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Our 2025 Endorsements Are Here!

Primary ballots are out—are you ready? If not, don’t worry—we’ve got you.

The Stand for Children WA PAC is excited to endorse candidates who will champion strong schools and stand up for youth furthest from justice and opportunity. Our endorsement process is thoughtful, nonpartisan, and focused on real impact for kids.

✅ Vandana Slatter (D) — 48th District – State Senate
✅ Chad Magendanz (R) — 5th District – State Senate (dual endorsement)
✅ Victoria Hunt (D) — 5th District – State Senate (dual endorsement)
✅ Deb Krishnadasan (D) — 26th District – State Senate
✅ Edwin Obras (D) — 33rd District – State Representative

These are important races, and your vote matters. Make sure you’re registered here—and return your ballot by August 6th!

We’re excited. You should be too. Let’s elect leaders who’ll do right by Washington’s youth.

WA Families deserved better

This legislative session was a tough one for Washington families. Despite unprecedented needs in both our public education and youth justice systems, lawmakers left Olympia without passing critical reforms, while making cuts that will impact students in K-12 and higher ed.

For Governor Bob Ferguson, it was a first session marked by steep learning curves. Amid a $16 billion budget deficit, his early resistance to progressive revenue proposals shaped much of the session’s tone. While the final budget did include some new revenue streams, they came only after weeks of tension and delay—and some, such as an ability to raise school levies, will actually increase inequities between school districts long term. Ultimately, lawmakers still made about $7 billion in cuts, including to student-facing programs and higher education, while adding new spending to fund previously agreed-upon collective bargaining agreements and modestly increasing funding for special education and school operating costs. 

Despite the many challenges of this session, all three of Stand for Children’s legislative priorities were passed—an important bright spot for youth across Washington. Lawmakers secured $1.5 million to maintain the Ninth Grade Success Initiative, maintained an important pilot effort around CTE Dual Credit, and strengthened youth diversion programs, including better data collection and reporting. These investments move us closer to a system that supports students’ success in school and life, especially those at greatest risk of being pushed out.

Across the country, Americans are showing up in record numbers to meet with local leaders and make their voices heard on the issues that matter most. Now, you can do the same for our students. Town halls provide us with an opportunity to talk directly to our elected officials, express concerns, ask questions, and invest in finding solutions to address issues facing our communities. Your state lawmakers have Town Halls coming up soon!

Not sure what legislative district you are in? Click here to find out.

A Personal Exploration of Dual Credit and Education Equity

Stand’s summer volunteer intern Aseela Galeeb has made her mark on the team. Aseela has written content explaining and demystifying the school district policymaking process, interviewing students and professionals about their experiences in dual credit, and auditing school district websites to see if they have accessible public information about available dual credit programming. At the core of her work for Stand has been a rooted understanding of how these issues are relevant to students. Drawing on her own experiences and those of her peers, Aseela has helped us think more intentionally about why equity in dual credit programming matters to students and families.Aseela is heading off to college where she will deepen her policy and communications chops. We are grateful for her time with Stand and excited to follow her work in the future. Aseela leaves us with some parting reflections below:

” My time working with Stand has been very meaningful. I have been able to build my writing and blogging skills which I know will serve me well in the future, and I have had the opportunity to learn about an important aspect of educational policy- dual credit equity. In doing so, I have reflected on my own experience with dual credit opportunities, which contrasts with the stories I have read and written about, both this year and last year. 

The small 6-12th grade school I attended in the lakeside suburbs of Kirkland wrapped my classmates and I in a bubble. Within my graduating class of 29 students, only two are not attending a 4-year university. Many of us, including myself, come from privileged backgrounds and families that consider attending college as a fact of life. 

Given this background, it will be no surprise that the primary dual credit option in my school was the AP curriculum. It was almost expected of us, and it was rare to encounter a senior who hadn’t taken any APs. The other dual credit option that was floated around was Running Start. Due to the small size of the school and therefore its limited curriculum, many students chose to do Running Start. Only one student in my year chose to do full-time Running Start, but there were four or five students that did it part-time, in order to gain credits from classes that weren’t offered by my school. 

All of this is to say that when I started with Stand last year, I hadn’t heard of CTE or College in the High School (the latter is offered by my district but not at my school). Being given the opportunity to learn about these options (and more), to speak to students whose experiences have differed from mine, and to look back on my high school experience with a different perspective, has been a valuable benefit of working with Stand that I couldn’t have foreseen.

I am extremely grateful to the Stand team for giving me this opportunity and hope to stay in touch in the future.”

Thank you, Aseela, for lending your talents and personal experiences to the Stand team. We are inspired by your passion for education policy and communications, and excited to follow your continued impact!

For three weeks the Debt Free Youth Justice Coalition hosted youth media trainings in collaboration with the Juvenile Law Center. The series featured weekly sessions for youth to develop new media skills and the confidence to tell their stories. Over 80 youth registered for the series and those who attended asked various questions, such as, “How can I reduce the risk of being biased or being misquoted or misinterpreted?” during our Writing an Op-Ed training. 

Our Media 101 training was a great foundational training where youth could learn why people choose to tell stories in the media and examples of how other youth have had their stories told by reporters were shared. These stories can educate the general public about various issues and they can change public perception of these issues, as well as put pressure on legislators to make changes. 

What’s important for advocates, parents, community members, and youth to remember is that telling your story can come in so many different ways. Because one op-ed you write, one interview with a reporter, or reel on Instagram, that one thing doesn’t wholly define you and it shouldn’t wholly define you. 

As the adage goes, “closed mouths don’t get fed.” We can’t have tuition funded, food scarcity made obsolete, and mental health services made available. We can’t have gun protection, safety, etc. if we aren’t vocal about how these topics impact.

Because legislators, elected officials, etc. they’re people too, so they’ll enact policies that benefit issues that they think are prevalent and relevant. Or they have a close friend or relative who tells them what’s important, so that’s what issue they champion. So they need to hear from us, they need to know “this is a critical issue that impacts my life” and one way to paint that picture is by sharing your experience or your story. 

You don’t have to write an autobiography or make a documentary about your life. You can share an anecdote about a particular instance or how something has made you feel. Even sharing your reaction to a piece of legislation. 

But the important thing all youth should take away from these trainings is feel empowered to not be silent. You don’t need to fit in a box. You don’t need to be on the evening news. You don’t need to be quoted in the Seattle Times or all this stuff to be relevant (or to matter). 

Social media is the new currency and these spaces are here to stay. Lean into what you and your friends do best. Lean into each other’s stories, and amplify each other’s lived experiences. So what if the media doesn’t initially pick up something you think is really important? These institutions are, at times, losing credibility, trust, and viewership. So you can build your own credible space. You are the only truth-teller of your story, your experience, your feelings, and your thoughts. Any and all of these things could inspire your friend or a classmate.

So my biggest takeaway and advice is to not be silent, even if other people aren’t around to listen. We need your voice and your passion for wanting our communities to change. We need your hope, your optimism, your anger, and your frustration. 

People say the kids are the future, but we also look up to them. We look up to your ability to say it like it is. To be unique, to call out adults and call out the system. And I hope the youth trainings are only the beginning, that they may only be a catalyst for more youth to speak up and for the adults in the room to encourage the youth in our lives to gallantly speak their minds.

Examples of youth stories shared in the media

• How Foster Care Creates Roadblocks While Pursuing Education
• New Philly office must protect young people from harms caused by agencies designed to protect them | Opinion
• Former youth offenders demand action on overlooked juvenile justice
• Project PA: Bill Would Offer Free Tuition to PA Foster Youth; Not Everyone on Board
• Guest Commentary: Treat Kids in the Juvenile Justice System as … Kids
• VisionQuest Not a Safe Space for Youth

Comment below with an outlet that you think does a great job covering youth voice. What type of youth content do you like to read?

If you want help drafting an Op-Ed or a Letter To the Editor, or if you have an idea for a piece, reach out to us at [email protected]!

We did not let a short 60-day session shrink our ambition for system changes that will benefit young people in Washington. 

2024 Legislative Session Stats: 

• 46 community voices testified 
• $8.5m allocated to remove barriers and support students  
• 76,800 Students impacted 
• 150 Cookies shared (Making change one cookie at a time!)

We set out with clear goals  to advance ninth grade success and eliminate outlawed debt, while supporting partner priorities to advance racial justice and proven solutions that benefit kids. These goals resonated with legislators, activists, advocates, and community members who shared their voice this session in support of these and other critical priorities. Thanks to their voices and advocacy, the legislature passed SB 5974 and allocated $3M in the final budget for the Ninth Grade Success Initiative.

But despite the short session, we must keep a long memory – many important priorities were kicked down the road to next year, “when there’s more time.” We were disappointed to see some very innovative policies that would have made a difference in young peoples’ lives stall out. These policies include a number of youth justice proposals that would have acknowledged the science of brain development, and the harm done by past policies that were rooted in hyper-punitive, counterproductive narratives about young people. This article highlights why the instinct to build up punitive systems is harmful and unproductive if we truly intend to rehabilitate. Legislators also missed opportunities to put into law the state’s commitment to students at critical junctures, by not passing bills like Ninth Grade Success Initiative (SB 5408/HB 2053) or a bill to provide supports for chronically absent students and students with other barriers (SB 5850). 

As we wrap up this session, we are taking away key lessons for our collective work: 

1. Now is the time to start organizing to hold each other and our lawmakers accountable for priorities deferred to the 2025 legislative session. At Stand, we do this in multiple ways: through our PAC’s endorsement process, through interim meetings and conversations, and by connecting those closest to an issue with the lawmakers making decisions about it. 
2. Working in partnership and coalition is vital and helps us have stronger wins and to weather the disappointments. Our partners in this work challenge and inspire us daily to keep fighting for what is right and what will work to support students.  We must be crystal clear in our demands for youth justice to ensure young people stay out of the juvenile rehabilitation and criminal legal systems and stay in rigorous and enriching educational environments, and there is a lot of work to do to cut through the political rhetoric and educate lawmakers about what truly works to support young people. 
   • Our Debt Free Youth Justice coalition brought together more than 20 organizations, and dozens of directly impacted young people, to reduce the harmful impacts of the juvenile legal system.
   • Our High School Success Coalition collaborated on bills to support every student on their path to achieving a rigorous high school diploma and pursuing their dreams.
3. We must make room for connection and healing. This work is hard, and isolating. The antidote is community connection. We will be looking for opportunities to connect with you throughout interim, virtually and in community. 

As a first step towards that connection, we want to hear from you! Please stay in touch and let us know what you are interested in connecting on, and issues that are arising in your community.

In closing, our work is not possible without your partnership. Thank you for standing with us, and standing with children, this legislative session and always. 

In partnership, 

Kia & Liz 

This week is the next to last week of session – and today is a final cutoff date. All bills that aren’t considered “necessary to implement the budget” need to receive a vote from the full chamber by 5pm today. After today, legislators will turn their attention to finalizing the supplemental budget and passing bills considered necessary to implement that budget. In addition, there are three initiatives that the legislature will consider. 

The last day of session is known as “sine die” (latin for “without day” meaning they adjourn without a specific day to return), and will be March 7. 

Bill Updates 

This was a whirlwind week with Monday’s fiscal cutoff and today’s floor cutoff. Here’s a roundup of the bills we’ve been tracking and sharing with you this session: 

• SB 5904 (aligning and extending state financial aid timelines) – Passed the House 61-35
• HB 2214 (auto-qualifying students receiving food stamps for the Washington College Grant) – Passed the Senate 28-20 
• HB 2217 (to ensure more juvenile offenses are prosecuted in juvenile court) passed the Senate 29-20 
• HB 2025 (to expand state work study for college access programs) is scheduled for a Senate floor vote today. 
• HB 2065 (juvenile points retroactivity) did not advance out of Senate Ways & Means on Monday and is dead for this session. 

Ballot Initiatives

Six ballot initiatives were sent to the legislature this session. The legislature has decided to consider three of them and to send three to the ballot for voters to decide. They held hearings and committee votes this week on the three initiatives under consideration and will bring them to the floor for debate and vote next week. The three initiatives are: I-2081, concerning parental rights, I-2111, concerning personal income taxes, and I-2113, concerning vehicular pursuits. 

Budget update

Each chamber has passed their operating budget proposal and will now go into “conference” to reconcile the differences between the two proposals. Ninth Grade Success Initiative is funded in the Senate proposal, but not the House, and we are urging budget negotiators to retain the Senate number in the final budget. We expect the final proposal to be released Wednesday March 6th.

We want to hear from you! What questions, reactions, reflections, celebrations, and concerns do you have about the legislative session? Share your thoughts by Wednesday March 6th; we’ll publish a round up in our final roll-call edition next week! 

Thank you for your continued advocacy!

Sincerely, 

Liz Trautman
Government Affairs Director