Finally, after two special sessions, our Washington State Legislature has finalized a bipartisan budget! Our legislatures took into consideration the need to protect the education rights of our children. Cuts from previous years were not restored, and this may still affect local school district budgets over the coming year. On a positive note, the Legislature has shown a commitment to meet the legal obligation to fund basic education. It may not be “ample”, but at least the cuts have stopped.
No additional cuts to K-12 education – “basic” or enhancement funding
No cut to the school year
No cut to levy enhancement funding
No cuts to early learning or higher education
How will this new budget affect classrooms? Washington State will provide funds to establish the “prototypical model”. Our state has set 2018 as the target year for K-3 class sizes of 17, voluntary all-day kindergarten for all elementary children, and adequate instructional time in middle and high school to ensure job and college-ready graduation requirements are fulfilled.
"Listen Up" clears up the bond for us...
The vote on the Issaquah School District Bond will be April 17, 2012.
The Grand Ridge Elementary PTSA officially endorsed this April’s bond package during its General Membership Meeting.
Bond Information
Quick facts: The election date is April 17, 2012; the package is $219 million and spans eight years of construction.
The bond allows us to be fiscally prudent with maintenance and repairs so we don’t otherwise have to use operations dollars that directly support classrooms. For instance, if a boiler breaks, the replacement cost is at least $500,000 (equivalent to about six teaching positions).
The bond includes rebuilds of our oldest schools during a period of historically low construction costs. After more than five decades, Clark Elementary, Issaquah Middle, and Sunny Hills Elementary are reaching the end of their lifespans; long-term financial forecasts favor rebuilding now rather than making ongoing major repairs for years to come. (This also saves operational dollars, as a new buildings run much more efficiently.)
We are one of the most fiscally responsible districts in the country. Moody’s recently reaffirmed our highest credit rating—AAA—even after the federal government’s downgrade. Only 0.76% of all school districts nationwide share this distinction.
In relation to current school tax expenditures, residents can expect to see a decrease even if the bond is approved. The owner of a $500,000 home would pay about $215 less per year. How? Recognizing the current economic climate, the new bond package is structured to be about half as much as the bond debt retiring in 2012. The retiring bond debt will drop the tax rate from $4.85 to $4.05 per $1,000 of assessed property value; approval of the new bond will result in an estimated $4.42 tax rate.
By modernizing Tiger Mountain Community High School, we are expanding career and technical training to help all high-school students compete in a dynamic global economy. This could include partnerships with local STEM businesses, job training, and flexible scheduling (online home base) options for all.
Focus Day 2012 - February 20th
Our state legislators are in session. Come join other PTA members as they rally on the Capitol steps in Olympia. Your children are welcome, and there will be fun activities scheduled for them! Please visit the WSPTA website here for more information:
Washington State Is Not Meeting Its Constitutional Duty to Adequately Fund Basic Education!
In a historic ruling last month, the WA State Supreme Court found the state is not meeting its constitutional duty to provide ample funding for basic education of all children!
Action Alert from your WA State PTA: State could cut school year
Balancing the budget by cutting school days sets kids up for failure -- both in this budget cycle and the ones to come. However, the legislature is taking up the proposal this week in Olympia and Washington State PTA is asking members to take action.
To cut school days, the state would have to redefine the Program of Basic Education and argue children don’t need that time in class. This would affect kids today and future generations, and further set our association back from our top priority: improving and fully funding basic education. Today, basic education only covers for about 5 hours of the school day. That sixth hour is "enhancement funding" and comes compliments of your local levy or from state levy equalization funds.
Children need more, not less, instructional time. They already face tough odds. Consider:
• 1 in 3 Washington fourth-graders is below basic in reading. (2011 Nation's Report Card) • By 2018, 2 out of 3 jobs will require a college degree or credential, but Washington’s high school graduation rates hover roughly in the bottom third nationally. (The BERC Group College Tracking Data Services)
Education is the state’s paramount duty. A downsized economy will be our norm for the foreseeable future and our children need real solutions. To take action, click here, it only takes less than 5 seconds!
Bond Election Date Pushed to April 17, 2012 Ballot Measure
Bond will be presented as an 8-year package, based upon the recommendations from Building & Maintenance.
This Bond will entail a $219.12 million dollar package for the ISD.
What is a bond?
Schools receive funding from the federal government, state government, and local tax levies and bonds. Most of a district’s funding is provided by the state, and most of the state funding is based upon a district’s student enrollment.
In a school district’s funding formula, the state and federal governments provide little or no resources to pay for school construction/facility repairs, educational technology, or school bus purchases! Instead, school districts must run levies or bonds to ask local tax payers to fund these specific items.
School bond elections require a supermajority (60 percent) of voter approval to pass.
If a bond does not pass, the dollars will have to be siphoned from the General Fund to fund construction, renovations, and facility repairs. Pulling dollars from the General Fund can adversely impact the classrooms and reallocate dollars that were set aside to enhance the direct education of students!
Results from the WA PTA 2011Legislation Assembly are as follows:
Every two years,Washington State PTA chooses a legislativepriority platform. We continue to support all of our legislative principles as well as National PTA’s public policyagenda, but we focus on the priorities. In year two of this cycle (like this year) we consider adding priorities as “also supported” and weconsider amendments. The following is our updated platform for this next legislative session.
