Harger: Washington doubled school spending. Scores collapsed. Now OSPI wants more money.
Apr 21, 2026, 5:00 AM | Updated: 1:01 pm
State schools superintendent Chris Reykdal put out a statement last month about the new state budget. He’s unhappy about $80 million in education cuts. His solution? Wait for the millionaires’ tax.
Before we get there, let’s look at what we’re already spending.
Washington state education spending up 110%. NAEP test scores down. The data is damning.
New data from Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University tracks per-pupil spending and test scores since 2013. Washington has increased per-pupil spending by 110%. We now spend about $20,300 per student per year. Inflation over that same period rose about 35%. Washington’s education spending grew at three times the rate of inflation.
The test score line goes the other direction. Catastrophically.
Eighth-grade math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the national gold standard, are down about 16 points since 2013 and still falling. Fourth-grade reading is down about 9 points, also still dropping. Six states. Same data. The spending line goes up. The score line goes down. Every time.
And if you point that out, if you say out loud that we’ve spent more and gotten less, you get accused of being anti-public school. Anti-teacher. Anti-kids. It’s how to end a conversation that desperately needs to happen. Question the spending, and you’re the villain. Meanwhile, the kids keep falling further behind.
The money isn’t the problem. What we’re doing with it is.
Mississippi spends $8,000 less per student than Washington. Their scores are rising.
Now look at Mississippi.
Mississippi spends about $12,500 per student. That’s roughly $8,000 less per kid than Washington every single year. Their teachers are the lowest paid in the country, dead last by National Education Association rankings. They average $53,704 a year. A decade ago, Mississippi was near the bottom of every national ranking.
Today, Mississippi’s 4th-grade reading scores are up about 8 points. Math is gaining. They didn’t spend their way there. They rewrote their curriculum, mandated phonics instruction, and held schools accountable for results. Mississippi’s literacy law, passed in 2013, required schools to teach reading using the science of reading: systematic phonics, decoding, and early intervention for struggling readers. It was not popular with everyone. They did it anyway. The results are on the scoreboard.
Washington pays its teachers the fourth-highest in the nation, an average of $91,720 a year. And our kids are falling further behind Mississippi’s kids every year.
Washington school spending after McCleary: administrators grew twice as fast as teachers
A Washington State Office of Financial Management analysis answers that question with a chart that should make every taxpayer furious.
Since 2000, student enrollment grew 12%. Teachers grew 25%. But principals grew 42%. Other administrative staff grew 54%. Non-teaching certificated staff grew 66%. The system hired administrators at more than twice the rate it hired teachers. Superintendent salaries jumped nearly 50% after McCleary. Eighty cents of every operating dollar goes to salaries and benefits. Most of that growth went to adults who don’t stand in front of kids.
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Chris Reykdal says critics are pushing ‘deliberate misrepresentation’
When pressed on scores, Reykdal reframed the question. Level 2 on state tests now counts as demonstrating “foundational grade-level knowledge,” a standard that used to require Level 3. When results don’t clear the bar, you can raise the results or lower the bar. He has also accused parents and journalists raising these numbers of pushing a privatization agenda rather than asking honest questions.
Mississippi phonics instruction vs. Washington: last in teacher pay, first in results
Mississippi is ranked last in teacher pay and climbing in results. Washington is ranked fourth in teacher pay and is cratering. More money is not the variable. What happens inside classrooms is.
Reykdal’s answer is that we haven’t spent enough.
Mississippi would like a word.
Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here.
