This bill establishes the Basic Education Funding Task Force to continue the work of the Governor’s informal work group to make recommendations to the Legislature on implementing a program of basic education. It directs the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to contract for professional consulting services to collect and analyze school district data on K-12 staff compensation and requires the Legislature to act by the end of the 2017 session to eliminate school district dependency on local levies to fund basic education. Over-reliance on local levies is one of the major issues in the state supreme court’s McCleary decision, which held that school funding was not adequate or uniform. The bill was referred to the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee, which passed its own version of the plan, SB 6195, out of committee on Thursday. The Senate’s bill would push back the date for lawmakers to finish their work by one year to 2018.

This bill, which was first introduced during the 2015 legislative session and passed the House twice before, reduces the required number of standardized tests for high school students. It eliminates the biology end-of-course test requirement for high school graduation and discontinues the 10th-grade reading, writing and math assessments. It also provides for alternative ways students may earn the Certificate for Academic Achievement (CAA) that is required for graduation. A student in the class of 2017 or a prior year may earn a CAA by means of: (1) the assessments and alternatives that were available to the particular class if the student has met the standard or satisfied the alternative before the beginning of the 2016-17 school year; or (2) by scoring a 3 or 4 on the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), earning an equivalent ACT or SAT score, taking and passing a locally determined course, or completing a dual credit course in which the student earns college credit. The House bill was referred to the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee on Tuesday, January 26, 2016.

This bill passed the House during the 2015 legislative session, but did not advance in the Senate. It requires that high-needs schools offer school breakfast after the beginning of the school day, called Breakfast After the Bell (BAB), starting in the 2017-18 school year and provides for a start-up grant of $6,000 to each school implementing a BAB program. The bill specifies that BAB programs are not included within the obligation of the state for basic education funding. The House bill was referred to the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee on Friday, January 29, 2016.

Introduced and first passed during the 2015 legislative session, this bill requires the Office of the Education Ombuds (OEO) to work with the Educational Opportunity Gap Oversight and Accountability Committee (EOGOAC) to recommend to the Legislature a definition and framework for a staff position that is variously referred to as “family engagement coordinator,” “parent and family engagement coordinator,” and “parent involvement coordinator.” The position would focus on encouraging parents, guardians, and families to understand and demonstrate the importance of education, to participate in their student’s learning process, and to become involved in school activities. The House bill was referred to the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Committee on Friday, January 29, 2016.

First passed during the 2015 legislative session, this bill defines “professional learning” as a comprehensive, sustained, job-embedded, and collaborative approach to improving teachers’ and principals’ effectiveness in raising student achievement. Under the bill, professional learning programs are required to foster collective responsibility for improved student performance and must comprise learning that is aligned with student learning needs, educator development needs, and school district or state improvement goals. The House Bill was referred to the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee on Friday, January 29, 2016.