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.

Final state budget on the way

Final state budget deliberations are underway. We need to

E-mail your legislators by visiting WEA's Legislative Action Center

ensure the final budget makes public education a priority and includes professional compensation for public school employees. All three initial budget proposals follow the will of the voters and fund Initiative 732 and Initiative 728, a move WEA members support.

E-mail your legislators today and ask them to encourage the budget writers to do better with the final budget. The Legislature is set to adjourn April 24.

Here are key budget issues for WEA members:

• Health care insurance rates must keep pace with actual costs or we will lose even more ground to inflation.
• The Legislature should make up the salary educators lost due to the two-year suspension of I-732.
• Educators oppose any plan to further postpone required payments in the pension system. As it stands, a COLA gain may be wiped out by increased pension costs and result in a net loss for thousands of educators.

It's also important for the Legislature to continue funding annual stipends for National Board certified teachers. The Senate proposed eliminating the stipends. Visit WEA's Legislative Action Center.

Public education must remain our state's top priority.

WEA supports important bills about teacher certification

Senate Bill 5732 would give the Professional Educator Standards Board responsibility for all aspects of teacher certification, transferring authority from the State Board of Education and other agencies. It would eliminate the Academic Assessment and Accountability Commission.

WEA has advocated for allowing practitioners to govern their professional standards and licensing since the creation of the Standards Board several years ago.

The bill has passed the Senate and is expected to pass the House soon.

A related bill regarding professional certification for teachers remains alive, but it must pass the House by 5 p.m. April 15. Senate Bill 5983 would make important improvements to the Pro Cert program. WEA members are encouraged to contact their representatives in support of both bills.

House budget includes higher ed salary money

The House budget proposal approved last week
includes funding for higher education salary increases.

The House budget for community colleges includes $4.5 million for the biennium for faculty salary increments, with an additional $4.5 million to increase part-time faculty salaries.

Other higher education funding includes $93.8 million for an additional 9,950 total new enrollment slots at the state's four -and two-year institutions. Of these new enrollments, 5,125 are in the community college system, with the remaining 4,825 in the four-year institutions. Included in the new enrollments is additional funding to allow the state's branch campuses to admit lower division students.

To support the higher tuition levels and new enrollments, the proposal also includes $35 million to expand the state's financial aid programs, including $0.5 million to expand financial aid to part-time students in the state's community and technical colleges.

Notable quotes

"Bill sponsor Sen. Cheryl Pflug, R-Hobart, said teachers across the state have complained that the state Board of Education's Pro Cert program is 'duplicative, expensive and imposes burdensome paperwork requirements that soak up precious planning time.'" -- King County Journal, 4/10/05

Those of us who care deeply about children and schools hope with all our hearts that every senator will get the message that it's time to make this change. -- Rep. Shay Schual-Berke, King County Journal, 4/10/05

Simple majority deadline looms -- needs Senate support

It's time. School supporters need four additional votes in the state Senate to pass simple majority legislation for school levies. The measure, House Joint Resolution 4205, must pass the Senate by 5 p.m. Friday, April 15.

Senate leaders will run HJR 4205 if they feel they have the 33 votes needed for passage. This means that supporters need at least four more votes from Senators who have not committed to voting yes at this time. HJR 4205 will allow the people of the state of Washington to decide -- for the first time in sixty years -- whether they want to change the 60 percent supermajority requirement for school levies to a 50 percent simple majority. This change is for levies only on all currently eligible election dates. WEA and other backers already have compromised on the bill. No new amendments -- including a November-only requirement -- are acceptable.

Senators Benson, Benton, Carrell, Deccio, Delvin, Finkbeiner, Hargrove, Hewitt, Honeyford, Johnson, McCaslin, Morton, Mulliken, Oke, Roach, Schoesler, Sheldon, Stevens, Swecker and Zarelli have not committed to supporting HJR 4205.

Call the Legislative Hotline at 800-562-6000 and urge them to vote for HJR 4205 with no new amendments when it comes to the Senate floor.

Funding study likely to pass

Senate Bill 5441 authorizes a funding study of early learning, K-12 and higher education. The bill is likely to pass -- it's a priority of Gov. Chris Gregoire's.

WEA members will work to ensure the study determines the true cost of education reform in Washington. While the Legislature has essentially revised the definition of basic education, it has not adjusted school funding accordingly.

The study can't be another endeavor like former Gov. Booth Gardner's "Governor's Council of Education Reform and Funding" (GCERF), which resulted in higher academic standards but never adequately addressed school funding.

SB 5441 passed both the House and the Senate and now awaits Senate concurrence on House amendments.

WEA members step up lobby efforts in final days

Only 10 days remain in the 2005 legislative session, but WEA members haven't given up their fight for professional compensation and improved funding for public schools.

The House and the Senate have passed separate versions of the state budget. Over the next week, budget writers from both bodies will be negotiating a final state budget plan. While the final budget is almost certain to fund Initiatives 732 and 728, WEA members are urging lawmakers to do better.

Earlier this week, a group of 14 educators from WEA Chinook met with legislators in their Olympia offices. Their message: make public education a budget priority.

"Every word spoken, every phone call, every e-mail makes a difference," said Jerry Higgins, Yelm Education Association president.

North Thurston teacher Liz Price met face-to-face with several of her legislators.

"We talked about COLA and health care," Price said. "I would like to be better compensated for what I do. It all comes down to the students. We need the best possible people teaching our kids."

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

If you have other comments about this newsletter, please contact Brooke Mattox.

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