Gov. Jay Inslee is planning to announce the closure of all K-12 schools, public and private, in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties for more than a month, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
Under the executive order, schools can hold classes until Monday, March 16. They must close by March 17 and remain closed until April 24.
The directive came just one day after Inslee put all school districts in Washington state on notice to create contingency plans in case they are ordered to close. He said he was planning to meet with superintendents in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties.
Across the three counties, nearly 563,600 attend public or charter schools. Roughly 216,700 of them qualify for subsidized meals, leaving many of the 43 school districts there scrambling to plan for feeding children during an extended closure.
Students with disabilities and children experiencing homelessness also are likely to bear the brunt of long periods without schools open. For many students who don’t have stable housing arrangements, school can be the one constant in their lives.
Ahead of the governor’s announcement, questions remained about how the closures will affect teacher pay and benefits, remote instruction, child care options and food distribution. A count of total enrollment in private schools was not immediately available.
As of early Thursday, the state superintendent’s office had not issued guidance on child care.
By Wednesday, four large districts in King County — Seattle, Bellevue, Northshore and Lake Washington — had already announced they would close this week and tentatively resume classes later in March.
Under state law, public school districts must offer a minimum average of 1,080 instructional hours to high school students and 1,000 hours to all other grades. The state education department will waive days that school districts can’t make up past June 19.