Week in Review: February 9-13

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Posted by Jerry Bender

Week in Review for February 9–13

House Education

Monday, the House Education Committee held a public hearing on two bills of importance to principals state wide.

HB 1805 changes the definition of a “school day” to be at least five hours of contact time with students. AWSP opposed the bill, noting that principals are calling for additional professional learning and collaboration time between principals and teachers. Until that additional flexible time is provided for all schools, early release and late arrival time is often all that’s available for implementing the initiatives the Legislature has called for (TPEP, STEM, CCSS, and NGSS).

HB 1864 task OSPI with developing a comprehensive career and college readiness model and administering the Jobs for Washington Graduates program to promote high school graduation. OSPI requested the legislation.

Tuesday, the Committee held a public hearing on five bills impacting principals:

HB 1541 implements strategies to close the educational opportunity gap and is based on the recommendation of the Educational Opportunity Gap Oversight and Accountability Committee (EOGOAC). AWSP spoke in support of the intent of the bill, but recommended seven amendments (see attachment) to strengthen the it.

HB 1790 attempts to clarify that individuals who are not nurses are unqualified to make nursing judgments and assessments. It does not prohibit a non-nurse from supervising a licensed nurse on matters other than the practice of nursing. It also requires a school to provide clinical supervision for a licensed nurse working in a school setting. AWSP raised two questions regarding the bill:

AWSP is working with proponents of the bill to address the two issues.

HB 1855 waives local graduation requirements for students who have attended three or more high schools but have met the state requirements. AWSP signed in support of the bill.

HB 1900 defines the role of the school counselor, social worker, and psychologist. It says the primary role of the groups is to focus on student mental health, work with at-risk and marginalized students, perform risk assessments, and collaborate with mental health professionals. AWSP signed in opposed to the bill. An amended version of the bill is being drafted that includes language stipulating these roles should also promote student achievement.

HB 1865 requires that schools provide visual screening for both distance and near visual acuity. Current rules do not require screening for near visual acuity. AWSP signed in support of the bill.

Wednesday, the Committee held a public hearing on three bills of interest to principals.

HB 1682 adds homeless student education liaisons to the minimum staffing allocation for district-wide support services of .233 per 1,000 FTE students in K–12. It creates a grant program of up to $500,00 for up to 15 schools or school districts that partner with eligible organizations.

HB 1760 requires OSPI to convene a work group to develop and recommend social emotional learning (SEL) benchmarks. The workgroup will include a K–12 administrator. The report is due October 1, 2016.

HB 1783 creates a K–12 dual language expansion grant program.

Senate Early Learning and K–12 Education

Monday, the Senate Early Learning & K–12 Education held a public hearing on one bill that would impact at the building level:

SB 5744 sets forth a performance-based framework for RIFs due to enrollment decline or revenue loss. Past performance evaluations are the basis for determining the order in which contracts of certificated staff with each particular certification or endorsement area are non-renewed. Every school board policy and locally bargained agreement adopted after the effective date must contain a provision that a teacher may be assigned to a particular school only with the mutual agreement of the hiring principal and the teacher. This policy of hiring through mutual agreement is referred to as school-based hiring.

Tuesday, the Committee held a public hearing on three bills that could impact a principal’s work:

SB 5748 would require student results from relevant statewide assessments to be used as one of the multiple measures of student growth in teacher performance evaluations. In addition, it would be delayed from the 2015–16 school year to the 2016–17 school year. Finally, a required report from OSPI on district implementation would be delayed until December 2018.

SB 5749 Specifies that student growth data elements used in teacher and principal evaluations include state-based tools and delays the use of the evaluation results in making human resources and personnel decisions until the 2016–17 school year.

SB 5805 Statewide dispute resolution organizations are added to the list of developers of the volunteer-based conflict resolution and mediation program. The program must use lawyers or certified mediators to train students.

Wednesday, a public hearing involved two bills impacting schools:

SB 5690 removes the requirement that OSPI approve any community-based organization or local agency before LAP funds can be expended. Instead, each school and school district receiving LAP funds to partner with community-based organizations, educational service districts, and other local agencies to deliver academic and non-academic supports must develop an annual school-community LAP action plan.

SB 5814 The Washington Community Learning Centers Program is refocused to target communities of color, and rural and low-income communities; and to provide smaller after-school programs greater opportunity to access grant funds to support community learning center programs.

Also on Wednesday, the Senate Ways & Means Committee held a 40 minute work session on levies. Committee staff briefed the Committee, helping them better understand Washington’s property tax system. For example, one chart shows M&O levy revenues have grown as a portion of total district revenues since the early 1980s.

Watch the work session on TVW.

House

HB 1003 Schools, disaster recovery
SHB 1031 College in the high school
SHB 1121 Financial education
SHB 1295 Breakfast after the bell

Senate

SSB 5065 Homeless students
SSB 5080 Dual credit education
SSB 5082 Career & tech ed/elem school
ESSB 5083 Sudden cardiac arrest
SB 5120 School district dissolutions
SSB 5163 Students/military families
SSB 5179 Paraeducators 
SSB 5202 Financial education partnership
SB 5229 Technology literacy 
SSB 5252 School safety, security
SSB 5294 School library & tech programs 
SB 5303 Washington AIM program
SB 5312 Educator retooling/program 
SSB 5316 Identifiable student info
SB 5392 Quality education council
SSB 5433 Tribal history, culture 
SSB 5437 Breakfast after the bell
SB 5496 Teacher certification
SB 5497 Professional educator standards board
SJM 8006 Sexual abuse/children, peers