Tag Archives: school construction funding

Senate unanimously approves capital budget ‘for the entire state’

The Senate today unanimously approved its version of the 2025-27 state capital budget, with the Republicans who helped develop the spending plan praising it for addressing needs throughout Washington.

“What we have is a capital budget for the entire state,” said 9th District Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, the lead Republican for the Senate capital budget. “We looked at this budget and saw fewer resources, so we made tougher decisions every step of the way, working on priorities that made both our side and our Democrat counterparts happy.

“This budget also leaves healthier reserves than we often have going into the second year of a biennium. When we come back next year, we can address unforeseen problems with those reserves.”

Schoesler’s full remarks prior to today’s vote may be viewed here.

“I’m really pleased with how well the Senate capital budget addresses needs throughout Washington,” said Sen. Perry Dozier, R-Waitsburg. He became assistant Republican leader on the capital-budget team this year, bringing government-budgeting experience from two terms as a Walla Walla County commissioner.

“We all made sure there is a lot of support for K-12 education, which is our state’s paramount duty, but this particular budget is also good for things like water projects, housing and fish hatcheries. That makes sense, if you look at the mix of backgrounds and priorities of the four senators who crafted it. I’m also glad we made progress on addressing some long-standing concerns about support for public-works projects.

“The capital budget has a reputation for being the most bipartisan of the three state budgets, and now I know why. We placed a lot of trust in one another in the course of developing this – each of us tried to be responsive to what the others brought to the table. That shows through in the budget itself and today’s unanimous vote.”

The Senate capital budget has a total price tag of $7.3 billion, with an ending-fund balance of $222 million.

It features $1 billion for K-12 education and early-learning projects, including $563 million for the School Construction Assistance Program. There is $201 million for Small District and Tribal School Modernization construction and planning grants, which will fund 40 additional small-school construction projects. Another $143 million is provided for additional school seismic-safety grants, plus $12 million for the new school security and preparedness infrastructure grants program.

The Senate capital budget spends $770 million on a variety of housing programs.

Schoesler and Dozier, both farmers, noted the state’s fairs benefit from this budget, which allocates a record $12 million for competitive grants to agricultural fairs for access- and safety-improvement projects.

The Senate capital budget also provides plenty of money for water-related needs on both sides of the Cascades, with robust funding for eastern Washington water-infrastructure programs. Those appropriations include $69 million for the Columbia River Water Supply Development Program, of which $44 million goes to the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program, plus $53 million for the Yakima River Basin Water Supply Program and $13 million for the Yakima-Tieton Canal to start fixing damage to a wildfire.

In western Washington, $80 million is provided to fully fund the Chehalis River Basin Strategy, which includes flood control and salmon recovery.

There is also $85 million in the two-year plan for 15 fish hatcheries statewide – another record.

A total of $1.2 billion is allocated for projects at Washington’s four-year universities and other higher-education institutions. They include:

  • University of Washington: $40.8 million for Anderson Hall renovation.
  • Washington State University: $25 million for the Sciences Building, plus money for preventive facility maintenance and building-system repairs.
  • Central Washington University: $12 million for the emergency backup power system, $11 million for the university’s Humanities and Social Science Complex, and $10 million for an expansion of CWU’s aviation-degree program.
  • Eastern Washington University: $10 million for the dental-therapy lab, as well as funding for facility-preservation projects.
  • The state’s community and technical college system receives $400 million for various projects.

Once the House of Representatives passes its capital budget, budget writers from the Senate and House will meet as a “conference committee” to hammer out a compromise capital budget for both chambers to consider.

The 2025 legislative session is scheduled to end April 27.

Schoesler criticizes Reykdal for wanting to cancel state testing of students

Sen. Mark Schoesler opposes a suggestion by Washington’s highest-ranking elected education official that the state should cancel the testing of student learning levels.

During last week’s Washington State Board of Education meeting in Spokane, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal said that using tests to assess the true level of learning students are receiving “means nothing” and that, if he decides he has the authority, he plans to cancel state testing of public K-12 students.

At about the 1:00:57 mark of this TVW video of last week’s meeting, Reykdal said, “I am trying to figure out if I have the authority to exit us (from testing) on my own, or if that needs something else.”

Schoesler, who represents eastern Washington’s 9th Legislative District and is the father of a public-school teacher, criticized Reykdal for wanting to pull the plug on state testing of students to assess how much they have learned.

“In just over the past two years, student learning in Washington has been severely disrupted due to COVID-19, which caused so many of our students to fall behind,” said Schoesler, R-Ritzville. “And now Superintendent Reykdal, the top elected education official in our state, wants to cancel state testing of students? The Legislature should decide on whether to keep such testing in place. Getting rid of these tests would be a disservice to students and parents. We need student assessment of learning more than ever to see how students are doing and where they need to improve.”

Schoesler said one of Reykdal’s reasons for eliminating state testing of students, that colleges don’t look at them in admitting students, is wrong.

“Contrary to what SPI Reykdal suggests, our state has never implemented assessment tests so that colleges can see how students are doing. These tests have been conducted so that we have objective measures for reading, writing and math. How can we know if Washington students can read, write and do math at their grade level if we don’t assess them? Parents and taxpayers deserve to know if their children can read, write and do math at grade level, as well as how their children and their schools compare with other students and schools. If we eliminate these state tests, how else will we assess how well students are learning?”

This link, provided by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, shows the state and federal tests that Washington K-12 public school students take.

Schoesler leery of SPI’s new plan to reduce timber revenue for school construction

Schoesler also voiced concerns with Reykdal’s new plan, announced today, to reallocate funding from the state’s K-12 Common School Trust, which is partially funded by timber revenues to help fund construction of public schools in Washington. During a news conference today, Reykdal said timber revenue from timber harvests in rural communities would stay in those communities.

“While I appreciate Superintendent Reykdal’s concern about long-term funding of school construction projects in Washington communities, I’m concerned how it would impact rural school districts, as well as some urban districts” said Schoesler, the Senate Republican leader on the Senate capital budget. “It is important to know that some rural areas, such as Franklin County, have no timber harvests. Pasco, located in Franklin County, has been one of the fastest-growing school districts in the state. Statewide, timber harvests have decreased 50%, which has really hurt small towns.

“What I wanted was for our state’s schools superintendent to show how his agency would spearhead more efficiencies with school construction projects in our state so taxpayers can receive the most value for their tax dollars. Besides efficiencies, we should harvest more timber from state lands. Unfortunately, Superintendent Reykdal once again is not sufficiently addressing our concerns about seismic and tsunami problems facing some school districts,” added Schoesler.