Washington's Prototypical Funding Formula
Bellevue School District
Funding Formula Breakdown for 2024-25
What is the Prototypical School Funding Model?
Following the McCleary decision in 2012, Washington State adopted the Prototypical School Funding Model to fully fund "Basic Education" as required by the state constitution.
"Prototypical School"
Based on Enrollment
= Allocation Amount
District Enrollment
1 Prototypical School Sizes
Theoretical enrollment for each school type:
| School Type | Grade Levels | Prototypical Enrollment (AAFTE) |
|---|---|---|
| Elementary School | Grades K-6 | 400 students |
| Middle School | Grades 7-8 | 432 students |
| High School | Grades 9-12 | 600 students |
AAFTE = Annual Average Full-Time Equivalent Students
2 Class Size Ratios (Students per Teacher)
Number of students allocated per certificated instructional staff (teacher):
| Grade Level | Class Size | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 17.00 | K-3 Class Size Reduction |
| Grade 1 | 17.00 | |
| Grade 2 | 17.00 | |
| Grade 3 | 17.00 | |
| Grade 4 | 27.00 | General |
| Grades 5-6 | 27.00 | General |
| Grades 7-8 | 28.53 | General |
| Grades 9-12 | 28.74 | General |
| Lab Science | 19.98 | Specialized |
| CTE / Skill Center | 19.00 | Career & Technical Education |
Example: 200 K-3 students → 200 ÷ 17 = 11.76 FTE teachers
3 Salary Allocations - Bellevue School District
2024-25 Base Salary Allocations
| Staff Type | State Base | × Regional (1.18) | = District Allocation | FTE Count | Total Allocation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Certificated Instructional Staff (CIS) | $78,134 | ×1.18 | $92,198 | 1,411.4 | $130.1M |
| Certificated Administrative Staff (CAS) | $116,012 | ×1.18 | $136,894 | 91.0 | $12.5M |
| Classified Staff (CLS) | $56,105 | ×1.18 | $66,204 | 848.3 | $56.2M |
| Total Staff Salary Allocation: | $198.8M | ||||
4 MSOC - Bellevue School District
Non-personnel operating cost allocations (2024-25):
| Category | Per-Student | × 19,509 Students | = District Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technology | $201.02 | × | $3.9M |
| Utilities & Maintenance | $412.89 | × | $8.1M |
| Curriculum & Textbooks | $173.81 | × | $3.4M |
| Instructional Supplies | $277.59 | × | $5.4M |
| Other (Library, Office, Insurance) | $449.28 | × | $8.8M |
| Total MSOC | $1,514.59 | $29.5M |
5 Total Funding Summary: Bellevue School District
| Component | Amount |
|---|---|
| Actual Salary Revenue (CIS + CAS + CLS) | $198.8M |
| Employee Benefits (SEBB) | $37.0M |
| MSOC (Materials, Supplies, Operating Costs) | $29.5M |
| Special Education | $38.8M |
| Transportation | $12.6M |
| Total State Funding | $260.2M |
| Per Student | $13,338 |
Key Takeaways
Funding is based on theoretical "prototypical" schools, not actual district needs or costs.
Districts receive funding based on the formula but have discretion in how to deploy resources.
Special education, transportation, and MSOC are chronically underfunded compared to actual costs.
Regionalization factors only partially account for cost-of-living differences across the state.
Many districts rely on local levies to cover gaps, creating inequities between property-rich and property-poor districts.
References & Resources
- RCW 28A.150.260 - Prototypical School Funding Statute
- Citizen's Guide to WA K-12 Finance 2024
- K-12 Regionalization Factors
- OSPI School Apportionment
- District Allocation of State Resources Portal
District Overview
In 2024-25, Washington districts spent about $1 billion more than the state provided for special education, MSOC (materials & operating costs), and student transportation — the three gaps WSPTA names as its #1 legislative priority. Districts covered the difference with local levies and reserves — and those reserves are running low: statewide, districts' unreserved savings fell from 5.7% of spending in 2020-21 to just 2.1% budgeted for 2025-26 (OFM). Here's how it shows up in your district.Two independent sources agree on the size: this dashboard's OSPI F-196 district actuals (319 districts) total ≈ $1.0B, and WASA's waschoolfunding.org reports ≈ $794M for the same "Big 3" gaps in 2024-25.
Your District on the Map
Hover over any district to see its name — click to select it.
Where Does School Money Come From?
Basic ed, special ed, transportation, and more
Extracurricular programs, student support services, classroom materials, and staff positions not fully funded by the state
Services for low-income students, multilingual/English learners, educator training, and more
Investment earnings, fees, donations, and miscellaneous revenue sources
Data Source: OSPI SAFS Data Files
Revenue Source Trend
Year-over-year revenue by source for the selected district, in actual dollars — bar height shows total revenue. Data source: OSPI F-196 Financial Reports.
