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On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Day 8 of the
scheduled 60-day 2010 Legislative Session, the
Washington State PTA held its annual Legislative Focus
Day and Rally for Kids. About 500 people were expected
to attend the day’s events, but approximately 1,000
parents, students, educators and community leaders
showed up in support of the state’s students and
schools. Their message reflected the message of most of
the other education associations, including WSSDA’s:
protect the funding foundation of the K-12 education
budget; and proceed forward to fully implement HB 2261,
last year’s basic education finance reform. These themes
will continue to be relayed by the education community
throughout this session.
The major hearing of interest today was a work
session in the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education
Committee. As we discussed last week, the Committee held
a work session to be briefed on the progress of Race To
The Top (RTTT) legislation. Superintendent Randy Dorn,
State Board Chair Mary Jean Ryan and Judy Hartmann,
representing the governor, updated the Committee on
efforts to introduce an “omnibus” bill to address
education reforms required to be made to enhance
Washington State’s eligibility for federal Race To The
Top funding. As a part of last year’s federal stimulus
package (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act),
$4.3 billion was set aside for a competitive grant
program to states to “incentivize excellence and
innovation” in K-12 education. Hartmann explained that
the program has two specific underlying principles:
reward past accomplishments; and incentivize future
improvements. She told the Committee that Washington
State has the potential, if we have a successful
application, to receive between $150-250 million (total)
over the next four years. Phase I of applications are
due Jan. 19; however, it was felt that Washington would
not be competitive for the program without major policy
changes, so the decision was made to wait for Phase II.
Phase II applications are due June 1.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (AARA) and
RTTT focuses on four priority areas: standards and
assessments; teacher/leader quality; data collection and
use; and struggling schools support. Hartmann noted that
these priorities will also likely be the focus of a
reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act
(currently known as the No Child Left Behind Act). In an
effort to enhance Washington’s eligibility for RTTT
funds, the governor, SBE and OSPI have been meeting for
months on legislation to make major policy changes to
address the priorities enumerated in RTTT/AARA. The
omnibus bill is set to be officially introduced later
this week; however, we still haven’t seen any specific
details of the bill. SBE Chair Ryan, though, did discuss
the major pieces that will be a part of the legislation:
- A new teacher and principal evaluation system,
with an emphasis on student learning.
- The extension of the provisional period for new
teachers from two to three years, and the addition
of teacher support.
- The strengthening of parent involvement and
feedback.
- The expansion of alternative certification
providers for teachers and principals.
- The implementation of new authority for school
turnarounds, known as “required action.” (This
is the SBE’s recommended establishment of system
performance accountability.)
- A move to national common core standards.
- The addition of “innovation” to teacher “TRI”
pay, aimed at Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics (STEM) and the achievement gap.
(Note: Today's committee briefing is available in
streaming video from the TVW Web site.)
When the actual bill is introduced we’ll provide more
information on this major piece of legislation. You are
encouraged to familiarize yourself with this legislation
and make your opinions known — to legislators as well as
your WSSDA staff. Aside from the Supplemental Operating
Budget, this will likely be THE major education bill of
the session.
Finally, the Senate Ways & Means Committee held a
public hearing on the governor’s proposed 2010
Supplemental Operating Budget. The hearing room was full
(overflowing, in fact) and testimony time was very
limited; however, we used our short time to plead with
Committee members not to further erode the K-12 funding
base. We expressed our concern that many school
districts are in financial distress because of chronic
underfunding and further education cuts in this budget
will negatively impact student learning — if a district
can even survive following additional cuts.
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