Tossing Some Ideas Around to See What Sticks
It was another busy week in the Legislature as the House and Senate Education Committees continued hearing a plethora of bills related to special education funding, new curriculum and graduation requirements, simple majority for bonds, and more.
AWSP signed in support of the various bills that would increase funding in special education and update the health standards to include more information, resources, and instruction related to fentanyl. But, similar to the State Board of Education and the WEA, we shared the message that for the bills related to computer science, financial literacy, agricultural literacy, and Holocaust and genocide education, we would rather see a comprehensive look at the graduation requirements in order to strategically envision potential changes for future students.
The conversation about education funding continues in various ways, and advocates are working hard to explain to lawmakers how inadequate the current funding model is for the actual needs of students in schools. One example of advocacy in action is a letter that a group of school board and education association presidents sent to legislators urging them to distribute at least 44% of the state surplus to public schools (this is the current percentage of the state budget that goes to public education). In the long term, the group urges legislators to implement a task force to update and revise the prototypical founding model.
We continue to ask legislators to include two specific budget asks that our partners at OSPI included as a decision package request to Governor Inslee. The Governor did not include these requests in his budget, so we are asking legislators to include them in the final supplemental budget.
Our first request is an enhancement to our state’s principal internship program. Currently, funding is available to cover only 8-10 substitute days for interns receiving this grant. This is not sufficient preparation. We are asking for an additional one million dollars so grant recipients can have at least 25-30 days covered.
The second item is for $860,000, which allows OSPI to partner with us and provides more secure funding and support for associate director positions. These positions support principal professional learning, respond to member support calls, and provide coaching. They also support ongoing work related to instruction, evaluation, behavior, mental health, and more.
As a member of the School Funding Coalition, we continue to work alongside other statewide associations, like WASA and WSSDA, to urge legislators to update the prototypical funding model for principals and other staff. We thank Representative Alicia Rule for sponsoring HB 2212, which would update the ratio for building administrators, and we are now working to get the bill a hearing in House Appropriations.
We are also working to pass SB 5085 . This bill would update 28A.405.245 related to employment provisions. Our goal is to add assistant principals and require that specific evaluation criteria be used if principals or assistant principals are being moved to a subordinate position. We also want to ensure that all years of experience in education count, no matter the role (teacher or administrator). We do not see this RCW connected to moving staff to subordinate positions due to enrollment or funding declines, which, unfortunately still may have to occur in districts. A striking amendment is ready to go to the Senate for a vote on this bill soon.
Bills this Week
Here are the bills that were heard in the House and Senate Education Committees this week. I also have been tracking a few bills in the Higher Education and Healthcare Committees.
House Education
Monday
- HB 1915 | Making financial education instruction a graduation prerequisite and a required component of public education.
- HB 1935 | Promoting resource conservation practices that include student education and leadership opportunities in public schools.
- HB 2282 | Identifying African American studies curricula for students in grades 7-12.
- HB 1843 | Modifying school district elections.
- HJR 4207 | Amending the Constitution to allow 55 percent of voters voting to authorize school district bonds.
Tuesday
- HB 1879 | Naming the curriculum used to inform students about tribal history, culture, and government after John McCoy (lulilaš).
- HB 2005 | Including weighted grade point averages on high school transcripts.
- HB 2110 | Reorganizing statutory requirements governing high school graduation.
- HB 2267 | Providing public school students with opportunities for cultural expression at commencement ceremonies.
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