PTSA - Education Urgent Action
Elizabeth Pendleton
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Stand for Children Legislative Update |
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Budget Update We continue to push for our budget priorities as outlined in our guiding principles and priorities statement. Want to contact your legislator to support these priorities? Check out the “Take Action” feature on our Facebook page to see all of our active action alerts. Legislative Update Exciting news on the policy front! A number of our legislative priorities are successfully moving through the legislative process. Alternative Route to Certification for Principals HB 1593 The Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee voted out of committee Representative Carlyle’s HB 1593 which would help to promote alternative routes for certification of principals and provide new paths to build strong leadership in our schools. This is positive progress on this important issue. This bill has been moved to the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Take action on this bill! Continuing education reforms HB 1443 The Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee voted to pass HB 1443 which implements Continuing Education Reforms supporting our ongoing work to improve education in Washington state. Stand and coalition partners are especially excited to see HB 1443 moving forward as it will help to continue the education initiatives put in place over the past few sessions. This bill has been moved to the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Take action on this bill! Education Governance Reorganization SB 5639, HB 1849 In committee this week, the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee made significant changes to HB 1849 concerning education governance in Washington. A vote has not yet been scheduled in the committee. Under the revamped proposal, a team appointed by the governor would create a plan to consolidate education agencies in the state. That reorganization, under a governor-appointed education secretary, would be completed by Jan. 16, 2013. In addition, a state education council would study how to better coordinate Washington's school system from early education through higher education. The proposal would preserve a separate elected superintendent of public instruction which raises some concerns about how that duplication of roles might hinder the effectiveness of the consolidation of responsibility and authority under the new department. However, on the whole this is a promising move and Stand and coalition partners are hopeful that the discussion around this proposal will lead to a strong bill that will help to streamline our education system, build strong governance, and ensure greater accountability and student focus in Washington state. Innovation Schools HB 1521 The Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee voted to pass HB 1521 creating a method for schools in Washington to apply for innovation status. The Innovation Schools initiative will provide school districts with the flexibility to implement innovative best-practice models to improve student achievement. Stand and coalition partners are disappointed that some provisions were removed from this bill including a policy that would automatically provide innovative status to chronically under-performing schools. However, we tentatively support this initiative as part of a larger push toward a system of public education focused on closing the achievement gap and improving student outcomes. This bill has been moved to the Rules Committee. Pay for Actual Student Success (PASS) HB 1599 This bill by Tim Probst would incentivize school buildings to reduce their dropout rate with direct payments of funds for the principal to use in his or her building if goals are achieved. The Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee voted out of committee Representative Probst’s HB 1599. This is a positive sign for this initiative especially considering the fiscal note ($10 million) on HB 1599. Stand and coalition partners will continue to support this proposal. This bill has been moved to the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Take action on this bill! SB 5427 passed out of the House Education committee and will be moving to the committee on Ways and Means. WaKIDS is part of Stand for Children’s overall budget priorities. One of the keys to closing the achievement gap is quality early learning. WaKIDS provides the first opportunity to see how ready our children are for kindergarten and to measure the scope of educational opportunity gaps when children first step into the classroom. The complete WaKIDS model leverages this information to build strong, collaborative relationships between teachers, parents and the early learning community. This bill has been moved to the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Take action on this bill! Stand for Children and coalition partners have worked closely with legislators on each of these bills. Thank you to all of our members who have written letters, emails and postcards; made phone calls; attended meetings; and testified on behalf of these bills over the course of the session. Your hard work is making a difference! Keep up the great work! Action Update Action Alerts on each of the bills that are moving as well as our budget priorities are available on our Facebook page. In the News In the Kitsap Sun: In the Columbian: In the Everett Herald: In the Spokane Spokesman-Review:
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