Legislative Committee Schedule: Week 4

January 30-February 3, 2017

Monday, January 30

1:30 p.m., House Education, HHR A

Public Hearing:

1.       HB 1246 - Concerning school bus safety.

2.      HB 1279 - Concerning school safety drills.

3.      HB 1284 - Requiring creation of a statewide school emergency panic button program.

4.      HB 1310 - Creating a program to provide students and the community with the means to report anonymously concerning unsafe or violent activities, or the threat of these activities.

5.      HB 1319 - Concerning the frequency of evaluations for certain educators.

1:30 p.m., Senate Commerce, Labor & Sports, SHR 4

Public Hearing:

1.       SB 5149 - Addressing paid family leave.

2.      SB 5032 - Implementing family and medical leave insurance.

3.      Providing reasonable accommodations in the workplace for pregnant women [S-0721.1].

4.      SB 5299 - Promoting healthy outcomes for pregnant women and infants.

The draft bill is posted on the Committee's website here, and is also available from committee staff. Possible executive session on bills heard in committee. Other business.

1:30 p.m., Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education, SHR 1

Work Session: High school graduation requirements.

Public Hearing:

1.       SB 5202 - Authorizing nationally recognized college assessments for high school assessment purposes.

2.      SB 5238 - Requiring that cursive writing be taught in common schools.

3.      SB 5241 - Concerning the educational success of youth in foster care.

Possible executive session on bills heard in committee. Other business.

Tuesday, January 31

8 a.m., Senate Higher Education, SHR 3

Work Session:

·         Issues and Perspective on Student Textbooks.

·         Teaching Requirements for Faculty.

Public Hearing:

1.       SB 5234 - Requiring establishment of a system-wide credit policy regarding AP exams.

2.      SB 5285 - Conducting a workforce study of employment opportunities in the agriculture, environment, and natural resources economic sectors intended to provide educators with the information needed for informing students about employment opportunities in the studied fields.

3.      SB 5361 - Concerning the opportunity scholarship program.

Possible executive session on bills heard in committee. Other business.

1:30 p.m., House Education, HHR A

Public Hearing:

1.       HB 1303 - Concerning educational interpreters.

2.      HB 1412 - Creating a pilot project to provide middle and junior high school students strategic and intentional academic support beyond the traditional school day.

3.      HB 1444 - Facilitating on-time grade level progression and graduation for certain students.

4.      HB 1445 - Concerning dual language in early learning and K-12 education.

5.      HB 1451 - Improving language access for public school students and families with limited English proficiency.

1:30 p.m., Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education, SHR 1

Work Session: Parent/Family engagement and community-school connections.

Public Hearing:

1.       SB 5258 - Creating the Washington academic, innovation, and mentoring (AIM) program.

2.      SB 5291 - Creating a pilot project to provide middle and junior high school students strategic and intentional academic support beyond the traditional school day.

Possible executive session on bills heard in committee. Other business.

3:30 p.m., House Capital Budget, HHR B

Work Session:

1.       School Construction.

2.      Early Learning Facilities’ Needs.

Wednesday, February 1

1:30 p.m., House Higher Education, HHR D

Work Session: Report from the William D. Ruckelshaus Center on "Situation Assessment of the Regulation of For-Profit Degree-Granting Institutions and Private Vocational Schools in Washington."

Public Hearing:

1.       HB 1439 - Regulating the institutions of higher education, including for-profit institutions and private vocational schools, to protect students from unfair business practices.

2.      HB 1440 - Establishing a student loan bill of rights.

3.      HB 1425 - Creating the Washington next generation educational savings account pilot program.

4.      HB 1452 - Concerning the opportunity scholarship program.

1:30 p.m., House Early Learning & Human Services, HHR C

Work Session: Overview of the Recommendations of the Children's Mental Health Work Group.

Thursday, February 2

8 a.m., House Education, HHR A

Public Hearing:

1.       HB 1235 - Assessing physical education practices in public schools.

2.      HB 1346 - Clarifying the authority of a nurse working in a school setting.

3.      HB 1377 - Improving students' mental health by enhancing nonacademic professional services.

4.      HB 1508 - Promoting student health and readiness through meal and nutrition programs.

5.      HB 1542 - Concerning dropout prevention through engaging youth in farming.

1:30 p.m., Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education, SHR 1

Work Session:

1.       Home visiting.

2.      Programs for highly capable students.

Public Hearing:

1.       SB 5246 - Concerning the department of early learning's access to records and personal information for purposes of determining character and suitability of child care workers and individuals who have unsupervised access to children in child care settings.

