The Federal Way Education Association (FWEA) filled street corners March 19 with signs and chants at the intersection of Pacific Highway South and 320th Street South.

Their message: a demand to fully fund schools in the Washington state budget as the state faces an over $13 billion deficit.

This call also comes in the wake of federal cuts to education and attempts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.

James Brown, president of FWEA, told the Mirror that they are asking the state to find new and progressive sources of revenue to fund education without negatively impacting other services.

“Governor Ferguson’s budget had a 6% cut to other programs and we can’t keep education minimally afloat on the backs of our community that relies on those services to help sustain them,” Brown said. The services he referred to include resources like childcare programs, mental health services, and aid to people who are experiencing food insecurity and homelessness.

To fund education without cutting these programs, and to insulate Washington schools from potential impacts at the federal level, Brown said, “we have to make the wealthy parents pay their fair share,” and spoke against regressive taxation policies that hit lower income people harder, like increasing sales tax.

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown joined a coalition of 21 state attorneys general in filing a motion for a preliminary injunction as part of their lawsuit to stop President Donald Trump’s attempt to dismantle the Department of Education on March 24, but the future is unknown.

Most Federal Way Public Schools locations receive funding from Title 1 and LAP. According to the district website, 22 schools currently receive Title 1 funding, 38 receive Learning Assistance Program (LAP) supports and 34 receive LAP High Poverty supports.

Across the board, teachers and education professionals told the Mirror that standing up for their students is their motivation for taking action and speaking out.

Jeremy Bort, who is a history and English teacher at Kilo Middle School and a representative for FWEA, said he attended to speak up for “what my students need and deserve.” Bort specifically said he is concerned about kids in poverty, those struggling with mental health, those who rely on free and reduced lunch and more.

Ashley Carreno of Sacajewea Middle School said, “how do we expect them to succeed if they don’t have what they need?”

Funding for WA students

8.34 percent of the Federal Way Public Schools budget is made up of federal funds, according to the Washington OSPI.

In materials passed out to demonstrators on March 19, notes state that “students in every state, including Washington, benefit from programs run by the Department of Education, especially lower-income students, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities.”

President Trump signed an Executive Order to close the Department of Education on March 20, 2025.

In a statement, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon on the executive order said that “closing the Department does not mean cutting off funds from those who depend on them — we will continue to support K-12 students, students with special needs, college student borrowers, and others who rely on essential programs. We’re going to follow the law and eliminate the bureaucracy responsibly by working through Congress to ensure a lawful and orderly transition.”

While the administration has expressed that programs like Title 1 and IDEA will continue, approximately 97% of the department responsible for allocating those funds in the Department of Education are no longer working there because of cuts announced on March 11. So far the administration has not shared any plan on how these funds will be managed without these staff.

FWEA members want legislators to find funding within the state to insulate against the potential loss of these federal funds and the current state budget shortfall.

As far as where that funding comes from – Brown explained that they hope to see progressive taxes that are fair to all Washingtonians rather than putting more burdens on the people who are struggling the most.

One option could be a Financial Intangible Tax (FIT), Brown said, adding that “our lowest income Washington citizens are already paying too much in taxes by way of sales taxes that disproportionately affect lower income earners.” An FIT tax would be on the small proportion of “citizens who have more than $50,000,000 in stocks, bonds and securities,” he explained.

When teachers and education staff chanted ‘make the rich pay what they owe’ on the street corners on the March 19, it is these kinds of proposals that they were supporting, Brown said.

FWEA shared a message around the importance of funding for all students in Washington, but emphasized that Federal Way would be one of those districts that is especially hard hit.

Sav Bair is a middle school teacher in Federal Way and said that although cuts “from a federal, national political perspective are unavoidable,” their hope is that “on a state level, we can help to isolate. We can help to become kind of a closed system where we can support each other and come up with solutions.”

The goal of demonstrations and speaking out aligns with that hope that “other people, other unions and other community members will join in this fight, because we need everybody.”

In a speech on the street corner on March 19, Brown told the crowd: “We have to demand sustainable and equitable revenue streams to ensure that every child receives the quality education that they deserve. Our state Legislature has the opportunity to shield us from these devastating cuts they’re meeting in Olympia right now. They’re not doing it.”

Shantell Guyton runs the resource room at Mirror Lake Elementary and spoke to the importance of funding for roles like para-educators: “The para-educators we have in our building do amazing, but there’s just not enough bodies already. So having even less definitely worries me, because that means less supervision on the kids and just less support for teachers, which makes it harder for teachers because that’ll just put more more on their plates.”

Hailey Condos is a second grade teacher at Mirror Lake Elementary and said she is just hoping that “people will listen and realize that it’s serious and affects their kids and all of our kids.”

The Washington state constitution states that it is “the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex.” and that “the entire revenue derived from the common school fund and the state tax for common schools shall be exclusively applied to the support of the common schools.”

President of FWEA James Brown speaks to the crowd during the demonstration on March 19 about the need for funding to support the district.

Photos by Keelin Everly-Lang / the Mirror Mirror Lake Elementary School staff spoke out in support of their school’s students at the corners of Pacific Avenue South and South 320th Street on Wednesday, March 19.

The Wirfs family includes one current teacher and one teacher who will is pursuing a degree in education at the University of Washington.

Sav Bair is a FWEA member and middle school educator.

Educators and school staff from all over Federal Way Public Schools and beyond came out to express the need for funding of the district.

FWEA members filled street corners on March 19 to advocate for the full funding of the district and all Washington schools. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / the Mirror.