This bill amends several existing education funding statutes and adds a new section to chapter 28A.155 RCW to change how Washington funds and administers special education. It revises the excess cost allocation by specifying multipliers to apply to district enrollments and a district base allocation per FTE for different age groups and levels of inclusion (including multipliers of 1.6381 for ages three and four and pre-kindergarten five‑year‑olds, and 1.5289 or 1.447 for other resident students depending on general education time). The superintendent of public instruction must submit a programmed special education budget request to each regular legislative session in odd-numbered years, may reserve up to 0.005 of the funding generated under the excess cost allocation for statewide special education activities, and must annually report by December 1 on those activities (with 2025 and 2026 reports required to update the legislature on the impact of removing the special education enrollment percentage cap). The bill also establishes a policy that students eligible for special education generate the full basic education allocation for the whole school day and requires the superintendent to develop a proration and cost accounting method to allocate general apportionment funding to special education programs and to report that accounting to the legislature by January 1, 2024, and every odd-numbered January 1 thereafter. The bill changes safety net eligibility and administration and prescribes procedural requirements. It makes safety net funds available to districts with demonstrated needs beyond the formula and directs the safety net oversight committee to consider extraordinary high-cost individual student needs (including students in residential schools and certain juvenile programs). It forbids awarding funds for cost differences attributable to district philosophy, service delivery choices, or accounting practices, caps maximum allowable indirect costs at the federal restricted indirect cost rate plus one percent for eligibility calculations, and requires adjustments to awards based on the percent of potential Medicaid-eligible students billed and unresolved audit findings. The superintendent must adopt rules and procedures to administer special education funding and the safety net, consult with the office of financial management and fiscal committees before revising rules, streamline the application process, provide technical assistance, survey districts annually about the safety net process, and report results to OFM and legislative committees. The bill directs OSPI to develop a specific survey for districts with 3,000 or fewer students by December 1, 2024, implement a simplified standardized safety net application by December 1, 2025, allow quarterly distribution of certain recurring awards beginning in 2025-26 under specified conditions, and sets a high-need threshold beginning in 2025-26 where a student is eligible if IEP costs exceed 1.5 times the average per-pupil expenditure. It also defines the safety net oversight committee membership and takes effect September 1, 2025. This is a fiscal and procedural change in state law: it modifies existing statutes, adds a new statutory section, changes funding and eligibility formulas and administrative procedures for special education and safety net awards, and requires new reporting and rulemaking. It does not create a criminal offense or change penalties. Some portions of the text in the provided extracts are incomplete or missing (including the remainder of a partially quoted safety net provision and the specific statutory text that removes the special education enrollment percentage cap), so the exact wording and full scope of those changes cannot be confirmed from these excerpts alone.

If enacted, school districts will see special education funding calculated with specific higher multipliers for younger children and different rates depending on how much time students spend in general education (1.6381 for ages three and four and pre-kindergarten five-year-olds; 1.5289 for students in general education 80%+ of the day; 1.447 for those in general education less than 80%). The superintendent can set aside up to 0.5% of those funds for statewide supports like data review, technical assistance, inclusion training, and a common IEP tool, and must develop and report on a method to prorate general education funding that is allocated to special education programs. Districts with unusually high costs can apply to a state safety net that will consider individual high-cost students (including residential and juvenile program placements), limit indirect cost claims to the federal restricted rate plus 1%, adjust awards for Medicaid billing and audit issues, and use a 1.5-times average per-pupil cost threshold for high-need eligibility beginning in 2025–26. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction will take on new responsibilities: running annual reviews for disproportionate identification, adopting rules and streamlined safety net procedures (after consulting fiscal agencies), running surveys of districts (with a simplified safety net application due by December 2025), distributing some safety net awards quarterly starting 2025–26, and making regular legislative reports. Practically, districts may receive more predictable or larger per-student allocations for certain students and clearer access to safety net funds for very high-cost cases, but they will also face tighter documentation requirements, possible reductions for unresolved audit findings, limits on what cost differences count toward awards, and expectations to maximize other revenue sources; some important details about removing the enrollment cap and the remainder of safety net documentation requirements are missing from the provided text.