Washington State PTA Opposes Initiative IL26-001
Washington State PTA (WSPTA), founded in 1905 as the Washington Congress of Mothers, is the oldest and largest volunteer child advocacy association in the state. For more than 120 years we have supported strong parent and family engagement in education and promoted environments in which families are valued as primary influences in their children’s lives…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
FAQs: WSPTA’s Opposition to Initiatives IL26-001 and IL26-638
Contents Part 1: Initiative IL26-001 1. What is IL26-001? 2. What would IL26-001 actually change? 3. Why is WSPTA opposing a measure about parental rights? 4. What would IL26-001 add to current law? 5. How would IL26-001 change parental rights that already exist? 6. What would IL26-001 remove from the parental rights law?…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Washington State PTA Opposes Initiative IL26-638
Washington State PTA (WSPTA), founded in 1905, is the oldest and largest volunteer child-advocacy association in the state. Our more than 80,000 members advocate for the health, safety, and well-being of every child; for schools in which all students are safe and free to participate equitably; and for children’s access to scientifically rigorous, evidence-based health care (1). WSPTA opposes…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Week 9: Legislature Adjourns, Cuts $90 million from K-12 Education
By Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org The 2026 regular session of the 69th legislature adjourned “sine die” at approximately 8:25 PM Thursday, March 12th. House and Senate Democrats celebrated, counting among the “wins” the passage of 9.9% tax on households with an annual income greater than $1 million. ESSB 6346, the new income tax would begin in calendar year 2028, with tax collections starting in 2029. This…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Week 8: It’s the Final Countdown
By Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org Four days remain in the 2026 legislative session, with lawmakers planning to end on time – March 12 by midnight. They will leave town passing supplemental operating, capital and transportation budgets, hundreds of bills, and a tax on millionaires – ostensibly to support public schools and other priorities, but with specific carve-outs and earmarks funding many things, but not K-12…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Week 7: Budget Negotiations Begin, Final Push for Bills This Week
By Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org As reported last week, both the House and Senate Democratic budget chairs released their proposed supplemental budgets for operations, construction, and transportation. Despite an uptick in projected revenue collections for the current biennium (ending June 30, 2027) and the next biennium (July 1, 2027 – June 30, 2029), both operating budgets…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Week 6: Revenues up, budgets released, and House and Senate propose cuts to K12 education
By Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org Last Monday, the revenue forecast adopted by the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council increases state general fund (GFS) or near GFS revenue by more than $1.8 billion over the next three and a half years. Collections are projected at $827 million more in revenue this current 2025-27 biennium, and just over $1 billion…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
A Letter to PTA Members: Our Position on the Proposed Millionaires Tax
From: Washington State PTA President and Advocacy Director Date: February 18, 2026 Dear PTA Members, If you’ve been following the news lately, you’ve likely heard about SB 6346 and HB 2724 – commonly called the “Millionaires Tax.” These bills propose a 9.9% tax on individuals with annual adjusted gross income over $1 million, affecting an estimated one-half of one percent of Washington households. With…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Week 5: Fiscal Cutoff Passes, Tuesday Marks Major Deadline
By Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org Monday, February 9th, was the cutoff by which bills needed to pass out of fiscal committees to remain under consideration this session (See the list of bills that failed to make the deadline towards the end of the report). The House and Senate worked through the week, including a couple of late nights, and the House worked…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Week 4: House Finance Committee Exempts K-12 Schools from Sales Tax Extension
By Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org As mentioned last week, February 4th was the first session cutoff, with hundreds of bills failing to pass out of policy committees in the chamber in which they started. Then it was a quick rush to the fiscal committee cutoff, which is today. The Senate Ways & Means Committee chose to work a bit longer on Thursday and…
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Advocacy
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Legislative