State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal wants the state to boost education funding and enact a fairer tax system to pay for it.
Reykdal on Thursday said he supports proposals that would ask more of high-income taxpayers, and that he wants to ease the pressures on struggling families frustrated with the current tax structure.
“We need tax reform,” he said. “The wealthiest don't pay an equitable share. Our middle-class families pay too much, in particular.”
Reykdal’s comments came in his annual news conference on the state of public education, where he provided a snapshot on how the state’s K-12 students were doing.
Public school enrollment in kindergarten through 12th grade is down about 41,000 since 2019, according to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Private school and homeschooling increased slightly, with 83,657 students in private schools and 31,664 in home schools in the 2025-26 school year, according to OSPI.
As positive signs, Reykdal pointed to the increasing percentage of high school students taking college credits and ninth graders passing all of their classes. About 70% of high schoolers took dual-credit classes in 2025, including career and technical education classes, and nearly 72% were on track to graduate.
The four-year graduation rate was 82.6% last year.
But attendance is still not at prepandemic levels, Reykdal said. More than a quarter of students were chronically absent in the 2024-25 school year, missing more than 18 days of school. In the 2018-19 school year, only about 15% of students were chronically absent.
There were also sore points, some of which public schools don’t control. Reykdal said kindergarten readiness was increasing, but still just over half of kindergartners were ready to start school this academic year. And the state has some work to do in math. Only 57% of eighth graders demonstrated foundational grade-level knowledge or higher in math in 2025.
Reykdal said schools need an infusion of math, beginning in elementary schools.
“We need math intensity from the day they step into school, the same way we do reading, and it's just not been a national priority anywhere,” he said in an interview Wednesday. “There's pockets of excellence, but we have to think about reading and numeracy, and that language has to change in families.”
Reykdal called for more emphasis on math across the educational system: He said he wants more math professional development for elementary school teachers during and after their preliminary training, and more classroom time devoted to the subject in elementary schools. OSPI will also investigate using technology to help students who are already ahead of their grade-level in math, he said.
Some of those proposals would need a green light from the Legislature — which Reykdal said Wednesday he intends to request during the next legislative session. In the meantime, the state is overhauling math standards, which will kick in in the 2027-28 school year, he said.
Reykdal had previously called for boosting education funding to the tune of about $4 billion annually and for the state to devote a greater share of its budget to K-12 education.
Big school funding changes are unlikely this legislative session, which starts on Monday. There are also other efforts underway aimed at overhauling how the state funds its public schools. In addition to a Legislature-directed OSPI work group, a coalition of school district superintendents are working on proposals to make the state K-12 funding model more equitable.
About 43% of the state’s budget goes to K-12 education, less than before the landmark McCleary lawsuit, which declared the state was not fully funding K-12 education, and led to billions of dollars in investments in public schools, he said.
Citing research from the Education Law Center at Rutgers University, Reykdal said the state ranks 40th in the nation for how much of its economy goes back to schools.
“We're doing a short-term damage that's going to result in very long-term impacts if we don't change that dynamic,” he said.
Reykdal supports Gov. Bob Ferguson’s proposed so-called “millionaires’” income tax on those making more than $1 million a year, an effort the governor said would raise about $3 billion annually.
“Those are all good conversations, but they're all one-sided about just more taxes,” Reykdal said Thursday. “What I think we should be talking about is, where would we get the most impact of raising those (taxes) and using some of those proceeds to help middle-class families trying to raise families – and that's in… specifically the state property tax.”
Ferguson’s budget proposal last month suggested slashing about $146.7 million from education. That included potentially cutting slots for the transition to kindergarten program for 4-year-olds.
While the governor’s proposed budget mostly “protected” classrooms, “any cuts in education that build student success is a cut to education, and we can't afford that right now,” Reykdal said.
Along with calling for increased funding, Reykdal said school districts should find ways to reduce administrative costs and create efficiencies.
“If we can deliver services with fewer administrators, we should,” he said. “If we can do it with fewer governing bodies, we should.”
Reykdal also supports legislation that would require school districts to maintain a minimum fund balance in their annual budgets. Although not required by state law, some districts have local policies mandating minimum balances. He also wants the Legislature to pay for financial training for school board directors.
© 2026 The Seattle Times. Visit www.seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
