A panoramic view of the Washington State Capitol building on a cloudy day, surrounded by trees and historic buildings, with street lamps in the foreground.

Advocacy & Legislation

AWSP provides a strong and respected voice on state and nationwide issues affecting K–12 schools and principals. We vigilantly monitor and research trends impacting our members’ profession, reputation, and practice. We value our members who travel to Olympia and Washington, D.C. to provide the principal’s perspective. 

We offer several ways to help you keep pace with the legislative arena, including Legislative Update (our a weekly e-newsletter during session), how to find your state legislator, how to track the status of bills and find out how your lawmaker voted, and practical tips for talking with legislators.

We focus our governmental relations efforts and legislative platform through a statewide, grassroots Legislation Committee. This collaboration identifies and prioritizes issues critical to our members, so we can work smarter on your behalf in Olympia and around the state.

Every voice matters, and it’s important for all of us to stay informed and connected.

2025 Legislative Platform



“It is difficult to envision a higher return on investment in K-12 education than the cultivation of high-quality school leadership.” ~ Wallace Foundation, 2021

The 2025 AWSP Legislative Platform focuses on leadership development, fully funding basic education, and increasing student support to ensure all students succeed, with priorities for principals and school staff.

photo of Erika Burden
Connecting with our legislators at both the local and national level is critical to ensure our legislators recognize the importance of supporting educators in their efforts to keep students safe and reach every student in their classrooms and buildings.
- Erika Burden, 2020 NASSP Advocacy Champion of the Year

Get Involved


Legislative News

Legislative Update for February 26, 2021

Roz Thompson, Governmental Relations & Advocacy Director, AWSP
Feb 26, 2021

leg update blog

The first fiscal committee deadline passed on Monday, and the list of active bills got even smaller as executive action by both the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Ways and Means Committee was not taken on some bills. The Legislature spent the rest of this week (and will spend all of next week) on floor action trying to get bills passed out of each house in order to meet the next deadline of March 9th. This is a much slower process in a remote session, so fewer bills will survive this session. We are watching to see which bills are still moving and will keep advocating to get bills of importance to the floor for votes.

This week several principals attended the National Leaders Conference (virtually!), which was put on by the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP). There were some good keynote sessions (you can see the presentation slides here) from Dr. Marguerite Roza, Director of the Edunomics Lab of Georgetown University, Danny Carlson, NAESP Associate Executive Director of Policy and Advocacy, and Jeremy Anderson, President of the Education Commission of the States.

We also met with some staff members from the offices of Representative Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, Representative Pramila Jayapal, and Senator Patty Murray. A big thank you to Paul Marquardt, Principal at Shining Mountain Elementary in Bethel; Erika Burden, Principal at Westwood Middle School in Cheney; and Derek Forbes, Principal at Meridian High School in Meridian who spent a few hours as our NAESP and NASSP representatives to meet with congressional staff to talk about education funding, assessment, broadband, and school reopening issues.

Outdoor School for All is gaining some great momentum! This is a statewide effort to get all 5th or 6th grade students to outdoor camp for a week. Senator Sam Hunt sponsored a $10 million budget request that would help start on this goal by getting 20,000 students to outdoor camp. The Washington Outdoor School Consortium (WOSC) is sponsored by our Washington School Principals Education Foundation (WSPEF) and our staff is working with a fantastic group of outdoor education advocates all across the state to make this happen. Find out more on the Outdoor School for All website.

The State Board of Education held a special meeting on Thursday this week to discuss new rules related to emergency waivers for graduation. Thank you to those who provided initial feedback to their survey. If you have any additional feedback, the survey will be open until March 5th or you can send written comments to sbe@k12.wa.us by that same date. The board intends to approve the new rules at their next meeting on March 10–11. For more information, check out SBE’s website.

We know you are working tirelessly to get schools reopen to more students and we love hearing how rewarding it is for both students and staff to be back in buildings. As we track the discussions related to budget and policy with the Legislature and federal government, we are working to make sure that funding stays whole for next year and that your districts have the resources necessary to keep schools running safely for all. Let us know if you have any questions and keep up the great work! We are cheering you on and here to support you.

