Happy Friday! We are just a little over a week away from Sine Die, April 23, which is the last scheduled day for the 2023 Legislative Session. This week lawmakers transitioned to the final stage of session: full-time floor action. In these final days legislators can almost see the finish line, and the culmination of all of their hard work. Understandably, there is some disappointment felt from lawmakers whose bills made it nearly all the way to the end, only to fail to make it off the floor in the final days.
This Wednesday, April 12, was the last cut-off date for legislators to consider and pass bills off the floor from the opposite house. There were several bills that died at this juncture, but most we have been following did make it through. At this point, the bills that are still in play have passed both chambers and are waiting to be handed over to the Governor’s office for signature.
These last days of session are filled with floor action, final budget negotiations, and various conference meetings between members of both houses regarding bills that have been amended during these final days. The Senate and the House must agree on all amendments before final passage. Much of the budget finalizing process occurs behind closed doors and often it is not until the last days of session that the final budget is revealed. For details of how the House and Senate biennial budgets compare to the governor’s, this side-by-side comparison from the League of Education Voters is a helpful resource.
Important Legislative Links
Legislative Website: Get information on bills, legislators, hearings and more.
Bill Tracker: Track specific bills, read bill reports.
TVW: Watch live and archived legislative proceedings.
Note about legislative updates:
CSTP relays these legislative updates to provide information on bills, budgets and legislative processes. CSTP doesn’t have a legislative agenda, but does track legislative issues most relevant to teaching.
Bills Signed by Governor Inslee
ESB 5650: which concernssalary inflationary increases for K-12 employees.
Bills Delivered to the Governor for Signature
SHB 1015: which revises minimum employment requirements for paraeducators.
Other Bills Still in Play
2SHB 1013: which would require OSPI and Washington ESDs to jointly establish a regional apprenticeship pilot program with one site each in Eastern and Western Washington.
SHB 1207: which aims to prevent and respond to harassment, intimidation, bullying, and discrimination in schools through updated policies and procedures.
E2SHB 1238: which would require K-5 elementary public schools, beginning with the 2024-25 school year, to offer universal free breakfasts and lunches if up to 30% of students at the school qualify for free or reduced lunch.
HB 1308: which establishes a graduation pathway option that enables students to meet pathway requirements by completing a performance-based learning experience.
2SHB 1316: which would lower dual enrollment program costs for eligible students from $65 to $42.50 per credit by creating a subsidy program, incentivizing reduction of per college credit fees charged to college in the high school students, and revising eligibility for the Running Start (RS) program tuition fee waiver.
ESHB 1436: which would increase the enrollment limit for special education funding over several years until the 2027-28 school year, when the limit is removed, and would increase special education excess cost multipliers for kindergarten through age 21 over four school years to 1.059 for students who spend at least 80 percent of the school day in a general education setting.
2SHB 1550: which would establish the transition to kindergarten program to provide no-charge assistance to eligible children in need of additional preparation to be successful kindergarten students in the following school year.
HB 1622: which aims to support the needs of students experiencing homelessness by aligning program goals, establishing common reporting requirements, and establishing examples of permitted expenditures for the OSPI program.
SHB 1658: which would authorize high school students aged 16 and above to earn up to two elective credits through paid work experience if approval and alignment with the student’s High School and Beyond Plan are met.
SHB 1701:which concerns basic education services to youth who are served through institutional education programs.
SSB 5048: which would require colleges to provide enrollment and registration in College in the High School (CHS) courses at no cost to students in grades 9-12 at public high schools, and would require the legislature to appropriate funds to fund CHS courses, at inflation-adjusted rates.
SSB 5072: which would establish new requirements for identifying students who may be eligible for highly capable services, including conducting universal screenings once in or before second grade, and again before sixth grade.
SSB 5127: which would clarify school districts’ ability to redact personal information related to a student.
E2SSB 5174: which would modify the student transportation allocation formula and expand the definition of “to and from school” to include the transportation of students participating in career connected and work based learning opportunities.
ESB 5175: which would allow employment contracts between a school board and principal to be up to three years in length, as opposed to limited to a term of one year.
E2SSB 5243: which revises high school and beyond plan (HSBP) requirements, and would require OSPI to facilitate the transition and adoption of a common online platform for HSBPs.
ESSB 5257: which would ensure that public schools provide daily recess for all elementary students with a minimum of 45 minutes when the school day is longer than five hours and a minimum of 30 minutes when the school day is shorter, as well as prohibit schools from withholding recess as a punitive action.
E2SSB 5315: which would require OSPI to establish standards for approval, monitoring, and investigating school district contracts with nonpublic agencies (NPAs) operating special education programs for students with disabilities, and requires that restraint and isolation procedures and notification requirements apply to NPAS.
ESB 5355: which requires school districts to provide instruction on sex trafficking prevention and identification at least once between grades 7 and 12 beginning in the 2024-25 school year.
SSB 5617: which would require interdistrict cooperative agreements in a skill center to stipulate that any course equivalencies approved by OSPI or a host district must be honored by other participating school districts.
Odds and Ends
“By denying or valuing students’ statements, teachers demonstrate to students what words and ideas matter, and what words and ideas should remain silent.” From MindShift this week, Tale of Two Science Classrooms: How Different Approaches to Participation Shape Learning.
April is National Poetry Month, so in honor of this,” most human form of language,” check out Crosscut’s article that introduces three young poets and explores their path to poetry. This is National Poetry Month, Meet 3 Young PNW Writers.
Until next week, have a good weekend!
Samantha Miller