OSPI Reports to the Legislature

As part of the basic education requirements in Washington state, each school district must make a minimum of 180 school days available to students each school year. In 2018, House Bill 2824 shifted responsibility of certain school waiver applications from the State Board of Education (SBE) to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). OSPI is required to report annually to SBE and to the education committees of the Legislature regarding the applications OSPI received for these waivers during the prior school year.

The High School Graduation Plan (HSBP) is a graduation requirement and a critical component of supporting students' career development throughout their secondary education experience. The Legislature has revised and strengthened HSBP requirements to include the implementation of a universal online HSBP platform that can be readily accessed by students, families, teachers, and others who support students' academic and career development. The Legislature requires the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to facilitate the transition of the HSBP to a universal online platform. This is the first of three reports to the Legislature.

In some instances, a local school district may determine that it cannot provide free appropriate public education (FAPE) for a student with a disability within their district. In partnership with the student’s family and teachers, the district may decide that the student would be best served in a private school or facility better suited to meet the student’s unique needs. OSPI has an ongoing responsibility to ensure that certain entities, known as nonpublic agencies (NPAs), are authorized to provide these services. This report provides information on student placement at NPAs during the 2023–24 school year and the 2024 authorization cycle for NPAs.

The 2023 Legislature directed OSPI to make progress toward the state’s goal of eliminating student isolation within schools and tracking and reducing the use of restraint. The Legislature provided OSPI with funds to support demonstration sites, professional development, and other activities to support this work. This report provides an update on the work OSPI has led so far.

The 2024 Legislature directed OSPI to collaborate with the Department of Health and the Health Care Authority to develop age-appropriate substance use prevention and awareness materials for school and classroom uses. Further, the Office of Native Education is directed to collaborate with state-tribal education compact schools and Tribal before and after school programs to implement a one-year pilot project to develop, review, and select opioid and fentanyl abuse prevention materials and resources. This report provides an interim update on this work. A final report will be available in June 2025.

In 2014, the Washington State Legislature passed Senate Bill 6074, which aims to improve educational outcomes for children and youth experiencing homelessness by bolstering student homelessness identification and establishing further data reporting requirements. RCW 28A.300.540 requires the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to report this data every other year.

*This report was produced by the Financial Education Public-Private Partnership (FEPPP), an agency separate from, but administratively housed within, OSPI.*

FEPPP is a partnership between public and private stakeholders to improve and advocate for financial education within Washington's K–12 schools. FEPPP provides professional development and instructional tools for teachers, and works to raise awareness about the importance of personal finance education. This report highlights the work of the FEPPP since its last report in November 2022.

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is required by RCW 28A.250.040 to report annually on online learning. In the 2022–23 school year, more students accessed online courses and more schools and districts used online courses. There was a small reduction in the overall number of online courses.

In order to increase the number of students able to receive no-cost meals at school, the 2022 Legislature required eligible schools and school districts to participate in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). The CEP is a federal program that allows for universal breakfast and lunch at no cost to students in schools that meet a certain threshold of students identified as low-income. In the 2023–24 school year, the number of CEP schools increased to 1,287 and the number of school districts to 210.

The Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) annually submits a report outlining the method used in determining the coefficients for each site characteristic used to establish the transportation allocation for the following year. The Student Transportation Allocation Reporting System (STARS) will determine the 2024–25 school year allocation. The 2024–25 regression analysis will use data elements from spring 2024, fall 2024, and winter 2025 reporting periods.

Every year on January 16, Washington public schools participate in Temperance and Good Citizenship Day. On this day, Washington social studies teachers must provide instructional time for high school seniors to register to vote. In January 2024, 2,631 young adults were registered in total. This report includes OSPI's recommendations to continue increasing youth voter registration. 

Multilingual learners (MLs) are students whose primary language is not English and are eligible for English language development services through the Transitional Bilingual Instruction Program (TBIP). Eligible MLs receive TBIP services until they become proficient in English. During the 2022–23 school year, 149,357 students were identified as multilingual learners.

State law requires the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to annually report to the Legislature the number of incidents in violation of RCW 9.41.280, which involves the possession of weapons on school premises, transportation systems, or in areas of facilities while being used exclusively by public or private schools. In the 2022–23 school year, 2,275 incidents involving the possession of a weapon were reported by Washington’s public and private schools.

The 2024 Legislature directed OSPI to collaborate with the Department of Ecology to conduct a survey of Washington’s local education agencies (LEAs) to collect information on how to prepare for a transition to zero emission school buses. In total, 77 out of 308 LEAs responded to the survey, providing information about barriers that will aid OSPI, the Department of Ecology, and the Legislature in providing funding, supports, and other resources.