Ample School Funding Project

The Ample School Funding Project endorsed by WASA will use technical and gap analysis to identify an ample level of funding, which will meet the state's obligation to fund basic education and resources to meet new state standards in an equitable, general and uniform manner.

Executive Summary:

The Ample School Funding Project is designed to document the cost of providing to school districts the ample resources they will need to bring all students to state mandated standards by 2008. The project will undertake a technical analysis of the funding for programs identified as basic education and a professional judgment analysis of the funding that will be necessary to bring all students to state academic standards. In addition the project will study school district efficiencies and recommend remedies to resolve inequitable funding formulas in the K-12 finance system formulas. The goal of the project is to give policy makers, educators, budget analysts, and taxpayers a solid foundation of documented facts and figures that will be needed to establish sustainable, equitable and ample resources for our public schools as required by Washington State’s Constitution and the 1977 and 1983 Doran school funding decisions.

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• Washington Leaders:  The Governor's Comprehensive Education Finance Study #2 of a series (pdf) - This Week in Olympia (TWIO) - July 27, 2005 _^106K
• Washington Leaders: The Governor's Comprehensive Education Finance Study # 1 of a series (pdf)- This Week in Olympia (TWIO) - June 9, 2005 _^42K
• The Washington State Ample School Funding Project (pdf) June, 2005
  Excerpt from Leadership Information, a publication of School Information and Research Service (SIRS) Vol. 4 No.2, Spring 2005. _^90K
• WASA region presidents partner to bring school finance expert John Myers to Washington state - March 2005

Project Design (pdf) _^90K
Includes the Executive Summary, background information, timeline/budget, data collection/communication, project oversight committee, contacts, technical analysis advisory group

Final Report (pdf) 66k
State funding of the transitional bilingual instruction program (05/09/05)

Final Report (pdf) 139k
State funding of the LAP program (05/09/05)

Executive Summary (pdf) 30k
Executive summary of the LAP program (05/09/05)

Final Report (pdf) 313k
State funding of the apportionment program (01/28/05) 

Executive Summary (pdf) 32k
Executive summary of apportionment research paper (01/28/05) 

Final Report (pdf) 919k
State funding of the pupil transportation program - July 2004 (07/19/04)

Executive Summary (pdf) 31k
Executive summary of pupil transportation research paper (07/19/04)

Final Report (pdf) 848k
State funding of the special education program - August 2004 (09/23/04)

Executive Summary (pdf) 33k
Executive summary of special education research paper (09/23/04)

Summary (pdf) 12k
Summary of special education paper prepared by Keith Lowery

Summary (pdf) 11k
Summary of pupil transportation paper prepared by Keith Lowery

Progress Report (pdf) 30k
This progress report was originally presented  to the WASA K-12 Finance Workgroup III on September 28, 2004. It was revised on November 5, 2004. 

Work Plan (pdf) 25k
The Work Plan for August 2004 through April 25 was originally presented at the WASA K-12 Finance Workgroup III on September 28, 2004. It was revised on November 5, 2004. 

Project Update 2 (pdf) 177k
This update was presented by Barbara Mertens at the WSSDA Conference on November 12, 2004 in Spokane.

Project Update 1 (pdf) 203k
WSSDA Legislative Assembly on September 17, 2004.

Project Description (pdf) 315k
Education Finance Summit on January 28, 2004.

Initial Project Presentation (pdf) 299k
This introductory presentation outlines the problem, identifies funding principles and presents the project proposal. It was originally presented at the WASA Superintendents Component Meeting in November 2003.

Press Release (htm file) Washington state school funding crisis: Inadequate funding of basic education documented in new research paper - January 6, 2005

Press Release  Ample School Funding Project receives statewide endorsement from Washington superintendents - November 14, 2003