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 the Legislature today!

Contact your legislators today and tell them to improve upon Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget, which fails to fully meet the compensation needs of education employees. It's urgent -- the Senate budget is expected Monday. To send an e-mail to your lawmakers, visit the WEA Legislative Action Center online.

McAuliffe: Educators deserve better compensation

Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe and Rep. Ross Hunter met with the WEA Political Action Committee Board this week and stressed their support for increased education funding.

"We have to have compensation and a pension that rewards you for the work you do," said McAuliffe, chair of Senate education committee and a Bothell Democrat.

The Senate will be releasing its version of the state budget on Monday, March 28.

Hunter, D-Medina, is prime sponsor of House Bill 1484, a WEA priority. It would authorize countywide school levies that would fund regional cost-of-living supplements. It has passed the House and is in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. A hearing has not been scheduled.

Hunter has children in Bellevue public schools, one of the communities where high housing costs are driving teachers away.

"We lose so many teachers right when they start to get good because they can't afford to do it," Hunter said.

WEA opposes using the WASL as a high-stakes test

WEA cannot support Senate Bill 5638, which tweaks the WASL but maintains its status as a high-stakes diploma denial test.

"WEA does not support the use of the WASL or its alternatives as a high-stakes diploma-denial test, which this bill continues to reinforce as public policy," WEA lobbyist Gary King testified this week in Olympia. "We do continue to support the use of the WASL as a systems check, but remain frustrated by the lack of diagnostic value."

King encouraged legislators to remove the onerous requirement of student learning plans. He said that writing good plans requires more time for collaboration, good diagnostic information about students and reduced workload demands for teachers.

"While the intention is good, it's proving to be impractical," King said of the plans.

Rep. Sullivan meets with WEA
members in Kent

"How can you require students to meet the standards when you're not providing the resources?" Sullivan said.

Last October, dozens of WEA members doorbelled on behalf of Pat Sullivan in his campaign for the state House of Representatives. Their hard work paid off. Sullivan defeated a longtime 47th District incumbent. He now serves as vice chairman of the House Education Committee. This week, he met with a group of WEA members at the Kent Education Association office.

Sullivan answered questions about the budget, the WASL and other education issues facing the Legislature. He acknowledged the concerns he heard.

WEA members urge Senate to do better

The state budget Gov. Chris Gregoire proposed this week funds voter-approved Initiative 728 and Initiative 732, but it doesn't go far enough to meet the needs of Washington's public schools.

WEA members commend Gregoire for proposing the restoration of the two suspended school initiatives, which fund smaller class sizes and annual cost-of-living salary adjustments for public school employees. Voters overwhelmingly passed both laws in 2000, but former Gov. Gary Locke and the Legislature suspended them in 2003.

Educators are alarmed by other aspects of Gregoire's budget plan, and they urge the state Senate to do better when it releases a budget plan on Monday, March 28.

The governor's budget fails to fund educators' health insurance benefits at a pace that keeps up with the estimated actual cost. As a result, increased health insurance costs would negate the 1.2 percent COLAs for many educators next year. Some school employees would actually see a decrease in their take-home pay under Gregoire's plan.

Furthermore, Gregoire's budget does not include any make-up money for the salary lost during the two years I-732 was suspended (which includes the current school year). That's about 3.6 percent. Unless that salary is made up, a typical fifth-year teacher stands to lose nearly $90,000 in salary and pension over the course of her career and retirement. The impact on education support professionals also is severe. In addition, Gregoire's budget proposal also underfunds needed compensation improvements for community and technical college faculty.

WEA also opposes Gregoire's proposal to further postpone required payments into the pension system for school employees and state workers. Delaying those mandatory payments would increase the cost to future taxpayers, increasing the likelihood of larger budget deficits and making future pension and salary improvements more difficult.

"We must continue to invest in our public schools if we want a strong economy and business growth," WEA President Charles Hasse said. "Good schools give our state's students the chance to compete for good jobs in the global, high-tech economy. And well-qualified, experienced educators are the most important factor in the quality of a child's education."

WEA members are encouraged to contact their state senators and representatives about WEA's compensation and school funding priorities:

• Full funding for I-732 and I-728;
• COLA make up for what's been lost;
• Health care funding that keeps up with the actual cost; and
• Fully funded pension costs and improvements proposed by the Select Committee on Pension Policy.

To contact your legislators, visit the WEA Legislative Action Center or call the Legislative Hotline at 800-562-6000.

Notable quotes

"A 1.2 percent increase after going two years without and losing significant ground to inflation is, we don't feel, appropriate." -- WEA President Charles Hasse, Seattle P-I, 3/22/05

" 'My gut reaction was (Gregoire's plan) is a rather modest budget,' said Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, who plans to release the Senate's budget plan next Monday. 'But it gives us a place to start from.' " -- The Olympian, 3/22/05

"Prentice said she had been thinking about raising $200 million to $300 million in new revenue -- including the estate tax and perhaps new taxes on card rooms, as well as recouping extra state income by allowing Sunday liquor sales. But none of it is certain." -- The Olympian, 3/22/05

"Lawmakers are considering deferring much of the pension costs this session to a later date, but it won't make the problem go away. 'If you don't pay now, you'll pay more later. You're just pushing it out into the future,' said Matthew Smith, the state actuary." -- The Seattle Times, 3/13/05

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

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