After numerous negotiations on teacher evaluation bills, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a final version into law at noon on the last day of regular session. 

“The new evaluation system will replace one in which teachers and principals were rated as either satisfactory or unsatisfactory,” Gregoire said in a statement. “The old system just didn’t work. It was too broad and didn’t really help anybody.”

The bill sets up a four-tier rating system and requires complete implementation in Washington schools by the 2015-2016 school year. It also requires that student growth data must be used as a significant factor in the evaluations. Many of the people who testified against the legislation in committee did not want student growth data used in this way. For more from the House committee hearing of the bill, click here for our coverage.

The bill is expected to cost about $5.7 million in 2013.

“I’m pleased to sign what I believe will be a model for the country,” Gregoire said in a press release. “This law will help ensure every public school student has the good teacher he or she deserves, and every neighborhood school has the good principal it deserves.”

Tags: education, teacher evaluation

Tonight, the Senate Ways and Means committee is hearing the proposed operating budget revealed in a press conference earlier today. I’ll be live-blogging with coverage of the hearing, so keep checking back for updates!

The budget, which doesn’t make any cuts to K-12 and higher education, was generally well-received by representatives in the education communities.

Ben Rarick, of the Washington State Board of Education, said he regards this budget as an “act of political courage.” He said the choice in the budget to make education apportionment payment delays permanent is sensible.

However, Mitch Denning, a representative from the Washington Association of School Administrators, did not agree that apportionment payment delays should be permanent. He said in tough times delayed payments help, but should not be looked at as a permanent fix.

Ramona Hattendorf, with the Washington State PTA, supports the proposed budget, but asked the committee to consider their cuts to the Office of the Educational Ombudsman. She said cuts would eliminate two positions in an office of six, which could adversely affect children who need an advocate.

Representatives from state higher education expressed similar support for the proposed budget.

Margaret Shepherd from the University of Washington said this budget will allow the university to accept approximately 500 students that were turned away from the engineering department this year due to lack of space.

A representative from the Evergreen State College said after 11 years working for higher education, this is the first time she’s signed in “pro” on a budget proposal.

Members from the health care community also expressed support for the proposed budget, but many said the state needs to look for more revenue solutions in the future.

Julia Weinberg, with the Washington State Nurses Association, said the proposed budget does the right thing in regards to public health, the health safety net, and higher education. She added that new revenue sources should be identified.

A representative from the March of Dimes also supported the proposed budget, and said today the legislature “took a step to protect the most vulnerable,” by keeping programs like maternity health services and Apple Health for Kids intact.

One item of concern was cuts in funding to clubhouse programs in Washington, which serve as community resource centers for people with mental illnesses. Seth Dawson, with Compass Health, said while he understands the reasoning behind disqualifying the clubhouses from certain funding sources, he hopes the legislature will find a way to fund these programs.

Erica Horn, who works with Hero House, said clubhouses have proven to be successful support networks for those with mental illnesses. She added that clubhouses in Washington have a placement and support rate of over 95 people a month of people working “competitive jobs at competitive wages.”

The proposed budget would increase license fees for adult family homes. One representative from the Washington State Residential Care Council said this license fee increase to $370 a bed is too abrupt for adult family homes to adjust to this year.

Check out Legislative Review on TVW tomorrow at 6:30 and 11 p.m. for full coverage of the Ways and Means committee.

Tags: education, Higher Education

The House Education committee is holding a public hearing this morning on teacher evaluations.

The revenue forecast comes out at 10 a.m. The forecast gives lawmakers an idea of how much money the state will collect, and they use it as a blueprint for writing the state’s budget.

House Transportation chair Rep. Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, will hold a press conference at noon to announce her proposed transportation budget. The House transportation committee will hold a hearing on that proposed budget at 3:30 p.m.

You can watch the events live on TVW, and we’ll have coverage on the blog and tonight’s edition of Legislative Review.

Tags: Budget, education

Monday: The House Judiciary committee voted the same-sex marriage legislation out of committee. A Senate committee heard a bill that would tighten up ethical rules for public employees, prompted by a case last year of an ethics claim against a Department of Corrections administrator who worked on behalf of nonprofit groups on state time. And a bipartisan group of 42 Washington state lawmakers sent a letter to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration asking for marijuana to be reclassified so it can be prescribed as a medicine by doctors and filled in pharmacies..

Watch Monday’s Legislative Review.

Tuesday: The House Labor committee on heard five bills related to the minimum wage, including one that would lower the base wage of tipped employees and another that would pay a lower “training wage.” The Senate Higher Education committee considered a bill that would prohibit state money from going to college athletics. And a bipartisan group of lawmakers asked that the state fund K-12 education separately from the rest of the budget.

Watch Tuesday’s Legislative Review.

