Frequently Asked Questions

The Washington State Legislature closed its session, March 2026, with no meaningful increases to public education in the budget.

It is clear that the State is not meeting its paramount duty to fully fund public education. The total portion of the State’s budget dedicated to public education has decreased from 52% in 2019 to 43% in 2027. This has forced us and many other school districts to make detrimental cuts to our basic education budget.

In addition, we face flat or lower than predicted enrollment on top of the ongoing rising costs of salaries, benefits, insurance, utilities, fuel, meals and building supplies. And, we still wrestle with federal funding implications that can send our shortfall higher. 

These conditions are not sustainable.

The primary reason we continue to see shortfalls in our budget year after year is the State’s failure to adequately fund basic education and other programs that are required by the State.

The lack of funding fails to account for rising costs of utilities, insurance, fuel, meals and building supplies. The biggest gap we’re facing is the amount of money the state provides for staff salaries and benefits.  

Every year it gets harder and harder. Staff salaries and benefits make up 86% of the general budget, and the state only provides 69% of what we need to cover these costs. We cannot create a sustainable budget for the future without reductions and changes. 

The biggest impact to public education from this Legislative session is a statewide reduction to the Transition to Kindergarten (TTK) program. We were notified last week by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction that we must plan for an estimated 43% reduction for Tacoma Public Schools.

Yet again, as the State fails at keeping its promises, we must rely on creative solutions and community support to continue programs that we know are best for student learning. The cuts from the State to the TTK program mean that we must rely on other funding sources. We will communicate once we know our next steps.

We have spent the last three years addressing our budget shortfalls, which includes more than a 21% reduction in administrative positions.

• In 2023, we faced a $10 million budget shortfall for the 2023-24 school year. To address this, 22 central office administrative positions were eliminated, and we made cuts to $6 million in expenditures.
• In 2024, we faced a $40 million budget shortfall for the 2024-25 school year. To address this, 38 administrative positions were eliminated, and we made cuts to $9.5 million to our overall staffing budget. We also identified $20 million in reductions to expenditures.
• In 2025, we face an estimated $30 million budget shortfall for the 2025-26 school year. To address this, 12 administrative positions were eliminated, and we have identified an estimated $20 million from program cuts and reductions to our discretionary expenditures.  
• In 2026, we face an estimated $10 million budget shortfall for the 2026-27 school year. To address this, we have started with eliminating administrative positions were eliminated, and we continue to take steps to control costs, including right-sizing and reorganizing our departments and programs.

Supporting students is our priority, but we can’t create a sustainable budget for the future without staff cuts and program changes. It’s not lost on us that every support for students comes from a caring adult who may be impacted by these cuts. These are extremely difficult choices that reflect our financial reality.

The following provides an overview of any additional salary percentage increases plus the implicit price deflator (IPD) rate for each school year: 

• 2022-23: 1% + 6.5% IPD = 7.5% 
• 2023-24: 1% + 3.7% IPD = 4.7% 
• 2024-25: 0% + 3.7% IPD = 3.7% 
• 2025-26: 0% + 2.5% IPD = 2.5%

The Washington State Legislature adopted IPD as a replacement for the cost-of-living adjustment to increase salary allocations for school employees as inflation occurs. It is determined and provided by the State for all full-time equivalent employees. 

For more information about represented staff salaries and wages, please visit the Bargaining & Salary Schedules page.

Tacoma Public Schools no longer has the option of participating in the free and reduced-price meal program that many of us were familiar with. Due to federal program changes, all of our students now qualify for free meals through the Department of Agriculture’s Community Eligibility Provision (CEP).

If the option was available to charge for school lunches at the schools with lower poverty rates, we would not earn enough revenue to offset our shortfall or help to reduce program cuts. We know that nutrition and access to food is a necessary support to students succeeding in the classroom and will continue to support student access to breakfast and lunch in our schools.

In Washington, money collected to pay for building or modernizing schools can only be used for that purpose. Our school district budget has six different funds, or accounts. Staff salaries come from the General Fund. Money to build schools comes from the Capital and Technology Levy fund. State law dictates that money from one fund can’t be used to pay for expenses from another.

We are fortunate that Tacoma voters continue to support our schools and staff by approving ballot measures that replace aging schools in every neighborhood. Updated buildings ensure that our students have safe, comfortable environments for teaching and learning.