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 2022 Legislature directed OSPI to create an advisory workgroup with specific participants to report back on topics related to student isolation and seclusion. In this report, the workgroup provides multiple recommendations to improve student access to evidence-based intervention programs to reduce physical restraint and eliminate isolation.

The Dual Credit Fee Subsidy Pilot program was established in 2022 and supported by a $500,000 proviso included in Senate Bill (SB) 5693. The proviso required OSPI to collaborate with the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) to subsidize out-of-pocket costs for students participating in College in the High School (CHS) and/or Running Start at three community and technical colleges. Within this one-year pilot, the colleges had a relatively short timeline to determine how to use the funds, market their availability, or formalize procedures for distributing the funding. As a result, only one has proposed making direct payments to students for their out-of-pocket costs. This report provides an overview of the program and recommendations for administering it. A future report will include total expenditures, student outcomes, and a more thorough assessment of the program with final recommendations.

OSPI must report annually to the Legislature on the number of school districts that use the Educational Technology Assessments each school year. The assessments can be used to determine if students are meeting academic learning requirements and grade-level expectations for educational technology literacy and technology fluency. OSPI uses a survey to gather data on the number of school districts that use assessments each school year; this report presents that survey data.

During the 2023 Legislative Session, funding was appropriated to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to execute a contract for the purposes of completing a feasibility study for the creation of a maritime academy on the Olympic Peninsula. At the time of this preliminary report, OSPI is still awaiting contract approval for the proposed contractor to complete this work.

The 2022 Legislature increased funding for specific types of school staff in the prototypical school funding model, which determines the state funding allocations for schools. The legislation also required that funding provided to schools for physical, social, and emotional support staff (PSES staff) be spent on those staff. This report includes preliminary data from the first year of implementation.

Under Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill (E2SSB) 5315 (2023), OSPI is required to submit an annual report to the Legislature regarding the placement of students receiving special education services at entities known as nonpublic agencies (NPAs). As of December 2023, there are 94 NPAs currently authorized by OSPI for the 2023–24 school year.

Data on outcomes for students who received special education services are collected one year after they leave high school. The 2022 Post-School Survey collected responses from 78.87% of the 7,938 eligible former students. Former students who left school in 2020–21 had higher engagement in Higher Education, Competitive Employment, and Other Employment as compared to former students who left school in 2019–20.

To reduce barriers to accessing free and reduced-price meal benefits, the 2022 Legislature directed OSPI to initiate and oversee the development and implementation of a statewide electronic repository of household income information. This initial report includes information about different plans, timelines, and cost options.

Financial support provided by the Legislature helps to ensure Washington children have access to healthy school meals. In fiscal year 2022, the Legislature provided $11.5 million to eliminate the co-pay for reduced-price meals, support summer meal programs, provide school districts with financial support for breakfast meal service, and provide grants to improve and expand meal programs. This report includes information about those dollars were allocated.

Substitute House Bill (SHB) 1701 assigns the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) the responsibility, by September 2027, for the delivery and oversight of basic education services to justice-involved youth through the Institutional Education programs in facilities that are not under the jurisdiction of the Department of Social and Health Services. SHB 1701 also establishes a Joint Select Committee on governance and funding for Institutional Education. This report is the first annual interim progress reporting detailing OSPI's progress in meeting its obligations under SHB 1701. 

The 2022 Legislature required OSPI to promote survivor-centered and trauma-informed responses to sexual assault and to support survivors of sexual assault in Washington’s K–12 public schools. OSPI partnered with a contractor to research best practices, review mandatory reporting laws, conduct listening sessions, update model protocols, and develop a training plan for schools. This report outlines the work that was completed, key learnings, and recommendations for future work.

Career and Technical Education (CTE) course equivalencies provide students with the opportunity to meet the learning standards for a specific core subject while simultaneously earning credit for the aligned CTE course within a single CTE class. Each year, OSPI reports on the annual number of students participating in state-approved equivalency courses; the annual number of state-approved equivalency credit courses offered in school districts and skill centers; and the list of equivalent CTE equivalency courses and their curriculum frameworks that OSPI has approved. 

The federal McKinney-Vento Act broadly defines homelessness in an effort to provide protections and supports for students living in a variety of unstable housing situations. This helps to ensure school stability and continued enrollment at a time when a student's nighttime residence may be constantly changing. In the 2021–22 school year, 37,337 Washington students were identified as experiencing homelessness. This report provides more data as well as an overview of how the state and federal governments provide resources to schools to identify and support students experiencing homelessness.

The Legislature established the Graduation: A Team Effort (GATE) Advisory (originally known as Building Bridges Workgroup) in 2007 to keep all students visible and on track to graduate from high school. The GATE Advisory Committee met regularly over the course of the 2022–23 school year to promote and expand effective dropout prevention, intervention, and reengagement policy and programming. This report includes the Committee's recommendations to the Legislature. 

The 2019 Legislature established different graduation pathway options as part of the graduation requirements for all Washington students. These pathways focus on providing evidence that a student is ready for their next step after high school, whether that is employment, postsecondary education or training, or a military career. In 2022, 48.2% of graduates met their pathway requirement through English language arts or math courses or exams, 49.3% met their pathway requirement with a career and technical education pathway, and 4.7% utilized the military pathway (note: students may utilize multiple pathways).

