This bill amends RCW 28A.500.015 to change the calendar year when the state must begin providing state local effort assistance from 2020 to 2026. It is a modification of existing law that sets timing, calculation rules, definitions, and special counting rules for state local effort assistance funding to eligible school districts. The amendment prescribes how annual local effort assistance is calculated: if a district’s actual enrichment levy rate is below $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value, funding equals the district’s maximum local effort assistance multiplied by the ratio of the actual levy rate to $1.50; if the levy rate is at least $1.50, funding equals the district’s maximum local effort assistance. For state-tribal education compact schools, beginning in calendar year 2022 the funding equals the host district’s prior-year actual enrichment levy per student (as calculated by the superintendent of public instruction), up to $1,550 per student adjusted for inflation, multiplied by the compact school’s prior-year enrollment. The section also specifies that this funding is not part of the state’s program of basic education under Article IX, section 1 of the state constitution. The amendment adds or clarifies definitions and special rules: “eligible school district,” “maximum local effort assistance,” “inflation” (using the Seattle CPI-U), “prior school year” (with specific exceptions for 2022 and 2023), a state local effort assistance threshold of $1,550 per student increased for inflation beginning in 2020, and a rule excluding an amount equal to 30% of FTE enrollment for online/remote alternative learning experience courses when ALE enrollment exceeds 15% of a district’s FTE. It also includes counting rules for nonhigh/high district relationships and for innovation academy cooperatives. Affected entities include school districts, state-tribal compact schools, the superintendent of public instruction, and innovation academy cooperatives. The extracted material appears to be a single-section amendment and may be part of a larger bill; other sections, the full prior text, and numeric examples or assessed-value data needed to compute actual amounts are not included here, so those details are uncertain.

If enacted, eligible school districts would begin receiving state local effort assistance in 2026, and the size of each district’s payment would depend on its actual enrichment levy: districts with levy rates below $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value get a prorated share of their maximum assistance, while districts at or above that levy get their full maximum assistance. State-tribal compact schools already have a separate rule (in effect beginning 2022) that pays them a per-student amount based on the host district’s levy up to $1,550 per student (adjusted for inflation), and special enrollment counting rules affect districts in high/nonhigh relationships and innovation academy cooperatives. The practical winners are districts whose assessed value per student is low enough to qualify for aid, because they will likely see new state revenue starting in 2026; districts with low levy rates will get smaller payments unless they raise levy rates, which could alter local levy decisions. The state will take on the fiscal obligation beginning in 2026. The exact dollar impacts for any district aren’t provided here because amounts depend on local assessed values, levy rates, and prior-year enrollment calculations, and other parts of the bill (if any) are not included in these facts.