At tomorrow's Senate Ways & Means committee meeting, 3:30 in the Cherberg building, school directors have an opportunity to speak out on funding issues.
Two bills “ghost money” in the levy base. That means that if a school district's levy is approved by April 30, 2011, districts can include what they would have received from the federal Education Jobs money in their levy base as if it hadn’t been used as backfill. This means the levy base wouldn’t take a hit. The second bill would use 2009-10 funding levels and levy base year, so the levy base wouldn’t reflect cuts from this year. Patty Wood testified in favor, and explained that even though these wouldn’t help Kelso, they do help some districts that can go to voters for a higher level of tax collection. There are a couple of technical issues raised by OSPI, but I have a sense these will be worked out.
Another bill is the one that delays 2776 and 2261. This is SB 5475. What came out of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 committee this morning removes all the dates and punts to the QEC to determine an implementation plan and funding phase in. So 2018 is off the table as far as the Senate is concerned. Are you concerned about this? If so, it’s a good time to speak out.
The last two bills would suspend I-728 and I-732 again, and the one around I-732 would suspend national board certified teacher bonuses for 2011-13. I know this is a hot button for some members, so if it's important to you, it’s time to speak out.
Updates on the Legislature and state government from the Washington State School Directors' Association.
