QEC sets meeting schedule, LEA/Levy Equalization Report Discussion in September

The QEC has tentatively set three meetings over the next three months:

• September 27 - the day will be devoted to the report and options from the Levy/Local Effort Assistance Work Group
• October 26 or 31
• November 30

The QEC has two reports it must make some decisions about before the 2012 session starts - the Early Learning Technical Working Group and recommendations about the Transitional Bilingual Program Revised Funding Model. It plans to weigh in on the levy/local effort assistance report as well.

Quality Education Council meets 8/24

The Quality Education Council is meeting today in Olympia and the meeting is being broadcast on TVW.

The meeting started with a briefing from the State Board of Education, including the introduction of new Executive Director Ben Rarick, the former budget analyst for the House Ways & Means Committee. The SBE is seeking a more active partnership with the QEC, and Chair Jeff Vincent and Rarick stressed their desire to make more strategic goals that are tied to clear measures, and to anticipate the policy issues the Legislature will grapple with in the future and bring forward recommendations.

The other presentation that has been completed is from House and Senate non-partisan education committee staff regarding the 2011 legislative session, the QEC recommendations from the 2011 report and how they fared in the session, and new work that had been assigned to the QEC.