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It took two days, three separate floor sessions and
over ten hours of debate, but on Wednesday night, the
House finally adopted
SB 6130, temporarily suspending Initiative 960,
including the two-thirds vote requirement for any tax
increases. Because the House adopted an amended version
of SB 6130, it now must return to the Senate for
concurrence, which is expected to happen fairly quickly.
The bill will then be sent to the governor’s desk for
her action; she is expected to approve of the bill.
We continue to wait for the release of a Senate
proposed 2010 Supplemental Operating Budget. Expected to
be released earlier this week, Senate budget-writers
have publicly stated that Monday, Feb. 22 is the
earliest they will be able to unveil their proposal. The
assumption is that Senate budget-writers want the
suspension of I-960 (SB 6130) to be official before they
release a budget. Additionally, this Saturday, Feb. 20,
most legislators will return to their home districts for
town hall meetings with constituents and normally a
legislative budget is not released before those meetings
have occurred. This year, the Senate proposal is
expected to be a pretty thin budget, with limited
spending and drastic cuts across state government.
Presumably, Senate leadership felt it was unwise to
release an ugly budget, send their members to the wolves
back home and then expect those members to support the
budget when they return to Olympia. There is also
speculation that Senate budget-writers simply have not
yet completed their proposal. Regardless of the reasons,
we have not seen a legislative budget proposal and will
not see one until at least next week.
Traditionally, each budget cycle the House and Senate
take turns as the chamber to release the first
legislative budget. This year, it is the Senate’s “turn”
to be first. As noted above, they have not released a
proposal and now the House is apparently preparing to
release its budget proposal. The House Ways & Means
Committee has already scheduled a public hearing for the
House’s yet-to-be-released proposal. The public hearing
is slated for Tuesday, Feb. 23, followed quickly by a
scheduled executive session the next day. Committee
schedules have to be submitted on Tuesday of each week
for a Thursday release, so it is unclear at this point
if the House simply scheduled its committee meetings in
anticipation of the Senate’s action — or if House
budget-writers intend on jumping in front of their
Senate counterparts. We will continue to keep you
apprised.
On Thursday, the Senate Early Learning & K-12
Education Committee held a public hearing on six bills:
HB 3026, HB 2801, HB 2904, HB 2996, HB 1162 and HB 1418.
- HB
3026 would add a new chapter to the school code
paralleling the current Sexual Equality chapter and
prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race,
creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation,
religious affiliation, veteran or military status,
disability, or the use of a trained guide or service
animal by a person with a disability. Additionally,
OSPI would be: charged with developing rules and
guidelines to eliminate such discrimination; and
authorized to enforce compliance.
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HB 2801 would direct OSPI to revise and update
the model harassment, intimidation and bullying
prevention policy and procedure and present it to
the Legislature for review. School districts would
be required to adopt or amend policies to
incorporate the revised policy.
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HB 2904 would authorize the Office of the
Education Ombudsman to seek and accept public and
private funds and spend them, along with any
associated income, according to their terms and
without appropriation.
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HB 2996 would authorize the same record check
access rules and procedures be used for approved
private schools as are used for school districts,
educational school districts, tribal schools, and
others.
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HB 1162 would create a Social Emotional Learning
Public-Private Partnership Account to promote and
encourage incorporation of Social Emotional Learning
into basic education instruction in public schools.
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HB 1418 would create a statewide dropout
reengagement system for youth aged 16 to 21 who have
dropped out of school or are not expected to
graduate by age 21.
The Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee
also took executive action this morning and adopted
three bills (each will be referred to the Senate Ways &
Means Committee for further action): HB 2670, HB 2893
and HB 2759.
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HB 2670 would enhance school district levy bases
by assuming Initiative 728 (Student Achievement) and
Initiative 732 (educator COLAs) were fully
implemented by the Legislature. The I-728/I-732 levy
base enhancement currently in law is set to expire
at the end of calendar year 2011; HB 2670 would
extend this sunset to December 2017. The bill would
also allow K-4 class size enhancement funding to
continue to be counted in calculation of school
district levy bases if the funding is eliminated.
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HB 2893 would increase school district levy lids
by four percent, increase Local Effort Assistance by
two percent, and restore school district levy bases.
The bill also includes a “reverse severability”
clause, which declares that each section of the bill
represents a comprehensive plan for addressing
school levy laws such that if any section passed by
the Legislature is invalidated or not signed into
law, or if OSPI does not certify that full funding
has been appropriated for the LEA rates in the bill,
the entire act is null and void.
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HB 2759 would exclude from school districts'
levy bases state or federal allocations that are
based on non-resident students enrolled in an online
school program. This bill is intended to keep school
districts from starting online school programs for
financial motives, rather than for academic
purposes.
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