It’s official – simple majority is law!
A of couple of signatures and a state seal, and simple majority approval of local school levies is now the law in Washington state. Gov. Chris Gregoire and Secretary of State Sam Reed certified the results of the Nov. 6 election this morning, declaring that EHJR 4204 was approved by voters and is now part of the state constitution.  The first special election in which simple majority will be in effect is Feb. 19, 2008 (which is also the date of the state presidential primary). For the final vote totals on the simple majority ballot measure, visit vote.wa.gov.

Comment now on draft math standards
The preliminary draft of proposed revisions to Washington’s K-12 mathematics standards has just been published on the Web, and now is your opportunity to review and comment. The draft is the result of several weeks of work by the Charles A. Dana Center, which is serving as the state’s consultant in readying recommendations for Superintendent Terry Bergeson to present to the Legislature by the end of January. The full draft report and a feedback form are online at the Dana Center Web site. The deadline for submitting comment is Dec. 30.

WSSDA legislative package: Redefine, fully fund basic education
WSSDA’s board of directors has adopted the association’s legislative priorities for the coming session, focusing on the critical need to fix basic education funding as the foundation of improving student learning. The package, drawn from the positions and proposals adopted by the WSSDA Legislative Assembly earlier this year, calls for an updated definition of basic education that is fully funded by the Legislature. It also underscores the association’s stance on key issues such as unfunded mandates, academic standards, early childhood education, and accountability and local school district governance. Learn more here…

Sign up now for WSSDA’s superintendent evaluation workshops
WSSDA’s popular one-day workshop on Board Self-Assessment and Superintendent Evaluation returns with two sessions scheduled early in the coming year. The first workshop will be held Saturday, Jan. 12 at ESD 101 in Spokane. The second workshop will take place Saturday, Feb. 9 at North Thurston School District headquarters in Olympia. (This second session is scheduled the day before the WASA/WSSDA Legislative Conference, offering a great opportunity to take part in both events). For more information and online registration, go to wssda.org/workshops.

Learning from our award winners
WSSDA’s Boards of the Year and Diversity Awards not only recognize great accomplishments, they serve as a way to share promising practices with school district leaders around the state. This year’s award recipients — Bethel, Bremerton, Richland, South Whidbey and White Pass — submitted thoughtful descriptions of their efforts to promote student achievement and diversity/multicultural education. Be sure to read both the Boards of the Year essays and the Diversity Award essays on the WSSDA Web site.

Hoping for a dry spell
Our thoughts are with the school districts and their staff, students and families who were hit hard by this week’s flooding. As the waters start to recede, we wish you all a speedy recovery from the effects of this disaster.

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