Every time we start up a new group of legislators looking at how to fund a particular project (in this case the K12 Finance Joint Task Force) there are questions about the budget from members not familiar with it. Here are a set of reference links that should be useful for anyone seeking to understand how the overall budget for Washington State works.
K-12 finance information
Senate citizen guide to K-12 finance: https://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Committees/WM/Documents/K12%20Guide%202012%20FINAL5.pdf
OSPI school funding publication: https://www.k12.wa.us/safs/PUB/ORG/11/2011_Organization_and_Finance.pdf
State budget overviews
Senate citizen guide to the budget: https://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Committees/WM/Documents/Publications/BudgetGuides/2011/2011CGTBFinal(rev).pdf
OFM budget process overview: https://www.ofm.wa.gov/reports/budgetprocess.pdf
House Operating budget briefing book: https://www.leg.wa.gov/House/Committees/WAYS/Documents/2011/WAYS_BriefingBook.pdf
Other links
QEC website: https://www.k12.wa.us/QEC/default.aspx
State fiscal data: https://fiscal.wa.gov/
OFM’s recent 4-year budget outlook: https://www.ofm.wa.gov/budget/info/august2012outlook.pdf