2024 Legislative Session Update

The 2024 Regular Session adjourned sine die on March 7, 2024. It was a positive session for education overall but with an unfortunate outcome for Passport funding. Following are the funding items most relevant to the Washington Passport Network in the final passed budget:

  • $1M for the Passport to Careers Program (partially funded maintenance level)
  • $1.984M for the Independent Living Rate Increase (fully funded!)
  • $1.131M to implement SB 5908, increasing Extended Foster Care eligibility
  • $1.5M to implement SB 5904, which aligns extends state financial aid eligibility with federal programs like the Pell grant (partially funded)
  • $1.75M for the Family Preservation Services Rate Increase (partially funded)
  • $1.771 for Mockingbird Family for DS lawsuit compliance
  • $600k + ongoing funding for the Kinship Care Support Program
  • $425k for Washington State Board for Communities and Technical Colleges (SB 6254, financial aid certification)
  • $3M to Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the Ninth Grade Success Initiative
  • $3M for College Success Foundation’s Rally for College high school programming

The $1 million additional funds for the Passport program for the 2024-25 year does not keep up with the program’s caseload projections. Washington Student Achievement Council, after examination of data and internal and stakeholder discussions, was forced to make the difficult decision to reduce the student award amounts. 

Legislative interim is the time to analyze, discuss and strategize for the next session. The 2025 legislative session will be a “long” (105 days) session in order for legislators to write and release a two-year budget. WSAC and CSF have begun the process of engaging Passport Leadership Team members in discussion about priorities for the Passport program and students. A special PLT meeting was held Monday, June 10, to brainstorm and discuss priorities. Notes from that meeting can be found here.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at passport@collegesuccesfoundation.org. To learn more about what happened during session this year that impacts the Passport population, check out the webinar we hosted on March 13.

As the 2023-24 school year wraps up, we are so proud of all the work this network of practitioners has done supporting foster youth and unaccompanied homeless youth across the state. Congratulations, enjoy a restful summer, and we look forward to continuing to advocate for students with your help during the coming legislative session.