Washington 2025-2026 Regular Session Status: Passed Senate 8 D cosponsors

SB 5860 — Concerning school board compensation.

Last action — Senate Rules "X" file.

  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. 3
    Passed Senate
  4. 4
    Passed House
  5. 5
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has passed the Senate. Introduced December 09, 2025. It now moves to the second chamber.

Next likely step: consideration and a floor vote in the House.

Odds of enactment

Moderate chance

Based on the sponsor, cosponsors, and committee posture, this bill has a moderate chance of becoming law.

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A statistical estimate from our own model of past outcomes — an insight, not a guarantee. Policymaking is volatile.

Prognosis

Advancing 38% · moderate confidence

  • Passed Senate

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 8 sponsors

    1 primary, 7 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Single-party support

    Sponsorship is currently within one party (8 D).

Based on stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes, and cross-state momentum — a description of the observable signals, not a prediction.

Bill Text

What changed in the latest version

82 added · 85 removed

Plain-language change summary

The recent amendments to Bill SB 5860 mainly clarify how school board directors are compensated. The revised version specifies that their compensation can only be paid from local excess levy funds and ensures that the state will not take on any future financial obligations due to these payments. Additionally, the responsibility for reviewing and adjusting the directors' compensation has shifted from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to the Office of Financial Management, which will conduct reviews every five years. These changes aim to provide clearer guidelines for compensation while protecting state finances.

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S-3999.1 SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5860 State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session By Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education (originally sponsored by Senators Cortes, Conway, Frame, Liias, Nobles, Pedersen, Valdez, and C.
Z-0536.1 SENATE BILL 5860 State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session By Senators Cortes, Conway, Frame, Liias, Nobles, Pedersen, Valdez, and C.
by request of Superintendent of Public Instruction) READ FIRST TIME 01/22/26.
by request of Superintendent of Public Instruction Prefiled 12/09/25.
Read first time 01/12/26.
Referred to Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education.
1 SSB 5860 directors has authorized by board resolution, at a regularly scheduled meeting, the provision of such compensation.
1 SB 5860 directors has authorized by board resolution, at a regularly scheduled meeting, the provision of such compensation.
Compensation provided to a director under this section that is in excess of $3,000 per year must be authorized by the board of directors at a regularly scheduled meeting.
Compensation provided to a director under this section that is in excess of $3,000 per year must be authorized by the board of directors at a regularly scheduled meeting and may only be collected from levy funds available for this purpose.
School board director compensation may only be paid from locally collected excess levy funds available for that purpose, and may not cause the state to incur any present or future funding obligation.
(5) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall, at intervals not to exceed five years, review and adjust the compensation limits for school directors established under subsection (1) of this section.
(5) The office of financial management shall, at intervals not to exceed five years, review and adjust the compensation provided to school directors.
The adjustments must reflect cumulative changes in the cost of living, as measured by the consumer price index or a comparable index.
The adjustments must reflect cumulative changes in the cost of living, as measured by the consumer price index or a comparable index as determined by the office of financial management.
(b) Likewise, the expenses of school superintendents and other school representatives chosen by the directors to attend any p.
(b) Likewise, the expenses of school superintendents and other school representatives chosen by the directors to attend any conferences or meetings or to attend to any urgent business at the behest of the state superintendent of public instruction or the board of directors shall be paid.
2 SSB 5860 conferences or meetings or to attend to any urgent business at the behest of the state superintendent of public instruction or the board of directors shall be paid.
p.
(2) The board of directors may pay the actual and necessary expenses for travel, lodging and meals a superintendent candidate incurs when he or she attends an employment interview in the school district.
2 SB 5860 (2) The board of directors may pay the actual and necessary expenses for travel, lodging and meals a superintendent candidate incurs when he or she attends an employment interview in the school district.
p.
NEW SECTION.
3 SSB 5860 NEW SECTION.
NEW SECTION.
p.
3 SB 5860 NEW SECTION.
4 SSB 5860
4 SB 5860
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Action History

  1. Senate Rules "X" file.

  2. Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.

  3. WM - Majority; without recommendation.

  4. Executive action taken in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means at 4:00 PM.

  5. Referred to Ways & Means.

  6. Minority; without recommendation.

  7. And refer to Ways & Means.

  8. EDU - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass.

  9. Executive action taken in the Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education at 8:00 AM.

  10. Public hearing in the Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education at 10:30 AM.

  11. First reading, referred to Early Learning & K-12 Education.

  12. Prefiled for introduction.

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 7 co-sponsors · 143 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (7)

Not signed on (143)

143 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 143 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Subjects

labor education
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

Who sponsors SB 5860?
SB 5860 is sponsored by Claire Wilson (Democrat), Jamie Pedersen (Democrat), T'wina Nobles (Democrat), Marko Liias (Democrat), Noel Frame (Democrat), Steve Conway (Democrat), Javier Valdez (Democrat), and Adrian Cortes (Democrat).
What is the current status of SB 5860?
This bill has passed the Senate. Introduced December 09, 2025. It now moves to the second chamber.
Where can I track SB 5860?
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