The Senate Ways & Means Committee swapped one policy decision for another during executive action Friday, April 15, as members voted to keep ESHB 1087 moving forward. A vote by the full Senate is expected Monday, April 18.
Members of the budget committee and others heard loud and clear that a move to average daily attendance (ADA) was the wrong way to go, so they removed that provision from the spending plan.
Unfortunately, that left a $95 million gap in their budget, so they adopted a proposal that had been offered by Gov. Chris Gregoire in December, shifting annual bus depreciation payments to a lump sum at the end of the cycle.
In the past four months since the idea was floated in the governor’s proposal, and in discussions with legislators, school districts have spoken against how this scheme will impact them. Most are “losers” under this proposal and, up until now, lawmakers hadn’t supported the idea.
Talking with Senate budget chair Ed Murray, D-Seattle, after the Friday meeting, WSSDA expressed thanks that ADA was gone but opposition to the bus depreciation substitution.
Read the full update.
Updates on the Legislature and state government from the Washington State School Directors' Association.
