When Governor Jay Inslee (D) closed the public and private schools of Washington State's 1.1 million students on March 13, 2020, state education leaders made several key decisions that influenced the state's attempt to deliver education services during the COVID-19 crisis. These decisions reflected the political priorities of the large, unwieldy, and inflexible bureaucracies and unions that run the public schools, not the needs of the parents whose children saw one-third of their 2019-2020 school year cancelled. This "Backgrounder" is a case study of Washington State's response to COVID-19, and maps an alternative path forward that would serve students and parents better. Providing direct aid to parents would help to shift control over public funding to families, and increase the capacity and the flexibility of the state to respond to emergencies, such as COVID-19. Such a change would loosen the control that school bureaucracies and unions enjoy over public school funding. Providing parents with direct aid would also help children to maintain their learning progress after COVID-19 by enabling them to access learning environments that are the right fit for them.