This bill (House Bill 1746) amends RCW 28A.500.015 and adds a new section to change how state local effort assistance is calculated and distributed. It extends eligibility for state local effort assistance to charter schools (chapter 28A.710 RCW) beginning in calendar year 2025 and clarifies funding for state‑tribal education compact schools (chapter 28A.715 RCW) beginning in calendar year 2022. The bill modifies the existing funding formulas, creates a new payment timing rule for 2025, and adds related definitions; it does not create criminal penalties. The funding changes specify: if an eligible district’s actual enrichment levy rate is less than $1.50 per $1,000 assessed value, local effort assistance is prorated by that levy rate divided by $1.50; if the rate is at least $1.50, the district receives its full maximum local effort assistance. For compact and charter schools, funding equals the district’s actual enrichment levy per student (as calculated by the superintendent of public instruction for the prior year) up to a maximum per‑student amount of $2,000 adjusted for inflation from the 2019 calendar year, multiplied by the school’s prior‑year enrollment. The bill also states that this assistance is not part of the state’s program of basic education under Article IX, section 1 of the Washington Constitution. The bill adjusts enrollment counting for funding purposes in high/nonhigh district relationships and for districts participating in innovation academy cooperatives, and it defines key terms including “eligible school district,” “inflation” (based on the Seattle CPI), “maximum local effort assistance,” “prior school year,” the $2,000 per‑student threshold (inflation‑adjusted beginning in 2020), and “student enrollment.” A new Sec. 2 makes the changes applicable to local effort assistance payments in calendar year 2025 and requires the state to provide full 2025 funding under the new formulas, with an adjustment if 2025 distributions begin before the section’s effective date. Some details are unclear from the extracted text: the session law chapter number referenced in the new section is a placeholder, and the text shows inconsistent phrasing about the base year and timing for inflation adjustments (references to increases “from the 2019 calendar year” versus “beginning in calendar year 2020”), which the excerpt does not reconcile.

If enacted, charter schools will become eligible to receive state local effort assistance beginning in calendar year 2025, meaning many charter schools can expect additional per‑student state payments calculated from the prior year’s enrichment levy per student in the district where they are located, up to an inflation‑adjusted cap (a $2,000 per‑student maximum indexed from 2019). Eligible traditional districts with low levy capacity will continue to receive state top‑up payments, with districts whose enrichment levy rate is under $1.50 per $1,000 assessed value getting a proportional share and those at or above $1.50 receiving the full calculated maximum; enrollments for nonhigh/high relationships and for innovation academy cooperatives are adjusted so funding follows where students are counted. The state (legislature and budget office) bears the direct cost of expanding payments and must provide full calendar year 2025 distributions to districts, compact schools, and charter schools under the bill’s formulas, including any catch‑up amounts if 2025 payments began before the law’s effective date, and the superintendent of public instruction will calculate the per‑student levy amounts used. The text leaves some implementation details unclear—most notably the exact session law citation and slightly inconsistent references about the inflation base year—so precise dollar impacts and timing may require further clarification.