Week three of the legislative session ended today. We saw some of the first floor action this week with several critical bills passing the House and Senate floors. Both houses promised these “early action” bills. One of them is HB 1121, which is the graduation waiver bill. The other is SB 5044 which would add equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism to existing cultural competency standards and training for school board directors, district staff, and school staff on one of three state funded professional days.
HB 1368, a vehicle for getting federal funds out for K–12 education, vaccine administration and testing, rental assistance, small business grants, assistance for childcare providers, food, and immigrant relief, was another important focus this week. We hope this bill passes the House floor quickly next week and on to the Senate. In addition to federal funds, we are working with our education advocate partners to ensure the state budget also provides stability in enrollment and transportation formulas. Rep. Laurie Dolan will drop her enrollment stabilization bill next week. This week, the transportation bill, SB 5128, was heard in Senate Ways and Means.
We also heard from the Governor’s Office and the Department of Health this week. We’ll have regular meetings with both of them around the messaging related to vaccines and other health-related needs from the school community. If you have specific questions or concerns related to how Governor Inslee and the Department of Health can help with their communication, please let me know.
A big shout to Aaron Fletcher, Principal at Liberty High School in Spangle, who testified today in the House Education Committee in of support HB 1214 which would add training requirements to school security staff, collect additional data related to security staff, and require principals to explain to students and their communities the roles and responsibilities of school resource and safety officers.
Here are the bills being heard next week. As always, please let me know if you have questions or concerns or interest in submitting written or verbal testimony.
House
Appropriations Committee
- HB 1273 | Concerning menstrual products in schools
- HB 1342 | Elimination lunch copays for students who qualify for reduced-price lunches
Children, Youth & Families Committee
* HB 1354 | Concerning suicide review teams
Education Committee
- HB 1363 | Addressing secondary trauma in the K–12 workforce
- HB 1365 | Procuring and supporting appropriate computers and devices for public school students and instructional staff
- HB 1366 | Requiring school districts to prioritize the resumption of in-person instruction to certain students following an emergency
- HB 1373 | Promoting student access to information about behavioral health resources
- HB 1302 | Concerning college in the high school programs
- HB 1306 | Concerning bond authorization training for school district boards of directors
- HB 1356 | Prohibiting the inappropriate use of Native American names, symbols, or images as public school mascots, logos, or team names
- HB 1426 | Specifying minimum continuing education requirements for administrator and teacher certificate renewals that focus on equity-based school and classroom practices.
Senate
Early Learning & K–12 Education
SB 5334 | Increasing transparency in levy authorization information provided by school districts
SB 5340 | Concerning qualifications for school board directors
SB 5299 | Allowing the use of computer science credits for the purpose of graduation requirements
Higher Education & Workforce Development
SB 5321 | Expanding access to the college bound scholarship
Click on the links to each bill or find out more on the legislative website.
AWSP’s Advocacy Week will be February 8–12. If you are interested in joining our advocacy efforts, email Roz. It would be fantastic to have hundreds of principals from across the state participate!
And if you want to share your voice in this remote session, it is easier than ever.
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