Legislative Update

OSPI, the State Board of Education, and the Washington Student Achievement Council held a webinar this week where they shared updates on new legislation related to graduation, as well as career and college readiness. These groups provided updates on changes coming to graduation pathways, the High School and Beyond Plan, the Washington College Grant, Mastery-Based Learning, and more. Here are some highlights. The State Board of Education explained HB 1308, which establishes another graduation pathway that districts can choose to use for their students. This performance-based pathway is an opportunity for students to demonstrate knowledge and skills in a real-world context, providing evidence that the student meets or exceeds state learning standards in English and mathematics.

As a 2022 interim project, Senator Lisa Wellman (D-Mercer Island), Chair of the Senate Committee on Early Learning and K-12 Education, asked committee staff to put together a document that identifies and categorizes references to parents and guardians in state law, rules, and model policies. The final document organizes these policies by topics such as attendance and truancy, classroom access and parental involvement, curriculum and instructional materials, special education, graduation, and more.

The House and Senate pounded their gavels one last time on Sunday, April 23, as they declared “Sine Die” for the 2023 Legislative session. This Latin term means “without a day,” and it is used to describe an adjournment when the date to reconvene is not specified and when the Legislature intends to leave town for the last time. However, there is a bit of a caveat to that statement since the Legislature may come back for a special session to address the Blake Decision. More on that later.

Sine Die approaches and a sense of glee and panic pervades the air as multiple bills either pass or fail to advance. Concurrence, recession, and just plain obstruction are on display. Multiple bills, close to 400, will be sent to the Governor who is even now in the process of signing them. To date, there have been no vetoes. Below is a summary of what is known. A year-end, post-Session report will be more definitive.

As Sine Die approaches, the legislature will go ‘dark’. Negotiations between both chambers, caucus members, the Governor’s office, and legislature leadership will be taking place outside of the public eye. Budgets need to be adopted, and altered bills need to be reconciled/concurred by the opposite body. The balls/bills will continue bouncing back and forth until finally caught by the Governor. Bill signings are occurring.