Cut-off is Coming!

This was essentially the last week that new policy bills were heard in committees as the cutoff for bills to pass out of committees of their house of origin is next Friday, February 17. Next week’s committee hearings will focus more on executive session when bills may be amended and then formally passed out of committee or not. After next week, my bill tracking list will definitely be smaller as some bills won’t make it.

The momentum is shifting to talking about the fiscal implication of bills. The next cutoff date is Friday, February 24 when bills need to pass out of fiscal committees in both the House and the Senate.

Special Education Funding

Bills in both the House and Senate related to increasing funding for special education were heard this week. SB 5311 has been improved from its original bill to provide a greater level of funding. The special education funding cap would increase from 13.5% to 15% and the multipliers increase as well. On the other hand, the substitute bill for HB 1436 lowers the funding. There are some steps to increase the cap and the multipliers, but it is much less than the initial bill. In addition, funding for the Inclusionary Practices Project was also removed which is very concerning. We know that there have been fantastic strides in professional learning and instructional practices related to Inclusionary Practices and this good work needs to continue.

Bill Updates

Here’s an update to the most talked about bills this session. 

• There is a revised bill for HB 1550 related to Transitional Kindergarten. The House Education Committee should take action on this bill next week. 

• Meetings continue next week to keep working through revisions to HB 1479, the Restraint and Isolation bill. 

• The Senate version of the Recess Bill, SB 5257, was amended to require only 30 minutes of recess (rather than 45 minutes). The companion bill in the House, HB 1504, had a hearing this week and is scheduled for executive action next week.

• SB 5085, our principal bill, has a substitute version that is now available that no longer includes the section on “working conditions” but now includes a section that would provide a minimum salary for assistant principals that is 5% higher than the highest paid teacher and a minimum salary for principals that would be 15% higher than the highest paid teacher. In addition, there is a clause that assures that no one would go backward from their current salary. Our intent with this bill is to provide greater job protections and supports for you because we know that the demands of your job are significant. We also believe we need to make some changes in order to attract future leaders.

• There are several bills related to dual credit courses and an effort to reduce the costs of College in the High School programs for students. I testified “con” this week on SB 5670 that would allow 10th grade students to take online Running Start courses only and have heard that there is an amendment in the works to narrow the scope of that bill. HB 1308 would add a performance pathway as an option for districts to use as a graduation pathway and this bill looks to be moving forward. There are companion bills (HB 1273 and SB SB 5243) that would provide a common High School and Beyond Plan platform and make some other modifications to this graduation requirement.

For the full list of bills being heard this week, check out my complete bill tracking document. 

Our advocacy efforts need all of our voices to contribute to the process. There are many different ways (big and small) that you can get involved in these efforts. Your participation can be as easy as doing an action alert to email your legislators or signing in support of a specific bill. Or, if you feel really passionate about a specific bill, we would love to have you testify. It takes all of us to make an impact!

If you have questions or comments or want to get involved, please reach out to me.