Washington student scores are showing improvements across many key metrics, the state’s top public education official announced Wednesday.

But one subject in particular could still use some extra attention: math.

Given the state’s ongoing math challenges, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) will seek $10 million from Washington lawmakers as a “down payment” on improving math education, State Superintendent Chris Reykdal told reporters at a Sept. 10 news conference.

The state Legislature faced financial challenges this past session, he added: “But this is basic education.”

“This is the future of our kids,” Reykdal said. “This is the future of our economy, and our inability in the past to focus on core academic content, particularly math and science, that has to end — and end rapidly.”

The $10 million will fund professional development, Reykdal said, with a heightened focus on kindergarten through eighth-grade educators. Some of that funding will be used on software tools like assistive technology to aid kids’ at-home math learning.

Washington isn’t alone in its math setbacks. The U.S. is struggling in that area, too, relative to its global peers, Reykdal said. Washington has ‘gaps to close’

Results from the spring 2025 state assessments in English language arts (ELA) and math largely show post-pandemic recovery, OSPI reports.

More than 7 in 10 students across all grade levels exhibited foundational, grade-level knowledge and better when it comes to ELA, according to OSPI. The same is true for about 63% of students in math.

Although math is being highlighted as an area that needs work, scores in math across all grade levels improved, as they did across most grade levels in ELA, OSPI says.

Reykdal also noted that among the 11 other states using the same state test vendor as Washington, this state’s students demonstrated the fourth- and second-highest performances in math and ELA, respectively.

“At the same time,” Reykdal said in an OSPI news release, “we have gaps to close.”

Reykdal told reporters that, in the assessment Washington gave last year, the state stayed steady or gained in 12 of 14 metrics.

Reykdal also pointed out that the state’s rate of student growth has returned to pre-pandemic levels.

An assessment called the National Assessment of Educational Progress is given to all states using a sampling method, Reykdal said.

In fourth-grade math, four states are statistically outperforming Washington, he said, citing NAEP data. But by the time kids reach the eighth grade, 14 states are statistically outperforming Washington in that subject.

Students are living in a world where technology is readily available, but factors working against them include poor child nutrition and social media, which can affect mental health, he said.

As for why this matters, according to Reykdal?

Washington has the “second-highest jobs in the tech industry” and second-highest share of professionals in STEM, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics, he said.

Quantitative reasoning is crucial to understanding data and sussing out mis- and disinformation, Reykdal said.

“The health of our democracy, in some ways, isn’t just about moving our literacy and our civics and our engagement with each other — but it’s also quantitative reasoning,” he said.