Washington State PTA’s 2011-12 legislative platform
1. Following up on reforms of 2009 and 2010 (Basic education finance/HB 2261 and educationreform/SB 6696)
2. Math and science instruction
3. Literacy screening andinstruction
4. Reduction in force/layoff policies
5. Fund education first in the state budget process
6. New, research-based model for teacher compensation that emphasizes rewarding teacher effectiveness in improving student learning.
ALSO SUPPORTED (listed alphabetically):
· Achievement gaps and educational opportunities*
· Charter schools*
· Early learning*
· Highly capable*
· Improve food quality in breakfast and lunch programs
· Juvenile justice*
· Make physical education/health a core subject
· School-zone signage*
*Adopted at 2011 legislative assembly
About our new priorities:
ACHIEVEMENT GAPS AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
Legislative principle: Public education policies and funding
We believe great educational outcomes are possible for all students, including students of color, students of diverse cultural or linguistic backgrounds, lower income status and students with special needs. The Washington State PTA shall initiate and/or support legislation or policies that eliminate the state’sachievement gaps and create equitable opportunities for all students. Steps can include, but are not limited to, efforts to foster:
Effective, culturally competenteducators who have high expectations for every child
Ongoing collaboration that helps teachers maximize instructional time, align materials and fill in gaps with challenging and engaging curricula for all students
A positive school climate that factors in the needs of all learners
Student-focused practices that encompass intervention and leadership strategies for each child and every classroom with positive academic and behavioral intervention systems
Strong leadership at every school; transformational leadership at high-needs schools
Widespread, statewide use of longitudinal data and formative assessments, such as WaKids, that inventory academic and social-emotional benchmarks to determine which students will need additional support, so families and schools can provide appropriate intense, targeted intervention in a timely manner
Consistently effective home-school communications and family engagement that assists in the instructional development of children
A funding formula that ensures children with more need get adequate support to meet standards
CHARTER SCHOOLS
Legislative principle: Public education policies and funding
The Washington State PTA shall initiate and/or support legislation or policies that drive innovation and accountability in public education by allowing the operation of public charter schools in the state of Washington.
EARLY LEARNING
Legislative principle: Public education policies and funding
The Washington State PTA shall initiate and/or support legislation or policies that increase families’ access to high-quality early learning programs and improve students’ transition to kindergarten. This includes but is not limited to:
Phasing in universal pre-kindergarten services for 3- and 4-year-olds, such as provided by our state’s Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program
Improving access to high-quality childcare by expanding Washington’squality rating and improvement system (Seeds to Success), a voluntarysupport and professional development service for licensed providers
Continuing to phase in universal all-day kindergarten and use of a readiness assessment process, such as the state’s new Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS), a longitudinal data system that informs schools and families of a learner’s needs so that they can better support them.
Provide resources and support for pre-kindergarten through third-grade alignment.
HIGHLY CAPABLE
Legislative principle: Public education policies and funding
Washington State PTA shall initiate and/or support legislation or policies that ensure highly capable children (K-12) receive an appropriate basic education, which includes access to highly capable programs (K-12). The Washington State PTA recommends that the legislature and Quality Education Council build on the work of the Highly Capable Program Technical Work Group. This shall include, but not belimited to:
Advocating for a standard definition of highly capable and working to ensure students who are both highly capable and students of color, who are poor, or who have disabilities, have equitable access to the state’s highly capable program.
Further, Washington State PTA supports the recommendation that districts that do not currently offer highly capable programs refer to the guidelines set forth in the report of Highly Capable Program Technical Work Group.
JUVENILE JUSTICE
Legislative principle: Health and Well-being of Children and Youth
The Washington State PTA renews its support for the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Actand shall initiate or support legislation or policies that:
Keep youth in school and out of the justice system
Ensure equity and cultural competencewithin the justice system
Ensure age- and developmentally appropriate responses
Strengthen the partnership between the federal government and state and local governments in juvenile justice matters.
SCHOOL-ZONE SIGNAGE
Legislative principle: Safe and Nurturing Environments for Children and Youth
The Washington State PTA shall initiate and/or support legislation or policies that create consistent school speed zone and school warning signage across all school districts, counties and cities so that drivers routinely recognize them, reduce speed and watch out for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The proposal to amend our No.6 priority failed. That priority reads:
The Washington State PTA shall initiateand/or support legislation or policies that lead to a new research-based state teacher compensation model that emphasizes rewarding teacher effectiveness in improving student learning.
A proposed amendment would have changed the wording to: "The Washington State PTA shall initiate and/or support legislation or policies that reward teachers for academic credits and degrees as well as years of service to students."
During the legislative assembly a motion to change the amendment passed. The NEW proposed amendment read:
The Washington State PTA shall initiate and/or support legislation or policies that consider research-based teacher compensations along with research-based evaluation models, including the Washington Teacher/Principal Evaluation Pilot. This proposed amendment failed.
Note: The evaluation pilot is supported as part of our No. 1 priority. The pilot aims to evaluate teacher growth in supporting student learning. While there was agreement on the importance of evaluating for growth, delegates reaffirmed that they felt student learning needed to be a component of the compensation system. No specific compensation system has been identified.