Your District at a Glance
Funding Gap Breakdown
Revenue vs. Expenditure by program (in millions)
State Funding by District Demographics
How does state revenue per student vary with district characteristics?
Policy Simulation
Move each slider to see what a funding change would mean for your district, using its real FY 2024-25 numbers.
The state limits how much local school tax voters can approve per student.
The state checks what each district's property could raise at a standard rate — a wealth test, not the actual levy. If that can't reach the goal line, the state fills the gap.
The state pays extra for each special education student — often less than districts actually spend.
The state pays per student for books, technology, and building upkeep.
The state pays per student to run school buses — usually less than buses really cost.
What a brand-new payment per English learner would give each district.
What a new payment per low-income student would give each district — Washington has none today.
Like what a slider did? Tell the people who can move it for real — see the Take Action tab.
Funding Gap Analysis
Y = Funding Gap Overview
Negative Y = district spends more than state provides — local levies, federal grants, or reserves cover the gap.
Positive Y = state revenue covers all spending (rare; usually small / low-cost districts).
Note: this differs from the "State allocation vs. program cost" gap in the District Overview tab.
Your district's input profile
Each tile is one factor the model uses. The small percentage = how much that factor influences the predicted funding balance across WA districts.
▸Methodology & model accuracy
Key predictors of the funding gap (statewide)
Bars below rank how strongly each factor predicts the funding balance, learned from 6 years × 250+ districts.
Feature Importance Summary
▸What's XGBoost? How is the model trained?
What is XGBoost?
XGBoost (eXtreme Gradient Boosting) is a machine learning algorithm that builds many decision trees sequentially, where each tree learns from the errors of previous trees. It's widely used for prediction tasks due to its accuracy and efficiency.
What We're Predicting (Y)
This is the funding balance per pupil. Negative = district spends more than the state provides (the gap is covered by local levies, federal grants, or reserves). Positive = state revenue exceeds district spending (rare).
Input Features (X)
Data Filtering
To ensure meaningful comparisons, the model excludes:
- Small districts with fewer than 100 students
- Special/charter schools (tribal, detention, virtual, academy, etc.)
Feature Importance (Gain-based)
Feature importance shows how much each variable contributes to the model's predictions. Higher importance means the feature has more influence on determining a district's funding balance.
How to Interpret Results
Underfunded — The district spends $2,500 more per pupil than what the state provides. This gap must be covered by local levies or other sources.
Surplus — The state provides $500 more per pupil than what the district spends. This is rare and usually indicates lower-cost operations.
District Clustering: Operating Balance vs Profile (statewide)
▸How are the 4 clusters defined?
What is District Clustering?
District clustering groups Washington's school districts into 4 categories based on two dimensions: Operating Balance (Y-axis) and District Profile Score (X-axis). This helps identify which districts face similar challenges and budget situations.
Understanding the Axes
Formula: (Total Revenue − Expenditure) ÷ Enrollment
Total Revenue = state + local levy + federal + other.
Negative values = deficit (district spent more than it received; drew on reserves)
Positive values = surplus (added to fund balance)
Composite score (0-100%) based on:
• 40% Low-Income %
• 20% Enrollment Decline
• 20% ELL % • 20% SpEd %
The Four Clusters
Bottom 2.5% of operating balance — spent significantly more than received (across all revenue sources). Drawing heavily on reserves or running structural deficits.
Below-median balance with challenging demographics (high poverty, ELL, SpEd). Spending outpaces revenue despite higher categorical funding.
Below-median balance with lower-need demographics. Often suburban districts where high local levy hasn't fully closed the spending gap.
Above-median balance. Revenue covered (or exceeded) expenditures — added to fund balance or held even. Often smaller, lower-cost-per-pupil districts.
Key Insights
- High-need districts are not always the most underfunded — some receive adequate state support through categorical funding
- Suburban districts often show larger gaps — higher costs but limited categorical funding eligibility
- Enrollment decline amplifies funding challenges — fixed costs spread over fewer students
- Local levy capacity varies dramatically — property-rich districts can compensate, others cannot
My District Snapshot
What the state paid for your district's schools, what your district actually spent, and who covers the difference — from your district's official 2024-25 year-end financial report (OSPI form F-196).
Find Your Legislators
The state lawmakers who represent your district — the people who vote on school funding.
Advocate Action Ladder
Whoever you are, there's a step you can take today. Start with one minute — then climb.
Bills That Affect Your School's Funding
The 2026 supplemental session kept most of the big 2025 K-12 wins in place, but didn't add major new funding. Below are the recent bills that matter — what's now law, and what's still being decided.
Need your legislator's email? Find them here ↗Sources & Further Reading
Writing a school project on K-12 funding? These are the primary sources behind the numbers on this dashboard — go ahead and cite them.
Citing one of these in a paper? The WA Citizen's Guide PDF includes a glossary and timeline that makes excellent reference material. fiscal.wa.gov is the dataset behind most of the dollar figures on this dashboard.
