“We’ve been fighting for a long time,” said Raymond. “Shut them down.”
This could be the year it happens. As state lawmakers are looking for ways to cut spending, some have proposed closing Rainier School, as well as Yakima Valley School, and moving residents into community settings. Rainier and Yakima Valley are two of four residential habilitation centers operated by the state Health Care Authority that serve people with developmental disabilities who live in the facilities full-time.
Currently, 58 live long-term and 15 people are receiving short-term care at Rainier School, according to a bill analysis. Another 36 live long-term at Yakima Valley School, and 13 are there receiving short-term care.
The prospect of shutting down the facilities has been met with mixed responses from lawmakers, advocates and families with current and past residents there.
Some advocates for those with disabilities and supported-living providers argue that people with developmental disabilities are better served outside of institutions, in settings like group homes where they can receive support services while still interacting with the local community.
But others say closing the schools could leave some residents and families with no support — and hundreds of state employees out of work.
The proposal
Under House Bill 1472, the Department of Social and Health Services would have to close Rainier School and Yakima Valley School by June 30, 2027. The Yakima Valley School would remain partially operational for short-term respite and crisis-stabilization beds, which the state estimates could serve about 10 clients at a time. Similarly, Senate Bill 5393 would close Rainier School but leave Yakima Valley School fully operational.
The Rainier School in Buckley is one of Washington’s state-run residential habilitation centers for people with intellectual and developmental delays. Bills before the state legislature would close some of these institutions and replace care for those in need with other types of community-based housing and support. (M. Scott Brauer/Cascade PBS)
Under both proposals, no new residents would be accepted at the closing facilities, and the agency would work to relocate current residents to other facilities in the state or to community settings, like state-operated or private supported-living programs.
If the facilities close, the state estimates that about 17% of residents would transition to state-operated group homes, 17% would move to supported living settings and 66% would relocate to one of the state’s other residential habilitation centers, like Fircrest School or Lakeland Village.
The proposed closures come as the state is trying to cut spending. Closing one or both schools would save millions over the next four years.
The House’s bill is awaiting a floor vote in the chamber, and the Senate’s proposal is scheduled for a vote out of committee on Friday, April 18. Both chambers must come to an agreement on the policies by Sunday, April 27.
Divide over care models
Once Raymond left Rainier, he said, he was able to live mostly independently. He went to the movies and the bank, and traveled by bus when he wanted. He now lives with his niece, Kasey Bowen, his primary caretaker.
Raymond’s ability to live independently has been beneficial for both uncle and niece, said Bowen.
“A lot of people have no understanding of people with disabilities because they don’t interact with them,” Bowen said. “If we have inclusion, we learn how to communicate with someone like Uncle Mike. It’s just simple respect and regard.”
Mike Raymond, 78, and his niece, licensed care provider Kasey Bowen, on the pier at Twanoh Falls Beach Club near their home in Belfair, Wash., on Monday, April 14, 2025. Raymond spends a lot of time with family and community members at the beach, an opportunity he says he wouldn’t have if he still lived in a state-run institutional facility for people with intellectual developmental delays like the Rainier School. (M. Scott Brauer/Cascade PBS)
Like Bowen, closure supporters think it’s time the state fully transitions away from institutionalized living and toward community, where they say people with developmental disabilities are better served.
For Arzu Forough, whose 28-year-old son lived briefly at Rainier in 2023, the school was “a very unsafe facility.”
During her son’s time there, he did not receive the proper therapies he needed and he attempted suicide, said Forough. She found there was little communication from the facility about what her son was experiencing.
Forough said closing Rainier should not be approached as a matter of cost-saving but safety.
“I know there are people like my son who need an intermediate care facility for very complex support needs,” Forough said. “Rainier is not providing that and is not providing a consistently safe environment.”
Shawn Latham, policy coordinator at Self Advocates in Leadership, a coalition of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, called residential rehabilitation centers “an outdated model.” He said community settings are much more personalized.
For his entire life, Latham has lived in a community-based setting that allows him to use public transportation, interact with his neighbors and take part in recreational activities.
