Legislation
2009 Legislative Priority and Supported Issues Update for WSPTA Convention
April 28, 2009
WSPTA Platform Development Changes for 2008-10: WSPTA has begun implementing a two year legislative issue life cycle, to follow the state legislative cycle. 2009 is the first year of the two year cycle. Legislative issues that comprise the 2008-09 platform will remain on the platform for the 2010 legislative session. For the 2009 Legislative Assembly, you may submit amendments to the current issues and/or new issues. Issues that are amended will retain their position on the platform. New issues will be added to the end of the supported platform in rank order.
Legislative Update: The 2009 Washington State Legislature concluded its regular session on April 26, 2009. The Governor has 20 days from the final day of session to sign or veto all or portions of each bill. To supplement this initial report we will issue a final bill report, which will include budget detail, at the end of the signing period. This report will be posted to our website and announced on our legislative listservs.
Outlook for the 2010 Legislative Session: So much will depend on whether or not the economy begins to recover! The trend for this session was to cut back on existing commitments, reduce funding for programs, and eliminate boards and commissions. In the education world, “flexibility bills” were introduced that reduced the number of legislative mandates and requirements on school districts. A summary of the provisions of the flexibility bill that passed the legislature is at the end of this report. Few new policy initiatives that required funding passed the legislature this session. Despite the particularly difficult challenges, WSPTA, working in coalition with other groups, was able to achieve significant progress on our top priority issue. ESHB 2261 lays the framework for education finance reform, addressing our top priority issue to redefine and fully fund basic education. Although passage of this legislation is historic, in the end this bill reflected ongoing pessimism about the economic outlook by removing the start date and extending the date for full implementation from 2016 to 2018. The budget that was just passed covers the two year biennium from 2009-2011. It is not expect that new resources will appear during this biennium to backfill the cuts that have been made. The hope is that the economy will begin to improve so that additional cuts will not be necessary next session. For each issue, I have included the current issue statement wording, an analysis of what occurred this session and the outlook for next session, if known. The online version of this report, available on the WSPTA website main legislative page, includes lives links to the complete bill text of each bill.
Top Five Priority Issues vs. Progress Achieved in the 2009 Legislative Session
1. Basic Education Funding: The Washington State PTA shall initiate and/or support legislation and/or policies that strive to redefine and appropriately fund a new basic education system in accordance with the demands of education reform and our global economy. 2. that support a new definition of Basic Education focused on improving student outcomes, instead of inputs such as seat time which focus on meeting the needs of all children according to their individual potential and in alignment with their personal goals 4. that increase the transparency, flexibility, equity and accountability of the entire system.
2. Strengthening Math and Science Curriculum and Education: The Washington State PTA shall initiate and/or support legislation and/or policies that strengthen math and science education by 1) providing students access to curricula that has clear examples and explanations, aligns with the new WA math and science standards and national math panel recommendations which include a focused, coherent progression that emphasizes key topics to prepare students for success in authentic algebra and geometry and simultaneously develops conceptual understanding; computational fluency in basic number facts, standard algorithms, and fractions; and problem-solving skills. Parent involvement in all phases of math/science curriculum adoption is critical. 2) implementing initiatives
to attract, train, and retain qualified math/science teachers 3) providing students who are able to excel in math/science opportunities to advance quickly.
3. Washington State Assessment System Improvements - The Washington State PTA shall initiate and/or support legislation and/or policies that improve the Washington State Assessment System to make it more efficient and focused on student learning, while preserving high standards. This shall be accomplished by requiring the assessment system to 1) provide nationally comparable individual student progress data, 2) provide diagnostic assessments to determine student needs, 3) measure individual student growth in a manner that is reliable and valid, 4) provide results quickly so that they can be used to guide instruction during the current school year. The assessment system must also be cost and time efficient, while continuing to meet education testing requirements from the federal government.
4. Support State Board of Education CORE 24 Framework - The Washington State PTA shall initiate and/or support legislation and/or policies that endorse the Core 24 framework proposed by the State Board of Education. This proposal is contingent upon the provision of adequate, sustainable, supplemental funding from the State. Success! ESHB 2261 includes phasing in implementation of the Core 24 framework developed by the State Board of Education. The timeframe for implementation will depend upon the schedule developed by the Quality Education Council and, of course, funding.
5. Support Rational Approaches to Teacher Compensation - The Washington State PTA shall initiate and/or support legislation and/or policies that 1. eliminate outdated inequities based on the grandfathering that occurred when the current salary schedule was adopted. 2. promote teacher compensation agreements that have sufficient resources and flexibility to recruit and retain highly qualified professionals 3. base realistic pay on comparables considering state labor market factors, plus characteristics that have been demonstrated to contribute to improved student outcomes.
Learn more about the WSPTA legislative platform by visiting the WSPTA Advocacy website at: http://www.wastatepta.org/advocacy/index.html
Learn about our legislative priorities and other supported issues, participate in discussion groups, and find out more ways to get involved.