It’s that time of year. Yes, there’s that football game. And the groundhog has done his thing. And the Iowa caucuses are thankfully in the rear view. But it’s the legislative calendar that has my attention. This week marks the first of many legislative deadlines. It’s the cut-off date for bills to be moved from the policy committee in their house of origin. In other words, let’s say you just told your kid to clean their room and they’re stalling. So you go to that all time parent favorite, the countdown. “You better get started on that room by the time I count to three or….” This cut off is roughly the equivalent of hitting “one” on the one to three countdown. They’re in the room assessing the damage. The real work hasn’t really started yet, but the wheels are turning and you can put your empty threat on hold.
Let’s check the progress:
- On the charter school fix, the Senate has passed a bill over to the House where a group of legislators are working on a compromise they hope will move both sides to closure. Looks like a hearing on charters will take place in the House on February 19.
- There’s all kinds of hot mess going on with assessments. Last year’s bill morphed into something unintelligible. And passed. The version that was originally introduced last year was also brought back under a new number and, just to make things interesting, a separate bill de-linking the statewide science exams from graduation requirements was also introduced. Take comfort, we’re not the only ones struggling with this issue.
- Bills to close the achievement and opportunity gaps moved in both chambers. Representative Santos’ bill HB 1541 passed out of the House on a party line vote of 50 – 47, while Senator Litzow’s bill SB 6244 was exec’ed out of Committee.
- Two of the Early Learning Action Alliance’s priority bills 6598 and 2716 passed out of their policy committees. Both expand Working Connections Child Care to provide continuity of care to vulnerable children.
- SB 6408 focused on additional training to para-educators passed out of the Senate Ed Committee.
- The “plan to plan” for McCleary SB 6195 and HB 2366 are both alive, with the Senate version getting out of committee and the House bill passing through the chamber. The sticking point remains the over-reliance on local levies – made stickier by the fact that it’s hard to know what local levies are used for.
- On the higher ed front, folks are tripping all over themselves to provide free community college. The House version passed out of Committee with amendments.
- There’s more, a whole lot of it, and you can find the aforementioned more in our bill tracker, here. Remember, dear ones, that just because a bill doesn’t make the deadline doesn’t mean the issue is absolutely, totally and completely dead. Bills turn into amendments, amendments turn into budget provisos, and rules become guidelines. So, stay tuned.
As lots of good (and some not so good) ideas are making their way through the legislature, newly released data out on homelessness reminds us that we need to continue to be creative and committed to ALL of our kids. With nearly 35,000 homeless kids in Washington, we’re going to need to double down on finding solutions for all our kids to be served. Still, there’s no dearth of folks getting in line to lead the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Other good reads:
- What’s that degree worth? And for those of you with a statistics degree, trythis.
- Social Emotional Learning (SEL) practice extends beyond the school day.
- Even though we don’t want to count the state science tests, new views ofSaturn could inspire our re-thinking on the importance of science.
Ok, kids, that’s it for today. Have a wonderful weekend. Here’s hoping the Super Bowl ads live up to the hype. And happy Lunar New Year.
Chris