|
This past weekend, almost 500 school directors and
school administrators came to Olympia for the annual
WSSDA/WASA Legislative Conference. On Sunday, attendees
received updates on a number of education issues,
including a very timely review of the McCleary v.
State of Washington case. Thomas Ahearne, the lead
attorney for the education funding suit, reviewed the
case that wrapped up late last year and provided a
comprehensive review of
King County Superior Court Judge Erlick’s ruling,
released on Feb. 4. Ahearne also discussed potential
next steps, including a possible State appeal of the
ruling to the State Supreme Court. It is unclear at this
point if the decision will be appealed. A group of
legislators last week sent a letter to Gov. Gregoire and
Attorney General Rob McKenna to state their opinion.
The letter, signed by over 30 House lawmakers, urge
the governor and the attorney general to not appeal the
decision, saying, “The court did not tell us anything
that we do not already know. The Legislature is not
giving schools the money they need to provide the
quality of education we want.” The letter goes on
to say that the savings from not pursuing an appeal
could be applied and focused on efforts to solve our
state’s education financing problem.
On Monday, school directors and administrators met
with local legislators to advocate on WSSDA’s and WASA’s
collective agenda. The main priority was to urge
legislators to maintain funding for K-12 education in
the 2010 Supplemental Operating Budget. By all accounts,
most meetings were positive and many legislators were
receptive (or at least sympathetic) to our messages. We
hope that yesterday’s visits were an opportunity to
build relationships with legislators; however, even if
yesterday’s meetings were your first attempt to get to
know your local legislators, please continue to contact
them throughout this session and continue to build upon
those relationships. Remember to send a quick note of
thanks to those Representatives and Senators (and their
assistants) that you met with—and be sure to follow up
on any information you may have promised to provide.
Also, if you have not yet done so, it would be
appreciated if you would provide feedback to your WSSDA
staff regarding the visits you had with legislators.
This information is valuable to us as we continue to
advocate on your behalf. Finally, attendees will be
receiving an evaluation via e-mail in the coming days;
please respond with your comments.
Tuesday night, the Legislature’s second self-imposed
cut-off date arrives. All bills must be adopted by their
original house fiscal committees by this evening in
order to remain alive. Beginning tomorrow, most
legislative action will move to the House and Senate
chambers as those bodies attempt to adopt priority
legislation before the next deadline arrives. Tuesday,
Feb. 16, is the last day to consider bills in their
house of origin. Remember, however, budget bills and
bills considered “necessary to implement the budget” are
exempt for these early cut-off dates.
Legislative activity has been fast and furious in the
last few days, with numerous education-related bills
being heard and adopted by committees. Instead of
overwhelming you will a long laundry list of bills in
today’s Update, we will use the next several days to get
caught up.
Finally, we send good wishes to those 165 districts
which have M&O levies on their local ballots today. Over
$4.5 billion in local funds are at stake in today’s
election. In addition, another $1.6 billion is being
requested in those 43 districts that have a bond issue
or a capital projects levy on the ballot. Keep your eye
on the WSSDA’s e-clips for results of these issues.
|