With the passage of House Bill 1599 in 2019, graduation pathways were established as one of the requirements for high school graduation. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is required by RCW 28A.655.260 to collect and report on graduation pathways data annually. This report includes the unique pathway options, a data summary, and disaggregated pathway completion data.

Washington’s Highly Capable Program (HCP) provides funding to support educational opportunities to meet the unique academic needs of this student population. This report provides information on the instructional programs offered by local education agencies (LEAs) to support Highly Capable learners and data about participating students.

In accordance with state law (RCW 28A.320.203), all schools in Washington are required to report to their school district the number of students in kindergarten through 4th grade who are reading below grade level, as well as the interventions that are being provided to improve reading skills. OSPI received data on 92.3% of elementary students in grades K–4 for the 2022–2023 school year. Of the student counts reported, 36% of students in reporting districts are reading below grade level. This marks an improvement of 2.3 percentage points as compared to the previous year.

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is required to report annual data from the Learning Assistance Program (LAP), which provides academic and nonacademic supports to students who are not meeting academic standards in basic skills areas as identified by performance measurement tools. During the 2022–23 school year, 189,012 students participated in LAP, representing 16.3% of all students in Washington. 

Each year, OSPI provides a status report on the Washington students participating in online learning. While the number of schools and districts offering online learning increased in the 2021–22 school year, the number of students participating in online courses and online course enrollments decreased. There were 27.2% more schools offering online courses and a 3.31% increase in the number of districts offering online courses during the 2021–22 school year. There was a 3.76% decrease in students participating in online courses and 10.62% fewer online courses taken.

Safety Net funding is available to Local Education Agencies (LEAs) that demonstrate need for additional funding to provide special education services. The Legislature requires OSPI to annually survey LEAs about their satisfaction with the Safety Net process. More than 475 people from LEAs that applied for Safety Net funding received the survey in September 2023, and OSPI received 110 responses. 

The 2017 House Bill (HB) 2242 requires school districts to annually report to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) on supplemental contracts for additional time, responsibility, or incentive. For the 2022–23 school year, total school district estimated expenditures on supplemental contracts is slightly over $1 billion, inclusive of all staff and all fund sources. 

Each year, school districts receive an efficiency rating of their student transportation operations using previous school year data recorded in the transportation funding system, Student Transportation Allocation Reporting System (STARS). Regional Transportation Coordinators (RTCs) conduct efficiency reviews for those districts with an efficiency rating below 90%. Seventy-eight school districts received an efficiency review in 2023.

Social emotional learning (SEL) is a process through which individuals build awareness and skills in managing emotions, setting goals, establishing relationships, and making responsible decisions that support success in school and in life. In 2019, the Legislature directed OSPI to establish a SEL Committee to promote and expand SEL implementation. This report details the five areas that the Committee prioritized for legislative action.

As required by state law, this report outlines the method used in determining student transportation funding allocations for school districts.

Washington public schools participate in Temperance and Good Citizenship Day (TAGCD) every year on January 16. Social studies teachers who teach high school seniors must provide instructional time for students to register to vote. This report provides an update on voter registration amongst 17- and 18-year-olds in 2023, as well as recommendations to continue increasing voter registration among this age group.

Multilingual/English learners (MLs) – students whose primary language is not English and who are eligible for English language development services – receive TBIP services until they become proficient in English. During the 2021–22 school year, over 135,000 students were identified as MLs, speaking 226 different languages at home. This report includes information about how the TBIP program operated in the 2021–22 school year and academic achievement of students who had exited the program.

This report summarizes state standardized assessments for the 2022–23 school year. It also includes a summary of the State Board of Education (SBE) activities concerning the state assessment system and actions of the Board anticipated for school year 2023–24. Overall, the Spring 2023 assessment data indicate accelerated pandemic learning recovery in mathematics in nearly all grades assessed, as well as in English language arts at the elementary level.

Each year, OSPI reports the number of incidents involving the possession of weapons on school premises, transportation systems, or in areas of facilities being used exclusively by public or private schools. This report contains the update from the 2020–21 and 2021–22 school years. When examining trends, the data from the 2020–21 school year should be viewed with caution, as students spent an increased time that year engaged in remote learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2014, the Legislature created the Washington State Seal of Biliteracy, an award earned by graduating high school seniors who can meet certain proficiency standards in both English and a second language. In addition to the Seal of Biliteracy, students may also earn competency-based credits in high school if they complete all proficiency components of an assessment in a language other than English. In 2022–23, 5,655 high school seniors earned the Seal in 131 districts and 12,568 students earned
world languages competency-based high school credits.

OSPI was required to work with the Employment Security Department (ESD) and the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board (WTB) to form the Work-Integrated Learning Advisory Committee (WILAC). The Committee was directed to advise on creating opportunities for students to explore work-integrated and career-related learning. WILAC reviewed model instruction programs and gathered feedback from stakeholders on best practices and barriers to statewide implementation of work-integrated and career-related learning. This report identifies recommendations for the education and economic development committees of the Legislature, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC), the State Board of Education (SBE), and the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC).