Welcome to Outlook

Welcome to the Washington Education Association's Legislative Outlook, a regular update on what's happening in Olympia. The paper version of Outlook is mailed to every WEA building representative in the state. (If you are a rep, please post Outlook on your WEA bulletin board.) You can subscribe to the e-mail version of Outlook by sending an e-mail to Lyris. Include the words "subscribe weaoutlook" in the body of the message. A printable version of Outlook is available online (Adobe PDF file). Questions? Contact Rich Wood in the WEA Communications Department.

Contact Gov. Gregoire about our COLAs

Gov. Chris Gregoire will be writing a state budget proposal in the next month, and WEA members are asking her to fully fund voter-mandated COLAs for school employees.

Gregoire has stated her support for funding the COLAs, which were suspended two years ago. WEA members can thank Gregoire for her support by calling the Legislative Hotline at 800-562-6000 and leaving a message.

Here are three basic points about educator compensation this session:

• The state has an obligation to follow the will of the voters and to fully fund Initiative 732.
• The state should also make up the salary educators lost during the two-year suspension of I-732.
• The state should fund health insurance benefits at a rate that keeps pace with increased costs.

Visit WEA's Legislative Action Center or call 800-562-6000 to thank Gov. Gregoire!

Bills would help equalize salary disparities

Senate Bill 5786 and companion bill House Bill 1484 would allow voters to invest more in local schools via permanent countywide school levies that could be approved with a simple majority vote.

The bills would let high-cost school districts pay local educators more, equalizing the high cost of living in some areas compared to other parts of the state. In King County, the median price of a home is $324,000. Yet, the average teacher's base salary in our state is about $45,000 – regardless of local housing costs.

The money could be used to fund student enrichment programs, professional development for educators and additional pay for educators. The bill would help equalize the salary disparities between high-cost districts and those in less-expensive areas.

WEA to Legislature:
Fund our COLAs, please

WEA's director of public policy urged legislators to follow the lead of former Gov. Gary Locke and include funding for educator COLAs in their state budget plan, but she warned against adopting his plan to delay pension costs.

Making up what was lost by the suspension of I-732's voter-mandated COLAs also is important, she said.

"As we continue to fall behind our peers in other Western states, we are seeking restoration of the ground lost to inflation due to suspension of the COLA for the last two years," said Miebeth Bustillo-Booth. "Approximately two-thirds of teachers did NOT receive a COLA these past two years."

Congress fails to fully fund so-called NCLB

WEA members testified in support of a memorial urging Congress and President Bush to fully fund the ESEA, or the so-called No Child Left Behind Act.

State Superintendent Terry Bergeson's office reports that federal funding for new student tests mandated by NCLB falls $8 million short of covering the true costs. Her office also found that for the 2004-05 school year, Washington schools should have received an additional $92 million in federal Title 1 grants alone.

House Joint Memorial 4010 and Senate Joint Memorial 8011 both address the underfunding of NCLB.

Pensions are a top WEA priority this session

Retirement issues are huge for many WEA members. Nearly a third of the state's public school certificated staff are eligible to retire in the next five years. Retirement benefits remain a crucial part of WEA's No. 1 priority: fair and professional compensation.

WEA opposes a plan by former Gov. Gary Locke to delay about $700 million in payments to state pension plans. His proposal merely increases the future cost to taxpayers and makes pension improvements nearly impossible.

WEA supports the only other pension proposals in Olympia this session, a package from the Select Committee on Pension Policy.

That package includes the modified rule of 90, which would allow some school employees to retire earlier than currently allowed while maintaining the current age 65 retirement for those who don't qualify for the rule of 90 by that time. For TRS and SERS Plan 2 and 3 members, the modified rule of 90 means any combination of age (at least 60 years old) and years of service must equal 90 to qualify for retirement.

Without WEA's support for the Select Committee's package, the Legislature is almost certain to support Gov. Locke's proposed package.

Bill would boost pay for
Education Staff Associates

WEA lobbyist Lucinda Young testified this week in support of Senate Bill 5757, which would allow education staff associates to earn higher pay based on their private-sector experience.

"Public schools are unable to be competitive with the private sector right from the start if they cannot recognize and pay for previous work experience for ESAs," Young said.

ESAs include counselors, nurses, therapists and other certificated staff who work outside the regular classroom. Under current law, they start on the lowest step of the salary schedule, regardless of how long they performed similar work in the private sector.

WEA Higher education
members head to Olympia

Presidents' Day is higher education lobby day for WEA members. The Senate Labor and Commerce Committee is expected to hear public testimony on pay equity for part-time community / technical faculty (SB 5802) and a reauthorization of the best practices study on part-time faculty (SB 5087).

"WEA-HE continues to lobby for faculty increments, the COLA plus restoration of lost wages for all faculty, ample compensation, sufficient access to public higher education for all students who seek it, and other important issues," says Ruth Windover, WEA-HE chair.

Notable quotes

"Democrats say freezing wages, as the Legislature has for state employees and teachers, is also not sustainable.
'It's not a business plan to not give your employees a salary increase,' (Gregoire budget staffer Victor) Moore said." -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2/15/05

"(Sen. Don) Benton has missed hearings and votes on various education bills, including measures to study how best to finance higher education and K-12 schools. He was the only member absent last week to discuss and vote on SJR 8202, which would allow voters to decide whether to keep or kill the 60 percent 'supermajority' requirement for school levies. -- The Columbian, 2/15/05

Seattle's track record of local voter support indicates that city residents might happily provide more money if the Legislature's cap on local levies were removed. -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorial, 2/15/05

"The last thing our local schools need is more national testing from Washington." -- Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind, USA Today, 2/17/05

Please contact Rich Wood if you have questions or comments about the content in Legislative Outlook.

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