There’s no question that public school funding in Washington is in crisis. Districts across the state are struggling with budget deficits, including locally in Bellevue and Seattle. Seattle faces a $100 million hole in 2025-26 and is currently planning to close four elementary schools to deal with it along with a host of yet unnamed deep district-wide cuts.
The fight for funding resumes in January
The Billion Dollar Bake Sale – Washington campaign is a statewide effort to push Washington State lawmakers to fully fund K-12 public schools during the next legislative session, which begins January 13 and ends April 27, 2025. During the session, lawmakers will decide the next biennial state budget. Per the campaign’s website, Washington State has the 3rd highest GDP per capita of any state in the country, but spends the 2nd lowest percentage of its GDP on public education. The campaign aims to change that by securing at least $4 billion per year of stable long-term funding for K-12 public education.
At the heart of the campaign are bake sales held in January—symbolic or real—conducted by parents, organizations, groups, and districts across the state meant to rally people around the cause.
The campaign is aiming to reach as many PTAs/PTOs and other educational organizations as possible across Washington in the next couple of weeks, and are halfway through their list. An “action toolkit” will be available on the campaign’s website soon.
The campaign will culminate in a legislative lobby day in Olympia on January 30, when families, educators and community members will hold a protest outside the Capitol building and try to gain access legislators to make their demands known.
Local parents are already joining the effort, including advocates at All Together for Seattle Schools, which was initially created to stop SPS from closing schools to meet its deficit and now has expanded its aims to include state education funding. Campaign organizers have suggested families band together to charter buses from their schools to Olympia or consider taking Amtrak, where kids ages 18 and under ride for free.
Start your bake sale planning now
Parents interested in participating in the Billion Dollar Bake Sale campaign can start now by:
- Connecting with other parents, PTAs, or your district to choose a date for a bake sale. Consider January community events or school board meetings where a bake sale would get good publicity and visibility.
- Discussing whether to make and sell baked goods at the sale and who would benefit from the funds raised. For example, money could go to a school’s PTA/PTO or to pay for buses to bring families to Olympia on January 30 for lobby day.
- Sign up on the campaign’s website to receive more updates and check back soon for the toolkit
“The legislature can better fund schools in 2025, but they need to hear from parents and caregivers across the state that funding K-12 education should be a top priority,” campaign organizer Alex Wakeman Rouse wrote to TOPS parents.
Bake Sale meeting this week
The campaign is holding weekly planning meetings. For information about the next one and to learn more about the campaign go to billiondollarbakesalewa.com.
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