Survey to influence K-12 education budget in state

The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction wants the public to determine what is most important to invest in the next biennial K-12 education budget.

Washington public schools superintendent Chris Reykdal said in a release Wednesday that he is looking for “input from educators, families, students and community members across the state.”

In a video message, Reykdal says the Legislature has worked to put the basics in place for the public school system.

“But we want to be more than basic,” he says. “We want an amazing education system for our students and our educators, our parents and our communities.”

That’s where you come in.

The OSPI has set up a survey, which asks the public several questions about their priorities for public education.

It asks people to decide how important they find counseling, mental health, school safety, class sizes, programs that address racial disparities and more.

The results of the survey will help the OSPI develop a budget request to submit to the governor and legislature for approval, Reykdal says.

The survey is estimated to take five minutes to complete, and asks participants to rank their answers on a scale from “Not Important” to “Very Important.”

The survey is open until June 8 and available in 10 languages. A second survey is planned for the summer.

The survey is available at http://www.k12.wa.us/Communications/BudgetSurvey.aspx