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 your legislators today

Compensation is WEA's No. 1 priority. Budget proposals are expected from the Senate and Gov. Gregoire sometime after March 17. Here are WEA's key compensation-related goals for this session:

• Restoring the cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) mandated by voter-approved Initiative 732.
• Making up the COLAs that were suspended the last two years.
• Insurance funding that keeps pace with increased premium costs.
• Pension improvements, including lowering the retirement age for educators in Plans 2 and 3.

To send a message to your legislators in support of professional compensation for educators, visit WEA's Legislative Action Center or call the Legislative Hotline at 800-562-6000.

Key bills pass, some die, some may be revived

Monday, March 7 was the second significant deadline, or cut off, for bills. It was the day bills had to pass out of the fiscal committees in their house of origin. Some bills are alive, some bills are dead and some bills can be revived.

WEA members back regional COLA supplements

House Bill 1484 is one of WEA's top priorities this session. The bill would allow voter-approved countywide school levies that would fund regional COLA supplements for educators. It helps address the high cost of housing in many parts of the state. It passed out of the House Finance Committee to the House Rules Committee and awaits a vote of the whole House. It will now require at least 50 votes to get out of the House by March 16. Visit the WEA Legislative Action Center to send your legislators a message in support of HB 1484.

Pro Cert bill passes the Senate

An important bill improving the professional certification process has passed the Senate. Senate Bill 5983 improves Pro Cert several ways, including extending the timeline. Pro Cert is the new certification system for teachers. In its current form, it's cumbersome and expensive. A similar bill is expected to pass the House, HB 2212.

The Senate added an amendment to SB 5983 dealing with sexually explicit material at school.

Higher ed bills survive cut-off

Two key higher education bills remain alive. SB 5087 calls for a review and update of the best practices for compensating part-time community and technical college faculty and has passed the Senate. Sen. Jeanne Kohl Welles played a major role in shepherding the bill through the Senate.

"It's an important policy bill for our higher education members," said Gary King, WEA lobbyist. "It will help highlight the need to improve compensation for part-time faculty.

SB 5802 Calls for equal pay for equal work among community college faculty and has moved out of Senate Ways and Means. It's awaiting action by the entire Senate.

Simple majority still alive

The simple majority for levies is always an issue in Olympia. SHJR 4205, which allows for the simple majority on school levies, has passed the House and is in the Senate. Also in the Senate is SSJR 8202, simple majority for both levies and bonds. If either proposal passes the Legislature, it would go on
the fall ballot for voters to decide.

WEA members deliver COLA colas to legislators

WEA members delivered 147 six-packs of special "COLA" cola to legislators this week, emphasizing the need to restore voter-approved cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for public school employees.

Good teachers and support professionals are the most important factor affecting our children's education, said WEA President Charles Hasse, and paying educators fairly is an important

investment in our children's future. Prior to delivering the colas,

WEA member Stacey Valentin delivers bottled cola to Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe

WEA members and supportive parents held a press conference on the capitol campus. They urged lawmakers to fully fund Initiative 732, which mandates annual state-funded COLAs for public school employees.

"The Legislature needs to follow the will of the people and make sure that they reinstate the funding for I-732," said Alexis Sarah, an Olympia parent who spoke at the news conference. "Our state needs to continue investing in public education and our kids by compensating our educators and following the will of the voters of our state."

WEA members arrived on the capitol campus in a yellow school bus packed with the specially bottled soda pop. Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe and Sen. Craig Pridemore, the chair and vice-chair of the Senate education committee, spoke to the group and emphasized their support for funding the COLAs.

In 2000, voters approved I-732 by nearly 63 percent. It provided annual state-funded COLAs for public school teachers and other educators. In 2003, legislators suspended the initiative for two years. Educators lost thousands of dollars in salary as a result. For example, a fifth-year teacher will lose an estimated $86,000 in salary and pension over the course of her career and retirement because of the two-year suspension of I-732.

Spokesman-Review
highlights I-732, SEA member

A front-page story in The Spokesman-Review this week highlighted the need to fund Initiative 732's cost-of-living adjustments. It featured a photo of Kevin Cope, a Spokane Education Association member. Here's an excerpt:

" 'We have a structural budget problem in Washington state,' said (Sen. Lisa) Brown, D-Spokane. 'An increasing economy is not going to solve the problem.'

"At Spokane's Grant Elementary School, music teacher Kevin Cope is hoping that lawmakers find the $130 million to pay for teachers' cost-of-living increases. Teachers get raises for experience, but after a dozen years as a teacher, Cope said, he's had only two cost-of-living increases.

" 'I've got kids in high school, they're going to be in college soon. Braces, everything. The bills are going up and the money's not,' the father of five said. He's seen other teachers leave to take better-paying jobs in real estate and construction."

School finance bill heads to House, awaits action

The Senate version of Education Finance Study (E2SSB 5441) has passed the Senate and awaits House action. The House version, SHB 1380, is on the calendar awaiting a vote by the full House. The bills call for comprehensive studies of school finance.

Notable quotes

"I did not become a teacher to make millions, but I also did not become a teacher to barely get by. I do not want to make a choice between a profession I love and being able to live. But without appropriate compensation, I may have to do so." -- Andi Cox, Lake Washington Education Association member, 3/9/05

"Paying for the cost of living increases is Senate Democrats top priority, said Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, chair of the Senate education committee." -- Associated Press, 3/10/05

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

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