This Week in Olympia
Week of February 25
Take Action!
School Safety. We’re encouraging WEA members to host house meetings with friends and family this month to support school safety and our legislative priorities. You can find a how-to kit here. Please let us know if you do host a meeting.
Levy flexibility. There are no shortages of districts threatening budget cuts that would hurt our students by reducing staffing and services. The McCleary case may be closed, but it is clear state lawmakers cut local levies too much. Email your legislators and tell them to support SSB 5313, to restore levy flexibility for school districts.
Friday, March 1, is the fiscal cutoff date, meaning bills must be approved in fiscal committees to remain alive. Committee meetings are expected to last into the night to meet the deadline. As of press time, many bills were still awaiting a vote. You can click on the bill number for an update. Next week, we will also provide a list of bills that advance beyond cutoff. And, as always, many bills and issues we are following may be addressed in the budget or considered Necessary to Implement the Budget (NTIB). Those bills could advance even if a vote is not held.
Levies and Bonds
SSB 5313 had a public hearing on Monday but as of press time had not been voted out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The bill, in its current form, would allow school districts district to choose a maximum levy lid of either 20 percent of the total state and federal funds or $3,500 per pupil. Levy equalization will be held harmless for one year. WEA supports this bill.
On Thursday, Senate Ways and Means had public hearings about SJR 8201 and SB 5066. These are the two bills necessary to implement a simple majority to pass school district bonds. These were approved by Ways and Means today and remain alive. WEA supports both.
K-12 Students
Three testing bills are still alive, some better than others. All would delink standardized tests from graduation.
HB 1089 simply eliminates the SBAC tests as a graduation requirement – it’s exactly what we’ve asked for.
HB 1559 provides a list of options in lieu of the SBAC and recognizes the need for additional high school counselors to support career and college readiness. It’s not perfect, but it is starting to look much better.
SB 5548 also provides some options in lieu of passing the SBAC, but it has no provision to address the added workload. It is our least-favored approach.
2SSB 5091 addresses special education funding. It received a public hearing and passed out of Senate Ways and Means this week. This bill would increase state funding for special education, but we won’t know if it’s enough until the budget comes out. WEA supports the intent of this bill.
2SSB 5393, the Governor’s College Promise bill, would eliminate the waitlist for the state need grant by school year 2020-21. It would rename the program to the College Promise. It passed out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee this week. WEA supports.
SSB 5853 would phase in increases to the school construction assistance program funding formula by 2024. It passed out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee on to the Rules Committee this week. WEA supports additional state funding for school buildings.
HB 2108 would delay the requirement for school districts to comply with the K-3 class size reductions until 2020-21 if they don't have facility space, but it would continue to provide funding to meet student needs. This bill passed out of the House Appropriations Committee and heads to the Rules Committee. WEA supports.
Student and School Safety
SSB 5315 would increase the prototypical funding model for school psychologists, social workers, counselors and nurses. The bill was approved by the Senate Ways and Means Committee and will advance to the Rules Committee. WEA supports.
ESSB 5395, about sexual health education passed out of the Senate this week. It addresses educating students about consent. WEA supports.
SSB 5689 would provide anti-harassment protections for transgender students and for teachers using age-appropriate LGBTQ curriculum directly tied to their content area. This bill passed out of the Senate. WEA supports. Interestingly, some Senators voted to oppose the bill, using local control as their reasoning. Just last week, Sen. Brad Hawkins railed against allowing local control for Wenatchee schools in relation to the levy flexibility that SSB 5313 would provide. Hmm. Watch Hawkins support local control in the TVW clip.
K-12 Educators
On Thursday, WEA members Shannon McCann and Jenny Steele, with staff member Arden Watson, provided educator input at a Senate Early Learning and K-12 work session about Superintendent Reykdal's school day recommendations. Click on their names to see a few highlights from their testimony.
Retirees
Two bills that advanced this week include relief from the very restrictive retire-rehire provisions for anyone retiring early under the 2008 Early Retirement Factors. Those bills are SSB 5801 and SHB 1139. They are both improvements to the current situation but take different approaches. WEA and WEA-Retired support these bills and will continue to work toward the goal that all TRS and SERS retirees would have the same return-to-work rules (867 hours per year).
Next Week in Olympia
There are very few legislative committee meetings next week. Most activity will be on the floors of the House and Senate as lawmakers vote on bills before the next cutoff date, which is March 13. Bills must be passed out of their originating chamber to stay active.
