With most of the action
occurring on the House and Senate floors, lawmakers got down to business,
passing bills this past week in anticipation of the March 8, deadline of 5 p.m.
This is the next cutoff for bills that aren’t deemed “Necessary To Implement
the Budget” (NTIB), and includes most policy bills with no fiscal impact. On
March 9, policy and budget committees will once again start holding public
hearings, but this time on the bills that have passed from one chamber to the
other.
This week continued the
political theater in the Senate, when the Majority Caucus pulled Governor Jay
Inslee’s tax proposals to the floor. Republicans said it was to get a handle on
which revenue proposals Senate Democrats would support to fund K-12 education.
For their part, Senate Democrats dismissed the move as unproductive and
countered with mentioning the upcoming levy cliff nearly every time they spoke.
Behind the scenes, key
legislators from both parties and chambers began meeting to discuss how the
state will go about reducing its reliance on local school levies to meet the
state’s constitutional obligation for ample funding of public schools. A
modified “6195 group” is meeting Mondays and Wednesdays for the next few weeks
to find common ground and a path forward on K-12 funding. The Senate Republican
plan is SB 5607; the House and Senate Democrat plan is ESHB1843.
As a possible bridge or
alternative to the existing proposals, the Senate Ways & Means Committee heard testimony on PSSB5825, Sen. Mark Mullet’s, D-Issaquah, education funding proposal. Most
people testifying thanked Senator Mullet for putting forward another idea, but
none publicly endorsed it; most raised issues with the funding approach. The
video clip is about 90 minutes long, but is worth listening to the explanation.
Here’s
a quick reminder of a few of the key elements of each funding proposal - download. Read the updated bill tracker here.
Status of Top 5Legislative
Priorities – Update & Focus for Members this Week
1. Social and Emotional
Learning
Focus for members: Continue
to support the staffing as described in HB 1377 and HB 1621; support inclusion
of operating budget provisos for Summer ECEAP and continuation of the SEL
Benchmarks Work Group.
2. Amply Funding Basic Education
Focus for members: Review
2017 positions and share not just the ample funding but ALL of the positions.
They provide a blueprint for many of the activities WSPTA hopes are in the
final education funding plan. Talk with legislators about the need to add NEW
money into the system and why just replacing local levies with state funding
isn’t ample or comprehensive.
3. Closing the Opportunity Gap
Focus for members: Additional
funding for students who struggle, whether in a weighted per pupil model or
categorical program, is needed if we expect different outcomes for our students
who are challenged by an opportunity and achievement gap. To close this gap
requires a more systematic approach to students’ academic and non-academic
needs – the “whole child.”
4. Standards for Para-educators
Focus for members: ESHB 1115
passed the House this week. The bill is disappointing, in that the bill no
longer sets up minimum
certification and specialty endorsements for para-educators working in ELL and
Special Education. While the bill does include training, which we welcome, our
aim is that the final, negotiated bill reflect our priority platform position
as much as possible.
SB 5070, the Senate bill, is
still waiting to be voted out of the Senate. The entire bill, however, was also
inserted into the Senate Republican’s education funding bill – SB 5607.
5. Breakfast after the Bell
Focus for members: By a
bipartisan vote of 90-8, ESHB 1508 passed the House. Let your Senators know
that WSPTA fully supports this legislation and wants it to pass this session. Also,
look at the Housevote count, and send a note to House members who voted in favor of this
legislation.
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2017
WSPTA Supported Issues:
Improving Educational
Outcomes for Foster Children
SSB 5241 passed the Senate
and in the House Education Committee.
Engaging Families in Student
Success
Focus for members: SHB 1618
is the bill that would define Family & Community Engagement Coordinators,
and ensure that funding allocated for them could only be used for this staffing.
The bill is in House Rules, so please contact your House members and ask them
to bring the bill to the floor for a vote.
Post-Secondary/Higher
Education Access and Affordability
Focus for members: Two bills
are on the House floor calendar, which means they are ready for a vote. Please
contact House members and ask them to vote on HB 1452 (expansion of the
opportunity scholarship) and HB 1512 (expansion of College Bound Scholarship
eligibility) before the March 8 cutoff.
Removing Barriers to
Implementing ECEAP
Focus for members: Expansion
of ECEAP, and the Summer ECEAP program will be handled in the operating budget.
But it isn’t too early to let your House and Senate members know about the
importance of early learning education and the need to increase slots to
provide access to more preschoolers.
Restorative Justice and
School Safety
It would appear that SSB
5155, which would limit the number of days students in grades K-2 could be
suspended or expelled, may not move. OSPI is drafting rules to implement
discipline policies adopted in the 2016 session under HB 1541 (see Closing the
Opportunity Gap position), and concern has been raised about the impact new
discipline laws would have on rule-making and implementation of discipline
rules, and related model policies and procedures for school districts.
Week in Review
Action this week was on the
floor, so WSPTA advocated with legislators on the 2017 platform and priorities.
The Week Ahead
Action continues on the
floor, but returns to committee work on March 9th. Next cutoff is
March 29th.