Wednesday: In a late night floor session, the state Senate voted 28-21 to approve a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. We have full video and a photo gallery from the event. On the show, we covered the redistricting plan as it took a first big step forward, and legislation that would allow schools to have classes separated by gender.

Watch Wednesday’s Legislative Review.

Thursday: House Republicans offered details on a plan that would create a separate K-12 education budget. Also, lawmakers considered stricter rules for spraying pesticides on farmland.

Watch Thursday’s Legislative Review.

Friday: Today is the cutoff day for non-budget policy bills to be considered in committee. Catch tonight’s half-hour edition of Legislative Review recapping the week’s events at 6:30 and 11 p.m. on TVW.

Tags: education, same-sex marriage

Less than hour after the House Republicans unveiled their stand-alone education budget proposal, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown dismissed it as “more symbolism than substance.” Brown was responding to a reporter’s question at her weekly media availability. She said the state has a responsibility to fund not only basic education, but also a “broad spectrum” of programs from early learning to natural resources. The House Republican education budget would shave $46 million from education, leaving most of the $1.5 billion in likely cuts to come from other programs. Brown said “if you fund education first and pretend there aren’t tradeoffs, I think that’s a bait-and-switch.”

On transportation funding, Brown said the governor’s proposal to charge $1.50 per barrel of oil has “rolled away” and indicated transportation leaders are working on a smaller funding package through a number of fees.  On a question about possible threats from Wednesday night’s same-sex marriage vote, she said lawmakers get harassed over all sorts of issues.  She wasn’t aware of any threats that required police involvement.

Tags: education, same-sex marriage

The state just got a report card from the Supreme Court, Rep. Bruce Dammeier said, and it’s not good: “We got an F” on fulfilling the state’s paramount duty, funding basic education. He said House Republicans intend to break the cycle of under-funding education.

“Today, we’re going to offer to the legislature House Bill 2770. This bill is our education budget,” he said, adding that the proposal would gett the state back on the path of delivering on promises made to the state’s children.

“This is all about what dollars do you spend first,” said Rep. Charles Ross. “The number one fear amongst, I think, taxpayers is they don’t know what we’re doing … and today is the day that the House Republicans stand up” for education, he said.

Some of the highlights, according to Dammeier:

- Puts $580 million more toward education than Gov. Chris Gregoire’s all-cuts budget

- Does not cut any days from the school year; Gregoire proposed cutting four days

- Fully funds levy equalization; Gregoire proposed cuts

- Does not rely on a late payment, as Gregoire’s proposal does

He said their bill also gives local school districts the ability to make decisions about their local budgets. (more…)

Tags: education, House Republicans

House Republicans have called for state lawmakers to pass a separate K-12 budget that would fund schools before the rest of the operating budget. They will discuss details of that plan, as well as a proposed K-12 education budget, in a news conference Thursday at noon.

The House Education Appropriations and Oversight Committee held a public hearing on Tuesday on the bill that would require the Legislature to pass a separate K-12 education budget. You can read a full Q & A with the bill’s prime sponsor Rep. Bruce Dammeier about education funding on our blog.

Tags: education, K-12, Republicans

We’ve got today’s headlines, from bills to change minimum wage law to education funding reform.

Tags: athletics, education, Higher Education, K-12, minimum wage

This morning the Senate Health and Long-Term Care committee heard details about an overhaul of the healthcare benefit system for nearly 200,000 public school employees.

The proposal would consolidate the healthcare plans of 295 school districts, and include medical, dental and vision. Life insurance and long-term disability would be left to the individual school districts.

The plan could save the state an estimated about 1-2 percent of the current billion dollars that is currently spent on public school employee benefits, according to a report by the Health Care Authority.

Sen. Steve Conway said that although the cost savings was important, that’s not the only issue at hand. “What we’re trying to do is get a good product to the people who work in the school districts,” Conway said.

Randy Parr of the Washington Education Association said that they oppose any plan that would give a government board power over employee healthcare plans.

“This is a genuinely seriously subject and you are talking about 200,000 lives,” Parr said. “I hope you understand the importance and magnitude of decisions” that could affect people’s healthcare coverage, premiums and choice of doctors, Parr added.

Tags: benefits, education, healthcare, Schools

Gov. Chris Gregoire will be delivering her State of the State address at 10:15 a.m. in a joint session, immediately followed by the Republican response. TVW will be live with both speeches — and live blogging here, too.

We’ll also be following the 1:30 p.m. education hearing in the House, where they’ll be discussing the recent Supreme Court decision that said that the state isn’t doing its duty to fully fund education. They’ll also be looking at innovation in schools. Catch the full recap of today’s events on tonight’s edition of Legislative Review at 6:30 p.m. on TVW.

At 3:30, we’re watching the House Transportation Committee. They’re scheduled to hold a work session on the governor’s supplemental transportation budget.

Tags: education, Gov. Gregoire, supreme court, WA House