Translation review
Professional review of the Spanish guides and letters, and new languages that Washington families speak.
For funders & sponsors
Help keep school help free for Washington families
The Washington School Map gives families plain-language, private help with special education, school problems, language access, child care and the school day. Grants and community sponsors pay for the work that keeps it accurate, translated and accessible.
Free for families, and it stays free
Every tool below is free, needs no account and asks no personal questions. Funding never puts any of them behind a paywall.
Special education and 504 hub
Step-by-step help from birth to age 3 through life after high school, a deadline calculator, letters in English and Spanish made on the family's own device, a glossary and a meeting kit.
Family Help Center
Guides for school problems, attendance, reading and dyslexia, highly capable programs, health needs, mental health, food and housing help, and choosing a school.
Language help and interpreters
What families can ask for when they need an interpreter or translated documents, with the official sources.
School-day planner
Bell times, gaps in child care, school meals and key dates for each child.
Questions for a school tour
A printable question sheet for any Washington public school, chosen from that school's published numbers.
Important dates
Enrollment, testing and calendar dates for each district and the whole state, with calendar files.
Child care near schools
Licensed child care and school-age programs near each school on the map, from the state's public list.
Child care deserts map
Children under 5 and licensed child care slots for every census tract, with a sourced fact to copy into a grant and a county CSV.
Military families
School districts near each Washington installation, school liaison contacts and the Military Compact.
Compare tools
Compare districts side by side, compare the schools of two homes, and get an address report.
The whole site works in English and Spanish, in light and dark mode, and aims for WCAG 2.1 AA. Accessibility statement
Who it serves
- Families in all 295 Washington school districts and all 39 counties.
- Families of children with disabilities, from birth to age 3 through life after high school.
- Families who speak Spanish, and families who need an interpreter to talk with their school.
- Families who are moving, including military families arriving at a Washington installation.
- Working parents planning child care, before and after school.
What funding pays for
Money from funders goes to the free family side of the site, not to paid products.
Data updates
Refreshing school, district, child care and date information from official sources every year, and checking every guide against its source.
Accessibility
Testing with screen readers, keyboards, phones and plain-language reviewers, and fixing what we find.
New free tools
New guides and tools that families ask for, built with the same privacy rules.
Hosting and outreach
Keeping the site fast and online, and telling family organizations, schools and libraries that it exists.
How we report to funders
We report anonymous totals only, such as how many times a guide was opened or a letter was made. We never collect or share what a family typed, who they are, or anything about their children.
Ways to support the free family side
Each option is credited in plain words and follows the rules below. We set the amount with you; contact us for details.
Grant or program funding
Fund a piece of work, such as a year of data updates, a new language or an accessibility review. We agree on outcomes up front and report anonymous totals.
Contact usCommunity partner
Your organization's name on our supporters wall, with thanks. No logo next to family help.
Contact us See the supporters wallUnderwrite a guide
A short credit line, such as “Updates to this guide are supported by…”, on one of the guides where sponsors are allowed:
- Choosing a school, charter and private schools, and homeschooling
- Food and family assistance (not the urgent food step)
- Moving or housing (not the step for students on their own)
- Getting to school, the school-day planner and important dates
- Military family pages and the compare tools
Underwrite a language
Pay for a new language or for professional review of one. When the translated pages are ready, they carry a short credit line for the translation itself.
Contact usRules every funder and sponsor follows
- Always labeled. Every credit says who paid. Nothing is hidden in the text of a guide.
- No influence on content or data. Funders and sponsors never change guides, school data, school order, rankings or what families see.
- No data about families or children. Sponsors get no names, addresses, searches or anything about a child. Reports are anonymous totals.
- No endorsement implied. Washington School Map is independent. It is not part of OSPI, a school district or any government agency, and a credit never suggests that one of them endorses a sponsor or this site.
- Same limits as our ad policy. No political ads, payday loans, alcohol, tobacco, cannabis or gambling, and we may decline any sponsor. Editorial policy
Never sponsored, whatever the amount
These guides carry no sponsor, ad or credit line. The site's code refuses them, whatever the sponsor list says.
- Special education and 504
- Special education at every age
- A problem at school
- Language help and interpreters
- Learning English at school
- Health needs at school
- Mental health and support
- Highly capable (gifted)
- Reading and dyslexia
- Attendance and missed school
- Free meals, College Grant and vaccine checkers
- Urgent food help
- Students on their own
- Child care deserts map
- School levy and bond explainer
Support is not tax-deductible. If your foundation funds only charities, ask us about working through a nonprofit partner or fiscal sponsor.
Talk to us
Tell us what you would like to fund. We reply within one business day. Only the site owner reads what you send, and it is never shared.