Tag Archives: school districts

Hawkins proposes bipartisan school district consolidation bill

Citing the high costs per student among small school districts and the opportunity for more efficient use of state and local tax dollars, 12th District Sen. Brad Hawkins (R-East Wenatchee) announced today that he has prefiled Senate Bill 5487, a bipartisan proposal to incentivize school district consolidation.

The ranking Republican on the Senate’s Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee and former school board president is the proposal’s prime sponsor. Hawkins’ committee colleague, Sen. Jamie Pedersen (D-Seattle), is the bill’s lead bipartisan co-sponsor.

Hawkins stated that the average cost during the 2019-2020 school year in state and local dollars was $13,879 per student. Small school districts in Hawkins’ legislative district, for example, spent as much as $22,125 (Orondo), $26,342 (Mansfield), and $28,745 (Palisades) that year per student.

Hawkins said that smaller districts tend to spend much more per student due largely to their higher central administration, building administration, and facility maintenance costs. He believes it would be more efficient for taxpayers if some of those districts partnered with nearby neighboring districts, spreading central administration and maintenance costs across more students.

“I’ve been encouraging my legislative colleagues to think differently about how we deliver educational services,” Hawkins said. “If we were to reimagine school districts today based on what we spend on education, we wouldn’t draw up 295 different school districts in our state, especially when many of the small school districts are spending much more than the state average per student. It doesn’t make sense for the taxpayers.”

Hawkins bill would provide the new districts with a 10-year boost in their School Construction Assistance Program (SCAP) formula, a state capital budget program that awards matching funds to school districts whose communities approve construction bonds for school renovations. In structuring the bill this way, he said taxpayers could receive long-term benefits in school district operational efficiencies while also assisting districts with their school facility modernizations. This is something small school districts need and something provided for already in the capital budget.

“Legislators are in the ‘carrots-and-sticks’ business, and I’ve always preferred the carrots. We can’t expect things to change unless we come up with creative options. I think a ‘voluntary, incentives-based’ consolidation bill might avoid the controversy of past proposals and prompt some healthy and candid conversations,” Hawkins said.

The prefiled the bill is eligible for consideration in the 2022 legislative session, which begins on Jan. 10.

(Image caption: This bar chart shows a sample of “per student” costs in the 12th District.

Hawkins applauds school districts for exploring school calendar reform

State Sen. Brad Hawkins is pleased to learn that several Washington school districts are looking into whether taking shorter breaks throughout the year – and trimming the traditional summer break – will help prevent annual learning loss and the need for fall reteaching.

A KING-TV story reports that, according to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, 18 school districts and one charter school are using grant funding to explore shortening the traditional summer break to allow for what’s known as a balanced school calendar.

“We need to think big about reforming the system and to get serious about exploring better opportunities for student learning. A more ‘balanced school calendar’ that avoids that big, long break in the summer could really help students,” said Hawkins. “I certainly support a summer break for kids and their families, but I think the typical break that school districts take is too long and it’s an outdated model.”

During the 2021 legislative session, Hawkins prime-sponsored a bill to encourage school districts to explore school calendar reforms. Hawkins’ bipartisan legislation, Senate Bill 5147, included funding pilot projects for districts to apportion their 180 state-funded school days differently, including shortening their summer break to no more than six weeks.

The school-calendar reform bill was amended and passed by the Senate Ways and Means Committee but was not approved by the full Senate earlier this year. Hawkins hopes SB 5147 will either advance through the Legislature during the upcoming 2022 session or continue to gain attention within the education community to encourage districts to explore modernizations on their own.

“The fact that so many school districts across Washington are now showing interest in reforming their school calendars is a sign that prior efforts to encourage districts to ‘think differently’ are working,” said Hawkins. He added, “We should continue to emphasize how changes can be beneficial for students and taxpayers.”

Hawkins is the ranking Republican member on the Senate’s Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee. Hawkins served for 10 years on the Eastmont School Board and North Central Educational Service District Board before being elected to the Legislature

These links provide more information about Hawkins’ school-calendar reform bill: