Happy Friday! We have arrived at the last full week of the 2025 Legislative Session. Sine Die is Scheduled for Sunday, April 27. However, lawmakers still have quite a bit on their “to-do” list to accomplish. Wednesday, April 16, was the cut-off for the opposite house, and the final cut-off for the 2025 Legislative Session. All bills still sitting in their respective “rules,” committees had to be assigned to the floor schedule and heard by legislators. But in all honesty, it’s the budget drama and the impending session deadline that is ratcheting up the heat in Olympia. On Thursday,The Seattle Times reported that Democratic budget writers have now backed off their original proposal for a new wealth tax. “Instead, they’ve dialed up a slew of increases to existing taxes, cobbling together a package that would raise an estimated $12 billion over the next four years.”
The back and forth between legislators regarding the “parents’ rights,” bills that are both still in play, has gotten quite a bit of press this last week. Two Democratic sponsored bills, SB 5181 and ESHB 1296, seek changes to the 2024 Republican-backed initiative 2081, commonly known as the Parents’ Bill of Rights. Both of these bills continue to move toward Governor Ferguson’s desk despite repeated objections from Republican lawmakers.“Throughout the session, the debate has developed into a broader discussion of Washington’s public school policies around inclusive learning environments and students’ access to mental health care,” reported The Seattle Times.
The original initiative specified 15 rights for parents and guardians of public school students, such as the right to be notified of certain safety, medical, and law enforcement related issues and the right to request certain records. According to reporting by The Washington State Standard, “Some of the biggest changes Senate Bill 5181 would make to the law passed last year are around parents’ access to their children’s medical records, including for mental health counseling.”
On Wednesday, House lawmakers amended, and then voted 97-0 to pass SB 5263, which would eliminate the cap on special education funding, and fully fund special education in Washington’s public schools. As reported in the Washington State Standard, the amended bill that passed also “adjusted two other funding levers in the bill to drive more dollars for special education to the state’s 295 school districts. All told, roughly $870 million more will be sent out over the next two budgets. That sum is a compromise with the Senate, which wanted to spend closer to $2 billion.”
Bills Delivered to Governor Ferguson for Signature:
2SHB 1273: which directs ESDs to collaborate with specified entities to streamline regional efforts that support students’ dual credit access and directs the SBCTC to develop a plan for improving its online career and technical education (CTE) dual credit administrative data system.
ESHB 1393: which requires school districts, charter schools, and state-tribal education compact schools to permit students to wear one item or object of cultural significance at high school commencements and other official graduation ceremonies and events.
ESHB 1414: which directs OSPI, in consultation with the Department of Labor, to establish a work group to recommend changes to state laws and practices affecting the training, certification, and employment of 16- and 17-year-olds enrolled in or who completed career and technical education programs.
House Bills We’re Following:
SHB 1079: which allows school districts to provide all students enrolled in online school programs the option to take statewide standardized tests remotely, beginning in the 2027-28 school year. The bill has passed out of the Senate Rules Committee.
ESHB 1296: which would make changes to the delineated rights of parents and legal guardians of public school children, establish a statement of student rights and associated duties for school districts, and establish anti-retaliation protections for public school employees. The bill has passed the Senate Rules Committee. From the Washington State Standard, Rewrite of Parental Rights Law Passes Washington House.
ESHB 1651: which establishes teacher residency programs, describes a teacher apprenticeship program and establishes requirements for teacher apprenticeship programs (and number of hours) and requires the PESB to establish a process to approve these programs. The bill has passed both chambers.
HB 2044: which would eliminate the requirement that school districts file a truancy petition with the juvenile court after any child has seven unexcused absences in a month and no later than the fifteenth unexcused absence in a school year, and removes related truancy petition provisions. It also requires school districts, for any child aged 6 or 7, to either enter into an attendance agreement with the child and parent, or refer the child to a Community Engagement Board (CEB) after the seventh unexcused absence in a month and no later than the fifteenth unexcused absence in a school year. The bill is in the House Rules Committee.
Senate Bills We’re Following:
ESSB 5004: which requires emergency response systems of school districts, charter schools, and state-tribal education compact schools to include specified technology and be developed in accordance with collaboration requirements. The bill has passed out of the House Rules Committee.
SSB 5025: which directs the PESB to establish full and limited certificates for deaf and deaf-blind educational interpreters and specifies that, by the beginning of the 2027-28 school year, educational interpreters employed by school districts must obtain a certificate; and provides that those without a certificate, but who demonstrate satisfactory efforts toward full certification, may provide educational interpreter services for up to 18 months after completing the assessment. The bill has passed out of the House Rules Committee.
ESSB 5181: which modifies certain rights of parents and guardians of children enrolled in public school, removes rights related to notification requirements regarding medical services and treatment, lists ten additional rights of parents and guardians, and includes cross references to existing state law for each. The bill adds that these rights do not create a private right of action. The bill has passed out of the House Rules Committee.
SB 5189: which requires OSPI to adopt rules to authorize funding for students enrolled in competency-based education (CBE) programs and to create competencies aligned with state learning standards, as well as requires the SBE to develop a process to identify schools and school districts that are implementing CBE, and identify costs associated with this process. The bill has passed out of the House Rules Committee.
ESSB 5192: which increases allocations for materials, supplies, and operating costs (MSOC) as well as provides that MSOC calculations must use a three-year rolling average for student enrollment and must be adjusted annually for inflation. The bill has passed out of the House Rules Committee.
SSB 5253: which extends special education services to students with disabilities until the end of the school year in which the student turns 22. The bill has passed out of the House Rules Committee.
E2SSB 5263: which would increase the special education funding multipliers to 1.6381 for Pre-K students and 1.5289 for K-12 students and would eliminate multiplier tiers that provide different levels of funding based on time spent in a general education setting. The bill has passed out of the House Rules Committee.
2SSB 5358: which permits school districts to offer Career and Technical Education Program (CTE) courses to sixth graders in middle school and requires middle and high school CTE courses to be treated as a single program for accounting purposes. The bill has passed both chambers and has been signed by the Senate President and House Speaker.
SB 5737: which reduces the annual bonuses for instructional staff with a National Board Certificate starting in the 2025-26 school year. The bill is in the Senate Ways & Means Committee.
Odds and Ends
“IDEA is one of the primary ways the federal government contributes to educating disabled students. The law enshrines the right of every child to “a free and appropriate public education.” From KQED’s MindShift, How the Education Department Helps Students with Disabilities Get an Education.
AI helping close gaps amongst those, “linguistically disadvantaged?” From The Olympian, International Students May be Among the Biggest Beneficiaries of ChatGPT.