Legislative Review this week on Senate education bills

Go to TVW or look at this week's Legislative Review for a synopsis of the Senate action on education bills. The action took place on Wednesday, with more than an hour debate on grading schools A-F. For true TVW wonks, or for a rainy day, watch the debate on the Senate floor for March 6 to get a sense of the arguments for and against these bills. (The total debates spanned several hours.)

Bills that passed include:

• E2SSB 5237 - 3rd grade reading assessment failure consequences;
• SSB 5242 - requiring the consent of the principal in teacher transfers;
• E2SSB 5243 - requiring all high schools to automatically enroll students who pass the statewide assessments or end-of-course exams in the next more rigorous course;
• E2SSB 5244 - eliminating indefinite suspensions or expulsions except in certain circumstances;
• ESSB 5328 - grading schools A-F;
• E2SSB 5330 - changing various educational programs;
• ESSB 5587 - requiring students in 2018 to pass the statewide comprehensive English Language Arts and math assessments to graduate (exam first rolls out in 2014-15 school year); and
• 2SSB 5794 - changing Alternative Learning Experience courses, including weekly contact time requirements.

To see how your Senate voted on these bills, please go to the legislative web site and type in the bill number. Then review the "Roll Call."

The House passed HB 1652, an bill that would defer impact fees, including school impact fees, from the time of a building permit to time of occupancy. Instead of allowing local jurisdictions to decide whether to defer the impact fees, the bill would require it. A similar bill in the Senate is stalled.

Finally, a number of House education bills passed this week as well. Check out the floor calendar for today's action.

House passes bid limit bill, 86-11

The state House of Representatives passed House Bill 1633 tonight, a bill that would allow school districts to use department staff to perform repairs and improvements to school property and buildings when the total cost of the project is less than $60,000.

The bill was amended on the House floor to drop the proposed threshold increase of $75,000 to $60,000.

The amendment was offered by House Capital Budget Chair Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, who said he was responding to requests from the Washington State Building Trades Council about the higher threshold. The BTC argued that allowing school districts to use in-house staff would hurt contractor jobs.

Speaking against the $60,000 proposal were bill sponsor Rep. Chad Magendanz, R-Issaquah, and Rep. Kathy Haigh, D-Shelton. Both are former school directors. And both argued that allowing the higher limit would allow districts to use existing staff and save money.

The bill was set aside earlier in the day, when it appeared that the amendment might not be adopted. When brought back this evening, a roll call vote showed the amendment passing along party lines, with most Democrats supporting the amendment to go to $60,000.

A companion bill in the Senate, Senate Bill 5724, has a $75,000 threshold. WSSDA and its partners will continue to advocate for the higher threshold. The Senate bill is in Senate Rules; the Senate said it was waiting for the House bill, which is offered by the freshman legislator Magendanz. This was his first bill passed this session.

Also as part of an agreement with the Senate was the removal of an automatic price inflator. If it had been adopted, it would have been the first of its kind on contract thresholds.

Both bills have faced fierce opposition from the building trades council, Associated General Contractors, the Independent Business Association, and several contractor-specific organizations.

The WSSDA Board of Directors voted last fall to support initiating legislation to increase the in-house threshold from the current level of $40,000 to $75,000. The last time the threshold was changed was 2005. 

The bill is a priority for the organization, and has received active assistance from PSE/SEIU 1948 and the International Union of Operating Engineers. Also supporting the bill are WEA, WASA, and the Alliance of Education Associations.