Here is the list of bills that are still active and as a reminder, some bills that may be “dead” may actually be considered “zombie bills” because they could be brought back in some fashion. Thanks to Fred Yancey for this reminder!


Bills Still Active

Budget

  • HB 1368 | Federal funding for COVID–19 (passed and signed by Governor Inslee)
  • HB 1476 | Addressing enrollment declines due to the COVID–19 pandemic
  • SB 5128 | Concerning transportation funding

House

  • HB 1028 | Repealing the EdTPA
  • HB 1113 | Concerning school attendance
  • HB 1121 | Emergency graduation waivers (passed and awaiting Governor Inslee’s signature)
  • HB 1139 | Addressing lead in drinking water
  • HB 1162 | Adding a performance exhibition pathway and changing to 20 credits for graduation
  • HB 1176 | Concerning student fines and fees
  • HB 1208 | Concerning the LAP program
  • HB 1213 | Expanding child care and early learning programs
  • HB 1214 | Concerning training for and data collection of school safety staff
  • HB 1225 | School based health centers
  • HB 1273 | Concerning menstrual products in schools
  • HB 1295 | Concerning institutional education
  • HB 1302 | College in the high school programs
  • HB 1325 | Youth behavioral health
  • HB 1342 | Reduced price lunch copays
  • HB 1354 | Concerning suicide review teams
  • HB 1356 | Prohibiting the inappropriate use of Native American names, symbols or images
  • HB 1363 | Secondary trauma resources for K–12 staff
  • HB 1373 | Promoting student access to information about behavioral health resources
  • HB 1426 | Continuing education requirements for administrators and teachers
  • HB 1477 | National 988 system for suicide prevention
  • HB 1484 | Concerning the first responder building mapping information system

Senate

  • SB 5030 | School counseling programs
  • SB 5043 | School employee housing
  • SB 5044 | Concerning equity training and dismantling institutional racism in public schools
  • SB 5147 | Exploring alternative school calendars
  • SB 5161 | Teaching tribal history
  • SB 5184 | Establishing a foster care point of contact in each building
  • SB 5242 | Media literacy and digital citizenship
  • SB 5249 | Mastery-based learning
  • SB 5264 | Chinese American history
  • SB 5265 | Creating a bridge year pilot program
  • SB 5299 | Allowing the use of computer science credits for the purpose of a third year math or science credit
  • SB 5321 | Expanding access to the college bound scholarship
  • SB 5322 | Prohibiting SEBB and PEBB dual enrollment
  • SB 5327 | Creating a confidential youth safety and well-being tip line


More Links

Photo of Roz Thompson, smiling with shoulder-length hair, next to text that reads: ‘Roz Thompson, Government Relations & Advocacy Director’ in blue and orange on a light green background.

Legislative Update E-Newsletter

Want updates on what's going on? Trying to understand the process and learn how to make an impact?  Follow us on social media, check out our blog or this page for the latest legislative news page, and read our Legislative Update email newsletter every Friday during session.

Questions? Reach out to Roz.

Email Roz

Join Our PAC

School leaders in Washington state can take an active role in the political process by joining AWSP’s political action committee or PAC, the Washington School Principals Legislative Effectiveness Association.

AWSP-WSPLEA supports AWSP’s governmental relations efforts at both the state and national levels. It also raises and spends money to support candidates and issues that are important to the principalship and to K–12 education. Make a difference — join the PAC today!

School Funding Coalition

The School Funding Coalition represents the voices of nearly 8,000 school district leaders from our state’s 295 school districts. We bring a front-line understanding of school district financing and the education funding issues the Legislature continues to grapple with—especially as state budget decisions are contemplated in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Coalition includes AEA, AESD, AWSP, WASA, WASBO, WSPA, and WSSDA. We believe that each and every student needs stable support, safety, access to learning, and well-equipped staff. Learn more in our Immediate Student Needs document below.

2024 Legislative Priorities