2026 Legislative Candidate Questionnaire
Joe Fitzgibbon
Candidate for
State Representative Position 2
34th Legislative District
1.
Legislative priorities
Seattle Council PTSA: What will be your top three legislative priorities regarding K-12 public education during the 2027 legislative session and why?
Joe Fitzgibbon: Cellphone ban in schools; policy bills to lower utility and insurance costs for schools, paired with increased MSOC funding; and constitutional amendment for simple majority passage of school bonds.
2.
State budget priorities and revenue
Seattle Council PTSA: As the Legislature develops the 2027–29 state budget, how would you prioritize K–12 public education alongside other state needs? What changes, if any, to state revenue policies would you support to ensure adequate and sustainable education funding?
Joe Fitzgibbon: The #1 biggest thing we can do to fully resource public schools is to eliminate the 1% cap on the growth of the state property tax levy. It was uncapped for the first four years after the McCleary fix bill passed in 2017 and we should return to this policy and lift the cap. Beyond that, a big revenue opportunity is to increase taxes on cigarettes, beer, and wine.
3.
Levy reliance and regional funding inequity
Seattle Council PTSA: What changes, if any, would you support to reduce school districts' reliance on local levies and address funding inequities between districts?
Joe Fitzgibbon: The simple answer is increased state allocation to districts, particularly for MSOC and student transportation. Reliance on local levies is the biggest driver of inequities among districts.
4.
Special education funding
Seattle Council PTSA: Do you believe the current state funding formula, including the special education multiplier, adequately covers special education costs? What specific changes, if any, would you support?
Joe Fitzgibbon: I served on the House Appropriations Committee for 8 years and had direct input on the state’s Operating budget. In the committee’s Democratic Caucus, we discussed the special education funding multiplier extensively, but could not increase the multiplier as much as we wanted to. In the Senate, I will continue to advocate for reducing this funding gap.
5.
Materials, supplies, and operating costs (MSOC)
Seattle Council PTSA: Do you believe the state's current MSOC funding formula adequately covers school districts' operating expenses, including utilities, insurance, and technology? What specific changes, if any, would you support?
Joe Fitzgibbon: No, particularly as we have seen costs like utilities and insurance spike in recent years. We did make helpful changes in 2025, including specifying in statute the MSOC inflationary increase and increasing the per-student allocation. I support liability changes to reduce insurance costs and energy policy changes to bring down utility bills. I think it is too early to know the specific dollar amount by which MSOC should be increased but the current $1656.50 is insufficient.
6.
Transportation funding
Seattle Council PTSA: What is your assessment of the state's current STARS transportation funding formula? What specific changes, if any, would you support?
Joe Fitzgibbon: The STARS formula is not predictable enough for school districts, particularly as it does not adequately or predictably cover transportation costs for McKinney-Vento students. A simpler formula based on per pupil and per mile costs, with multipliers for special ed, homeless, and foster students would be a big step forward.
7.
Student mental and behavioral health
Seattle Council PTSA: What specific funding or policy changes, if any, would you support to ensure schools have sufficient counselors, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and other mental and behavioral health professionals to meet students' needs?
Joe Fitzgibbon: We increased both school nurse and school counselor staffing allocations in 2022 but experience shows that those increases have not been sufficient to ensure these staff are present in the numbers that students require. These ratios should be increased, and some restrictions should be placed on these funds to ensure that they actually are used on student behavioral health.
8.
School safety
Seattle Council PTSA: What does a safe school environment mean to you, and what specific policies or investments would you prioritize to create it? Please address both physical safety and the conditions inside schools, including discipline, student support, and staff capacity to respond to student needs.
Joe Fitzgibbon: We need to put into practice behavioral interventions and deescalation for problematic behaviors. We have invested in social-emotional learning but we need to keep resources and accountability in place to ensure best practices on student discipline are used. Age-appropriate play and learning environments are not in place for all students, which can increase physical safety risks. And high class sizes can make it harder for educators to intervene in difficult situations. More focused professional development for educations on student behavioral health is a high priority for me.
9.
Early learning
Seattle Council PTSA: What is your view of the state's responsibility to expand access to quality early learning, and what would you do in the 2027-29 budget to address unmet needs in communities like ours?
Joe Fitzgibbon: The state has moved aggressively in recent years to expand access to child care and early learning. This has been the fastest-growing area in the state budget, growing about ten-fold in the last decade. Given our state's fiscal pressures, a huge win would be to keep the Fair Start for Kids Act on track for implementation and avoid further delays.
10.
Prototypical school funding model
Seattle Council PTSA: The state calculates school funding through the prototypical school funding model, including staffing allocations and student-to-staff ratios. What specific changes, if any, would you support?
Joe Fitzgibbon: I support incorporating weighting formulas into the prototypical funding model, for example for special education students, English language learners, foster students, and other high-needs groups, because this would help address many of the challenges of both the existing student transportation and special ed funding structures.
11.
Millionaires' Tax Revenue
Seattle Council PTSA: Do you support Washington's Millionaires' Tax? Why or why not? If you support it, how do youbelieve the revenue should be allocated, particularly for K–12 public education, and whatspecific changes, if any, would you propose? If you oppose it, what alternative revenue sourcesor funding changes would you propose to meet the state's K–12 education funding obligations?
Joe Fitzgibbon: I support the Millionaires' Tax and was its prime sponsor in the House of Representatives. I support allocating its revenues to as many of the aforementioned priorities (MSOC, special ed, student transportation, behavioral health staff, and early learning) as possible, while also ensuring other critical needs for Washingtonians, like health care, child care, and higher education are stabilized.
12.
Family and student participation & accountability
Seattle Council PTSA: How would you ensure that students and families have meaningful opportunities to participate in education policy decisions at the state and district levels? What specific steps would you support to ensure that adopted policies are implemented effectively and that districts are held accountable for following them?
Joe Fitzgibbon: I wish that I knew a way to ensure these things, but I welcome input from the Seattle Council PTSA for examples of where this engagement is falling short. As a parent of two future SPS students, I am very interested in ensuring that parents are able to advocate for their kids at both the district and state levels.