2.      SB 5247 - Updating certain department of early learning advising and contracting mechanisms to reflect federal requirements, legislative mandates, and planned system improvements.

3.      SB 5357 - Establishing a pilot project to license outdoor early learning and child care programs.

Possible executive session on bills heard in committee. Other business.

Friday, February 3

8 a.m., House Capital Budget, HHR B

Public Hearing:

1.       HB 1289 - Concerning plaques for certain state-funded capital budget projects.

2.      HB 1325 - Concerning the evaluation and prioritization of capital budget projects at the public two-year and four-year institutions of higher education.

3.      HB 1395 - Allowing public transportation benefit area authorities to use job order contracts and procedure.

4.      HB 1538 - Requiring prime contractors to bond the subcontractors portion of retainage upon request.

5.      HB 1551 - Creating a competitive equipment assistance grant program to enhance student nutrition in public schools.

WSPTA Member, JC Mitchell, Testifies in Support of Para-educators

Mitchell, gentleman
seated on far right

Speaking on behalf of WSPTA and favor of HB 1115, creating standards for para-educators, JC Mitchell asks the House Education committees to pass this bill.

"It is essential that we have highly skilled para-educators working with our children," said Mitchell. "When talking with my son's Para-educators in a field trip, I was struck with how empowering it was for them to know that we are fighting for standards and training to help them be successful."

Watch the full broadcast here.

Work Session “101” Continues, Some Bill Action

Most committees continued to have a mix of work sessions designed to bring new committee members and new legislators up to speed on a host of issues, including the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), K-12 budget briefings, getting to know the education players and their roles and responsibilities.   

Status of Top Five Legislative Priorities

1.       Social and Emotional Learning

·      HB 1377 would require first-class (student enrollment above 2,000) to provide at least one hour of professional collaboration for school counselors, social workers, and psychologists that focuses on recognizing signs of emotional or behavioral distress in students. Would create the professional collaboration lighthouse grant program to assist school districts with early adoption and implementation of mental health professional collaboration time. Would require the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) to convene a task force on school counselors, psychologists, and social workers.

·      HB 1518 would reconvene the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) benchmarks group to identify benchmarks for SEL throughout the calendar year for grades K-12. It also would create a summer Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) program for K-12 school buildings, which would also incorporate SEL. Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) would be directed to have a technical assistance coordinator for SEL. 

2.      Amply Funding Basic Education

·      Several bills were introduced that would generate the revenues associated with Governor Inslee’s education budget.

·      SB 5297 is the Governor's compensation model bill. It would create a salary allocation model, starting in the 2017-18 school year; would fund 30 hours of professional development in 2017-18; 80 hours in 2018-19. Would fund (Beginning Educator Support Team) BEST mentors.

3.      Closing the Opportunity Gap

·      HB 1511 would generate additional funding under the Learning Assistance Program for students who are English Language Learners (ELL), homeless or in the foster care system.

·      SB 5348 would allow a student with special needs who earns a certificate of individual achievement to get: a diploma; transitional services for ages 18-21 when specified as needed in the IEP; and would allow school districts to get state and federal funds for the student while the student is getting transitional services.

4.      Standards for Para-educators

·      HB 1115 – scheduled for a public hearing on Thursday, January 26 at 8 a.m.

·      SB 5070 – WSPTA member Beth Sigall testified in favor.

5.      Breakfast after the Bell

·      HB 1508 – would create a mandate for schools that have 70 percent eligibility for Free and Reduced Price meals to offer a Breakfast after the Bell (BAB) program. Would include grants for schools that are affected, and would make time eating count as instructional hours if instruction is occurring. Also would seek to eliminate school lunch co-pays.   

2017 WSPTA Supported Issues:

·         Improving Educational Outcomes for Foster Children

o   HB 5241 would require school districts to consolidate partial credits, unresolved or incomplete coursework and provide opportunities for credit accrual that eliminates barriers to foster youth.

·         Engaging Families in Student Success – no legislation at this time.

·         Post-Secondary/Higher Education Access and Affordability

o   HB 1033 would change the amount of the State Need Grant students going to private four-year universities would receive (currently a higher dollar amount); the bill would make the grant award equal to lowest tuition charged at four-year public state university.

o   HB 1452/SB 5361 would expand the Opportunity Scholarship Program to include students pursuing professional technical degrees or professional technical certificates at institutions of higher education in programs approved by the State Board of Community & Technical Colleges.

o   HB 1512 would add 9th and 10th graders to the College Bound scholarship program if they were income ineligible in the 7th and 8th grades. Awards would be equal to tuition and fees for public community & technical colleges. It would cap attendance at two- and four-year institutions to four years of awards, and cap attendance in private vocational schools to two years of awards.

