Legislative Preview 2009: What the Professional Groups are Saying
With the long legislative session set to kick off in 10 days I thought it'd be good to collect some of the proposals that will be kicked around during; it's one stop shopping for Ed-heads!
The longest document comes from the Washington State School Directors Association, but it's also the most thorough; they have 94 different items that they rank order by priority, so you can look at the top of the list and see they care quite a bit about unfunded mandates, and at the bottom and see that WASL accommodations aren't such a big deal to them. They then refine that down to a few priorities. It's a good read; the piece about unfunded mandates is one that I've heard from 3 members of the house in recent weeks, so that message must be getting through.
Next is the Association of Washington School Principals. I've already criticized an aspect of it, the push for continued funding for the principal interns, but it's a program that benefits their members so I can see why they'd work to see it funded. I don't think they have a prayer of making that happen, but hey!
The WEA legislative priorities can be found here; the work that RW and the rest of the communications crew have put into making this site hum shows. The breadth of the organization shows when they have collective bargaining rights for community colleges listed as a top priority; the focus on classroom matters is evident, too, in the push for WASL reform. I get to help carry the water for this agenda, and it's something I do gladly.
All three also mention the Full Funding Coalition, a group comprised of the WEA, WSSDA, AWSP, the Washington Association of School Administrators, and the Public School Employees. I'm doubtful as to how much of a chance their recommendations have to take hold in this financial environment, but if you're looking for signal, here it is.
The longest document comes from the Washington State School Directors Association, but it's also the most thorough; they have 94 different items that they rank order by priority, so you can look at the top of the list and see they care quite a bit about unfunded mandates, and at the bottom and see that WASL accommodations aren't such a big deal to them. They then refine that down to a few priorities. It's a good read; the piece about unfunded mandates is one that I've heard from 3 members of the house in recent weeks, so that message must be getting through.
Next is the Association of Washington School Principals. I've already criticized an aspect of it, the push for continued funding for the principal interns, but it's a program that benefits their members so I can see why they'd work to see it funded. I don't think they have a prayer of making that happen, but hey!
The WEA legislative priorities can be found here; the work that RW and the rest of the communications crew have put into making this site hum shows. The breadth of the organization shows when they have collective bargaining rights for community colleges listed as a top priority; the focus on classroom matters is evident, too, in the push for WASL reform. I get to help carry the water for this agenda, and it's something I do gladly.
All three also mention the Full Funding Coalition, a group comprised of the WEA, WSSDA, AWSP, the Washington Association of School Administrators, and the Public School Employees. I'm doubtful as to how much of a chance their recommendations have to take hold in this financial environment, but if you're looking for signal, here it is.
Labels: Legislative Session 2009, WASA, WEA, WSSDA
posted by Ryan at 9:52 AM
2 Comments:
Among proposals expected to influence the education budget this year, what about the Basic Education Funding Task Force? As a parent, I was greatly impressed with their work and development of their detailed Model Schools funding approach. Aren't you expecting their proposal to be a big factor in the upcoming legislative session?
-Lisa
Honestly, no. It'll have it's deacons on the hill (Ross Hunter and Skip Priest are the most visible, IMO), but the funding required to make it happen just won't be there.
Unless, of course, President Obama comes in with a buttload of cash. I'm not optimistic, though.
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