Opponents worry the quality of care in community settings, like supported living, is not the same as that in a state facility, which can offer a broad range of services including housing, behavioral and mental health support and socialization for people with complex needs.
Ken (left) and Tamra Jennings of Bonney Lake joined a rally with Rainier School employees and community advocates in Buckley on April 10 to advocate for the Rainier School to stay open. The Jennings’ son has lived at the school for 16 years. “There’s no place for him in the community,” Ken Jennings said. “The [group homes] that are out there, I wouldn’t put my dog in them, let alone my family.” (M. Scott Brauer/Cascade PBS)
Ken and Tamra Jennings’ son has lived at Rainier for 16 years. They’re advocating to keep the school open.
“There’s no place for him in the community,” Ken Jennings said. "The [group homes] that are out there, I wouldn’t put my dog in them, let alone my family.”
Willis McNabb, a member of the Washington State Federation of Employees who’s worked at Rainier School for almost 34 years, said he does not believe residents receive the same quality of care in a community setting that they would at a state facility, in part because of a lack of oversight in private settings. If the state is going to transition residents into the community, he said, it needs to do better.
“The state needs to pony up,” said McNabb. “The state needs to say we actually need to regulate group homes and make sure that people have a quality of life, that people have the medical care that they need.”
Difficult transitions
Making the transition from a facility like Rainier or Yakima Valley into the community can be challenging for residents, and opponents of the centers’ closures worry about what it would mean to uproot people with disabilities who rely on stability and predictability.
Willis McNabb, a member of the Washington Federation of State Employees from Carbonado, has worked for almost 34 years at the Rainier School, and has helped organize efforts to keep open state-run institutions for those with intellectual and developmental delays. (M. Scott Brauer/Cascade PBS)
Willis McNabb said people with disabilities can sometimes have challenges adjusting.
Supporters of the closure, however, said the transition is not taken lightly.
Scott Livengood, chief executive officer at Alpha Supported Living Services, said it takes months to move people out of a state facility and into the community, and requires approval from both the group-home provider and the resident.
“We know how to do it well,” said Stacy Dym, executive director at the Art of Washington State. “The doors aren’t going to close in a day. No one gets turned out onto the street. Nobody’s homeless. It’s not going to jam up our system.”
Labor concerns
State employees and the union representing them have also spoken out against the proposed closures, arguing that lawmakers should focus on finding a new revenue stream instead of simply cutting state jobs and facilities.
Under the proposal, the Department of Social and Health Services would have to offer school employees work opportunities at other state facilities.
McNabb said he is worried many workers will wind up unemployed. “A lot of people I’m working with are not going to land somewhere,” he said.
Those who do will likely have to move out of the region closer to another facility. McNabb said he worries that the economic impact could be devastating to the regions, especially the city of Buckley, where Rainier School is the largest employer.
More funding needed
Both supporters and opponents of the closures say more funding is needed to boost community-based settings if the state is going to transition more people into them.
Livengood said that about 344 bedrooms are open in supported-living homes across the state, and more money will likely be set aside in the capital budget to build more.
Though space isn’t an issue, staffing could be, he said. Livengood said the private supported-living system remains understaffed and faces high turnover, especially as jobs in the state facilities pay more.
“Shut them down/We count too” is the message on the hat of Mike Raymond, 78, who has long advocated for the closure of state-run residential habilitation centers like the Rainier School, where he lived until age 20. Raymond now lives with his niece, Kasey Bowen, his licensed care provider, in her home in Belfair. (M. Scott Brauer/Cascade PBS)
“There need to be investments,” he said. “You can’t just expect the community to be able to support individuals and have lower turnover if they’re funded [at] less than half of what state-operated programs are.”
The House Democrats’ proposal also includes a 3% increase for the rate that the state pays supported-living providers, which often translates to higher wages, starting July 1. Private supported-living providers have been pushing for rate increases for their employees for years to keep up with inflation and wages in other sectors. This year, they came into the session asking for a 19% rate increase to help employees’ wages keep up with inflation.
Current budget proposals also include more funding for state-operated living alternatives to help offset an increase in new residents.
