This Week in Olympia

Week of April 17

Follow up from WEA RA

Delegates at last week’s WEA Representative Assembly approved several New Business Items to encourage member engagement in influencing the final public education budget coming out of Olympia. 

One NBI calls for building meetings, among other ideas, to discuss potential actions we can take in our locals across WEA. Check out materials for building meetings on the OurVoice Take Action page. 

March for Science

There are Marches for Science in several communities across Washington on Saturday morning. Many WEA members are participating. Find a march near you. And if you are attending, consider handing out this flyer noting the link between valuing science and a well-funded public education. 

Meanwhile in Olympia 

Friday was the last day of actual business for this session. A handful of lawmakers will be around over the weekend to officially close it down for sine die on Sunday. 

The Governor has called a special session beginning Monday, April 24. Special sessions have entirely different rhythms from the regular session because most work is done by the budget negotiators, while the others stay home to save money (they only receive per diem funds if they are coming to Olympia) until a deal is reached. Leaders may call lawmakers in to complete specific business too. 

We will be using the days and weeks ahead to call attention to the bad policy and budget implications of the Senate Republicans’ proposal, including (but sadly not limited to) the items below. 

• Eliminates certification requirements for teachers, allowing anyone who simply passes a background check to teach. 
• Eliminates the voter approved class size law, thereby increasing class sizes. 
• Cuts total funding for special education, providing less money than today.  
• Puts limits on educator pay now and into the future. 
• Severely restricts local control and decision-making by school districts to meet community needs by dictating from Olympia how funds can or cannot be spent. 
• Limits local collective bargaining and other union rights. 

Make sure your lawmakers know you oppose these bad ideas and that they should support the House budget. 

Below is a high level summary of the status of several bills WEA has been tracking. We should note that, unless a bill was specifically passed or failed in the regular session, all bills that were introduced can get a potential new start in the special session. That means there is still potential for great things to happen. Likewise, bad bills can see new life in special session. 

Paraeducators

ESHB 1115 provides paraeducators training, including four days of professional development, to attain a certificate. The bill assures that certification requirements be state-funded so that no cost burden falls to paraeducators. It passed out of the House and Senate and is on the way to the Governor’s office for signature.

Testing 

SB 5639 was not considered in the Senate. This was the bill which the House amended to contain the full testing delink from graduation requirements language of ESHB 1046. Once the special session begins, SB 5639 reverts back to the senate in its original form.  At that time ESHB 1046 will be back in the house and the issue will continue to be on the front burner both as policy and as a budget issue.  

The House budget contains the full funding for the complete delink.  The senate contains only funding for a two year hiatus of the biology test as a graduation requirement. WEA strongly supports delinking all tests from graduation requirements as contained in ESHB 1046 and in the House Budget.

Pro-Teach

2SHB 1341 would provide some relief from the Pro-Teach assessment, and could come back in special session. WEA maintains our position to eliminate the pro-teach requirement.

Other bills that have passed, awaiting the Governor’s signature: 

Physical Education
SHB 1235, which mandates the inventory, content and time of PE programs is awaiting the Governor’s signature. 

Educational Interpreters
SSB 5142 - extends the timeline and directs the State to find assessments that assess all types of sign languages an interpreter might use.

School Nurses
SHB 1346 clarifies the authority of the school nurse and protects the sanctity of his/her Registered Nurse license. Both WEA and SNOW support this legislation.