·         Removing Barriers to Implementing ECEAP

o   SB 5107 would allow local governments, school districts and non-profit organizations to pay for early learning programs, and would direct Dept of Early Learning to help increase access to early learning.

·         Restorative Justice and School Safety

o   HB 1310 would create the Students Protecting Students Program at OSPI, to provide students and the community with a way to relay information anonymously concerning unsafe, potentially harmful, dangerous, violent, or criminal activities, or the threat of these activities, to the appropriate schools or law enforcement agencies.

Week in Review

WSPTA signed in as support in the House on a bill related to family and medical leave. Member Beth Sigall testified at the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee in support of the para-educators bill.

The Week Ahead

Monday, January 23

1:30 p.m., House Education, HHR A

Work Session: Educator Shortages, Part One.

1:30 p.m., Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education, SHR 1

Work Session: Career and Technical Education.
Public Hearing:

1.       SB 5183 - Concerning career and technical education funding.

2.      SB 5155 - Concerning suspension and expulsion of kindergarten and early elementary school students.

Tuesday, January 24

1:30 p.m., House Education, HHR A

Work Session: Educator Shortages, Part Two.

Thursday, January 26

8 a.m., House Education, HHR A

Public Hearing:

·         HB 1115 - Concerning para-educators.

Prepared by:

Marie Sullivan

WSPTA Legislative Consultant

Email Marie

Legislative Committee Schedule: Week 3

Monday, January 23

1:30 p.m., House Education, HHR A

Work Session: Educator Shortages, Part One.

1:30 p.m., Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education, SHR 1

Work Session: Career and Technical Education.

Public Hearing:

1.        SB 5183 - Concerning career and technical education funding.

2.       SB 5155 - Concerning suspension and expulsion of kindergarten and early elementary school students.

Tuesday, January 24

1:30 p.m., House Education, HHR A

Work Session: Educator Shortages, Part Two.

1:30 p.m., Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education, SHR 1

Work Session: Education Funding Task Force's Consultant Report.

Public Hearing:

1.        SB 5117 - Transitioning military student participation in extracurricular activities.

2.       SB 5129 - Concerning charter school students participating in inter-school athletics and extracurricular activities.

Wednesday, January 25

1:30 p.m., House Higher Education, HHR D

Public Hearing:

1.        HB 1169 - Enacting the student opportunity, assistance, and relief act.

2.       HB 1214 - Increasing the number of state need grant recipients by awarding the community and technical college rate in certain financial aid programs for a student's first two years of post-secondary credit.

3.       HB 1293 - Concerning witnessing a student's college bound scholarship pledge when efforts to obtain a parent's or guardian's signature are unsuccessful.

Possible Executive Session:

1.        HB 1107 - Eliminating the term "branch" as an identifying factor for extensions of the public institutions of higher education.

2.       HB 1129 - Providing associate degree education to enhance education opportunities and public safety.

3.       HB 1130 - Making the customized training program permanent.

Thursday, January 26

8 a.m., House Education, HHR A

Public Hearing:

1.        HB 1115 - Concerning para-educators.

2.       HB 1174 - Requiring the superintendent of public instruction to develop an elective firearms safety and hunter education course for high school students.

3.       HB 1208 - Concerning charter school students participating in inter-school athletics and extracurricular activities.

4.       HB 1235 - Assessing physical education practices in public schools.

Possible Executive Session:

1.        HB 1012 - Eliminating the use of the high school science assessment as a graduation prerequisite.

2.       HB 1023 - Concerning military student participation in varsity extracurricular activities.

3.       HB 1046 - Concerning certificates of academic and individual achievement.

1:30 p.m., Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education, SHR 1

Work Session: Civic Learning Initiative.

Public Hearing: Creating the civic learning public-private partnership [S-0406.2].

The draft bill is posted on the Committee's website here, and is also available from committee staff. Possible executive session on bills heard in committee. Other business.

Note: Schedule subject to change.

Leadership News: Week Ending 1/21/17

Did you miss this week's issue of Leadership News? Download the public version here. 

Key Takeaways:

• #FocusDay17 summary
• Questions about McCleary
• PTA awards due March 1
• Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Washington Teacher of the Year
• 2017 convention hotel reservations
• IRS 1099-MISC form and sales tax remittance, each due January 31
• Question of the Week (hint: popcorn sales)