2026 KIDS COUNT Spotlight: Big drop in WA education ranking

Washington state has slipped once again in a national education ranking.

The new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows Washington dropped from 27th in the nation to 31st overall. The findings are based on data from 2024. Last year, the state fell one spot. A little over a decade ago, it ranked 20th.

Washington’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction remains skeptical of the research and contends that the state has “made progress in every area” covered in the report.

The Kids Count Data Book captures statistics across the country on children’s economic well-being, education, health, and family and community life. The 2026 report marks the organization’s 37th year of publication.

In Washington, the latest analysis shows that 70% of eighth graders were not proficient in math and 68% of fourth graders were not proficient in reading. Those same figures, for 2024, appeared in last year’s report. Other education metrics were updated, contributing to Washington’s slide in the overall rankings.

National reports like these can overlook differences in individual states’ data collection, which can lead to unfair comparisons, said Katy Payne, chief strategy officer for the state’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

“Test scores in Washington have been trending upwards since they hit a low point during the pandemic,” Payne said. “A more sophisticated analysis of how our students are doing would measure our recovery since that drop, instead of comparing scores pre-pandemic to post-pandemic.”

Among the eleven other states that use the same testing vendor, Washington students have the second-highest performance in English and the fourth-highest performance in math, Payne said.

“We do have room for improvement, of course, with 14 states statistically outperforming our students in 8th-grade math,” Payne said.

She also pointed to Superintendent Chris Reykdal’s efforts to increase state spending on education and suggested that funding is a key factor in how students are performing.

“Superintendent Reykdal has continued to request resources from the Legislature that would close these gaps, and unfortunately, the Legislature continues to both underfund basic education and cut funding from programs with demonstrated evidence of success,” she added.

Soleil Boyd, executive director of the Seattle-based Children’s Alliance, said instability during the pandemic is one factor that contributed to shortfalls in reading and math proficiency.

Another notable issue the report shows, Boyd said, is a lack of access to early learning. The report found that 57% of children ages 3 and 4 are not in school, a one percentage point decline from the previous reporting period.

Boyd flagged rollbacks the state Legislature made this year to pre-kindergarten programs and cuts to child care providers.

She said it’s “really encouraging” that a portion of the state revenue from the new income tax on millionaire earners is slated to help fund early learning programs. But collections of the tax don’t start until 2029, and it’s still possible it could be overturned in court or by voters.

Washington also dropped in its health category from 9th in the nation to 10th. The report found that the share of children in the state not enrolled in health insurance increased from 3% to 4%, marking the first time in over a decade that data point has worsened.

“That’s 10,000 kids who were participating and receiving health coverage that are no longer, and that’s just from 2024,” Boyd added.

With the passage of Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill” at the federal level, that number is expected to grow, particularly for children of parents who are legal residents, but not U.S. citizens.

The report also showed that Washington ranked 26th in the economic well-being category with 31% of children living in households with a high housing cost burden, a 2% increase from 2019.