- Everett Public Schools
- The state does not cover all basic ed costs
The state does not cover all basic ed costs
Besides the underfunding of staff salaries, the state does not fully fund basic education costs. Services we are legally required to provide are not funded. One example is special education. Our district has seen an increase in students who require significant academic and social-emotional support.
Special Education alone is $9M underfunded this year. 12.3 percent of our students receive essential and legally protected special education services. These services should be considered basic education and therefore fully funded.
In addition, the state funds education based on a "Prototypical School Model", which means the state only funds certain positions and at a basic pay rate. Every group of employees has a different rate of underfunding. Any staff we have outside of this model we pay 100% of the salary.
Currently, state funding only covers about 83% of certificated salaries. For 2022-23, this is an underfunding of $24.3 million (this is to be locally funded).Overall, state and federal funding for staffing, services and programs that our students need for basic education fell short by more than $52.9 million last year and will be worse this year due to increase in costs and ESSER going away.