Legislation 

 Dear PTA or PTSA member,
 
What is most important to children in your community? Take our survey and let us know. Washington State PTA lobbies on behalf of all members for the well-being and education of Washington youth. Delegates will be meeting this October to adjust our 2-year platform and we are gathering feedback for them.
 
They will be considering adding six issues (early learning; juvenile justice; opportunity gap; school zone signage; charter schools; and highly capable) and amending our teacher compensation priority. Links to issue guides can be found here.
 
Your opinion matters! It will help shape our advocacy for the next year. But hurry -- survey closes Sept. 25.

The Washington State PTA actively lobbies the state legislature for issues affecting education. Our Issaquah Middle PTSA Legislative Representative is responsible for disseminating information about these efforts (and the efforts of other organizations) to the PTSA membership.
Our legislation representative also attends the State PTA Legislative Assembly in October of each year. The Legislative Assembly is a gathering of PTA representatives from around the state, who debate and decide what issues the State PTA will focus its lobbying efforts on in the coming state legislative session.

For more information about legislation, please contact Shelly Hall, IM PTSA Legislative chairperson.
 

Current Legislative News

The legislature is halfway through the session and at this point nothing is a done deal.  Below is a listing of several key bills that pertain to Education but what will make it out is still very negotiable and there will be plenty of conflict between the House and Senate as they revise the bills.

1)      Continuing Education Reforms  HB 1443

The bill would continue the implementation of the original reform bill 2009’s (2261) and reforms from 2010 (2776 & 6696).  It is based on the work of the Quality Education Council that is tasked with overseeing the reforms and following the timelines from the original bills. The original bill set a deadline of 2018 for full implementation.  Currently there is an alternate bill in the Senate that would remove the deadlines.

Key components: Common Core Standards, Definition of HS Credit, Teacher & Principal Evaluations, Compensation Working Group

2)      WA Kids  HB 1510/SB 5427

A pilot program that unites parents with preschool and kindergarten teachers prior to the start of school to facilitate the transition into Kindergarten.  Provides an assessment (Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills) that would assist in identifying students that need additional support. Only for districts that receive State funded all day Kindergarten.

3)      Innovation Schools  HB 1521/HB 1546

Creation of Innovation schools and innovation zones within a district- would allow principals greater flexibility in use of funds and allows much more flexibility in staffing.  OSPI would set the criteria for best practices and creativity.

4)      Math Graduation Requirements HB 1412

Students in the classes of 2013 and 2014 would need to pass one math end-of-course test to graduate rather than two (Algebra I & Geometry). This is proposed to ease the transition to the end of course assessments in lieu of the math HSPE. Similar bills pending regarding science proficiency requirements.

5)      Preservation of Levy Base HB 1815/SB5652 & HB 1814/SB5651

Preserves the school district’s levy base and protects the ability to collect voter approved funds. Preserves districts levy base by including in the levy base an amount equal to the education jobs fund allocation.

6)      Pay for Actual Student Success (PASS)  HB 1599

This bill would incentivize school buildings to reduce their dropout rate with direct payments of funds for the principal to use in the building if goals are achieved.

 
                                             

Upcoming Events
Check the Washington State PTA website for current State PTA legislative happenings.
                                             
 
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