College of Education Research Informs Legislative Work Session
Over the past 10 years, Washington has made significant changes to how it funds public education, including adding $7 billion in new annual funding since 2013. A team of researchers at the University of Washington and Vanderbilt University is examining the impact of those investments for school districts and students in Washington. The team’s research findings informed a January 11, 2024 Legislative Work Session for the Washington House Finance Committee.
The work session, titled, “Finance Policy Structure for Basic Education in Washington” included remarks from State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal, Office of Program Research Analysts and Counsel James Mackison, Linda Merdle, and Tracey Taylor, Washington Education Association lobbyist Julie Salvi, Washington State School Directors Association Director of Legislative Affairs Mellissa Beard, and University of Washington Associate Professor of Education Finance and Policy, Dr. David Knight. Dr. Knight’s testimony includes an overview of research on school finance including his team’s recent findings on Washington’s finance system.
Testimony Summary
During his testimony, Dr. Knight shared several key findings from recent research. In this clip, he describes the impact of funding on student outcomes, and the importance of allocating resources progressively with respect to student income.
The following clip includes questions pertaining to regionalization factors and levy lids.
Questions from Representatives
Rep. Berg: Is the regionalization factor unique to Washington or do other states use something similar?
Geographic cost of labor indices are more common in K-12 school finance formulas than geographic cost of living indices. The reason is that while the two indices are often correlated, a cost of labor index more accurately accounts for differences in the cost to attract and retain a high-quality teacher workforce. A geographic area with high cost of labor is one in which workers outside education tend to earn higher wages than other workers in the state who are employed in the same occupations and with similar levels of training and education. Wages are often higher in urban areas in part due to higher cost of living, or in rural areas where fewer workers might be willing to live and work. In contrast, a geographic area with high cost of living is typically one in which median home values are higher than in other parts of the state. In some areas, high median home values reflect greater neighborhood amenities such as parks and robust government services, features that do not increase the cost of education and instead make it easier for districts to attract and retain high quality teachers. Regionalization factors therefore overstate the true local cost of labor in areas with many neighborhood amenities and high cost of living and underestimate the cost of labor in areas with lower median home values and fewer neighborhood amenities or local attractions. A better index more closely matches what school districts actually purchase. All states have regional differences in the cost of fuel and other materials, but school spend most of their funding, about 80%, on personnel salary and benefits. In short, funding school districts based on the cost of living is not an effective school finance policy tool, whereas a cost of labor adjustment, used in several states such as Massachusetts, Virginia, Wyoming, among others, more accurately reflects differences in the cost districts face to produce equal educational opportunity to reach common outcome goals.
Rep. Street: What proportion of the income and racial funding gap in Washington is driven by regionalization factors?
We answer this question through multiple methods, acknowledging that it is difficult to identify the true causal impact of regionalization factors on income and racial funding gaps.
First, we examine how funding changed for school districts assigned different initial regionalization factors, and then consider the student demographics of each regionalization factor. We
Second,…
Third,…. < DK can add more here >
Rep. Orcutt: Why does the graph show a narrowing of the income-based funding gap starting in 2018-19, after the full implementation of EHB 2242?
The difference in per-pupil state and local revenues between high- largest increase in [ < DK can add more here > The ranking minority GOP member had a good point – but also, no….and want to clarify here… ]
Next, Dr. Knight describes research on the changes to school finance policies in Washington. In this clip, he describes problems with the local levy system, including the state’s two-pronged levy system.
In this final clip, Dr. Knight address additional questions, including the research team’s policy recommendations, the likelihood that significant increases in funding would produce positive outcomes, and the role of local control.
Learn More
You can watch Dr. Knight's complete testimony and access PowerPoint slides below.
To learn more about the University of Washington research team’s findings, visit their faculty webpages or reach out to them directly.