptions for each of the different staff types to generate state funding allocations. The funding provided to school districts through the prototypical school formulas is for allocation purposes only, and districts have discretion over how the money is spent, subject to some limits.
The staffing ratios for teaching assistants, office supports, and noninstructional aides are as follows:
| Elementary | Middle | High | |
| Teaching assistance, including any aspect of educational instructional services provided by classified employees. | 0.936 | 0.700 | 0.652 |
| Office support and other noninstructional aides. | 2.012 | 2.325 | 3.269 |
The staffing ratios for teaching assistants, office supports, and noninstructional aides are increased to the following amounts for the 2024-25 school year:
| Elementary | Middle | High | |
| Teaching assistance, including any aspect of educational instructional services provided by classified employees | 1.292 | 0.800 | 0.768 |
| Office support and other noninstructional aides | 2.342 | 2.716 | 3.346 |
The staffing ratios for teaching assistants, office supports, and noninstructional aides are increased to the following amounts for the 2025-26 school year:
| Elementary | Middle | High | |
| Teaching assistance, including any aspect of educational instructional services provided by classified employees | 1.648 | 0.900 | 0.884 |
| Office support and other noninstructional aides | 2.672 | 3.107 | 3.423 |
Beginning in the 2026-27 school year and beyond, the staffing ratios for teaching assistants, office supports, and noninstructional aides are changed to the following amounts:
| Elementary | Middle | High | |
| Teaching assistance, including any aspect of educational instructional services provided by classified employees | 2.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Office support and other noninstructional aides | 3.00 | 3.50 | 3.50 |
The committee recommended a different version of the bill than what was heard. PRO: Paraprofessionals are crucial in identifying barriers to education and helping students overcome those barriers. They serve the important roles of providing one-on-one and small group instruction, which is essential for students that are struggling or trying to overcome learning loss. This is especially critical for those students who live in poverty or have IEPs. Current staff units are outdated and do not support the social, emotional, and academic needs of students. This bill helps move the levels closer to those suggested by staffing enrichment work group, and brings them fully up to the levels from Initiative 1351.
CON: This bill raises concerns about the additional taxpayer burden, as the cost would be prohibitive. The recent influx of support staff has not yielded improvements in student performance or behavior. Public school teachers have said that recently hired staff have inadequate training, experience, and oversight so funding should focus on training rather than more bodies in the classroom.
OTHER: Funding should be provided equitably rather than equally. Test scores show that Washington has some of the biggest income-based achievement gaps in the country so the bill should be amended to allocate additional FTEs equitably for high poverty schools. This bill is a good step but it promotes itself as a behavioral and mental health bill and doesn't actually fund more mental health positions. The bill should provide greater increases in staff ratios than it currently does. The increase in non-teaching staff would further reduce the ratio of teachers to non-teachers and shift resources out of the classroom.
PRO: Senator Derek Stanford, Prime Sponsor; Julie Salvi, Washington Education Association; Tyler Muench, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction; Charlie Brown, South Sound School Districts ; Sara Betnel, Washington State School Directors' Association; Dune Ives; Robbi Reed, WEA - Northshore Education Association; Bob Cooper, National Assocition of Social Wokers WA Chapter; Jim Kowalkowski, Rural Education Center; Natalya Yudkovsky, Washington State PTA; Justin McKaughan; Rick Chisa, Public School Employees of Washington (PSE); Melissa Gombosky, Evergreen, Vancouver, and Spokane Public Schools.