Legislative Preview 2023
Buckle up, people! This year’s legislative session begins on Monday!
This will be a long session lasting 105 days. It is the first year of a two-year biennium where a new operating budget for 2023-2025 and hundreds of bills will be passed. Of our 147 legislators, almost 30 of them are brand new to the Legislature.
Budget
The budget is always top of mind during session. Our state’s economy continues to bring in revenue above projections, but this growth is slowing, and there are concerns about inflation and fear of a recession. Governor Inslee released his budget
in mid-December to kick off the budget conversation, but education advocates will push legislators to do more. Inslee’s primary focus for education funding is for additional educator compensation due to inflation, required by statute through
an increase in IPD (Implicit Price Deflator). He also included funding for special education, school nutrition costs, outdoor education, teacher residencies, and more. For a complete look at this initial budget, please check out Dan Steele’s
This Week in Olympia.
Thank you, Dan!
Year of the Principal
We have been referring to this as the “Year of the Principal” (and we always include assistant principals in that!). We feel the momentum for principal support building in our conversations with others about how the system could better
support your professional needs.
We have two bills in the works just to improve the lives of our principals and assistant principals. One clarifies some parts of the evaluation process, and the other provides some job protections. Check out SB 5085 and SB 5175 to learn more. Both bills will be heard by the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee next Thursday,
January 12 at 1:30 pm. We would love to have everyone sign in with your support or write your legislator about why these bills are so important.
How to Advocate
Bill Tracking List
There have already been a few hundred bills pre-filed, with more to come. Please see this list for all of the education bills I am tracking.
I’ll have more next week about key bills for this legislative session.
Thank you for everything you do for students and staff. Reach out to me if you have questions or comments.