This Week in Olympia
Week of March 6
Attend a Legislative Town Hall
- Attend a local legislative town hall or funding rally. Here’s a list.
- Join the Social Media Town Hall. It’s easy – just add a post on your Facebook, Instagram or Twitter account that says: "I support Gov. Inslee’s education budget. It is the only one that meets the McCleary Promise for students & educators. #waleg #waedu"
- Call the Legislative Hotline at 800-562-6000..
- Click here to email your legislators.
1,500 rally for school funding and students
Nearly 1,500 educators, students and community members rallied in Snohomish Thursday night to support fully funded public schools – the first in a series of funding rallies and town hall meetings this month.
Educators and parents told stories about how the lack of state funding for basic education affects students.
“I have about 30 students in each class. Every student has different needs, and I can’t provide individual attention to each student to meet their needs for them to be successful,” said Sobia Sheikh, who teaches AP statistics at Mariner High School in Mukilteo. “We need the state to fund smaller class sizes.”
“It’s really important for our legislature to fully fund schools because all students need smaller class sizes,” said Jenny Steele, a teacher at North Middle School in Everett.
Democratic Representatives Mike Sells and. John Lovick attended, as did Republican Sen. Kirk Pearson. They each answered questions from rally participants.
All three said they would protect educators’ collective bargaining rights.
“Keep the pressure on,” Pearson said.
Gov. Inslee meets with WEA members in Spokane, Seattle to discuss his school budget
Gov. Inslee is visiting with WEA members in Spokane today to discuss the mental health needs of students. He’s meeting at the Spokane Education Association office with about a dozen school nurses, counselors, psychologists, social workers and family engagement coordinators for a roundtable discussion about how his budget proposal would benefit them and their students.
On Monday, Gov. Inslee is visiting a Seattle elementary school and meeting with Seattle EA members about his budget, which WEA strongly supports because it comes the closes to fulfilling the McCleary promise to our students.
Legislature passes levy cliff; Senate and House budget plans could come later this month
Passage of a so-called levy cliff solution this week garnered a lot of media attention.
While the bill added language about how levy funding is used, it did not change the status quo. Levies can still be used to enrich the program of basic education beyond the funding provided by the state for basic education.
Now legislators need to focus on their paramount duty – fully funding K-12 basic education.
While both the House and the Senate have passed school funding plans, neither side has released an overall state budget proposal.
The next state revenue forecast is scheduled for Thursday, March 16, but it’s unlikely to show a significant increase. The Republican Senate will release its state budget plan sometime after that, possibly the week of March 20. The House will probably release its budget late in the month. Then they’ll have to negotiate a final budget.
Wednesday, March 8, was the deadline for policy bills to pass out of their house of origin. Bills related to the budget can remain alive. Regular session is set to end April 23. Here is a legislative calendar.
New revenue webpage
In cooperation with the Economic Opportunity Institute a new WEA OurVoice webpage about revenue.
Update on other education bills
Anti-union bills die
Anti-union bills promoted by the Freedom Foundation are dead. This is good news.
College faculty bargaining rights
HB 1237 allows community and technical college faculty to negotiate salary increases at the local level. It passed the House and is waiting for a potential hearing in the Senate Commerce, Labor and Sports Committee. WEA supports this bill.
De-linking high school tests from graduation
Substitute House Bill 1046 eliminates federally required high school tests as a graduation requirement. It passed the House and is waiting for a potential hearing in the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee. WEA supports this bill.
Increasing full-time college faculty positions
2nd Substitute House Bill 1168 passed the House. This bill requires the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges to create a plan to phase-in additional full-time tenure track positions. The goal, subject to state funding, would provide 34 more full-time positions starting in fall of 2018 with 50 more in each of the next three biennia. The bill has been referred to Senate Higher Education. WEA supports this bill.
Certification alternative to Pro-Teach
House Bill 1341 adds a third option for teacher certification. In addition to ProTeach and National Board Certification, teachers could qualify for professional certification by earning 75 professional development credits. (clock hours). It passed the House and is waiting for a hearing in the Senate education committee March 14. WEA supports this bill.
Extending the focused evaluation period
House Bill 1319 allows teachers who earn a three or four on their focused evaluation to continue with focused evaluations for six years before receiving a comprehensive summative evaluation (currently required every four years). It passed the House and is waiting for a hearing in the Senate education committee March 14.
Substitute House Bill 1115, which will provide funded professional development for paraeducators is alive in the Senate, waiting for a hearing. Unfortunately, SB 5070, which mandates licensing for paraeducators but doesn’t fund it, also passed the Senate. WEA will continue strong support for SHB 1115.
