WASHINGTON STATE

Washington State House Democrats

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

Rep. Mike Sells March 2/2012 e-memo

March 2, 2012
Message from Rep. Mike Sells

The session is scheduled to end next Thursday, March 8. We are in high-gear right now as the final budget details are negotiated with the Senate and we pass the bills that are considered “necessary to implement the budget” or NTIB.  There have been many late nights on the floor this week as we head to the finish line.

House Budget Proposal Passes

The House passed its proposal for the supplemental budget last Wednesday. You can find the budget documents online.

It’s a much better budget than we feared we’d be passing when we returned in January, frankly. The little uptick in the revenue forecast and the savings in caseloads that resulted from hard choices we made last year gave us some options we didn’t expect to have. However, the lagging economic recovery continues to have a significant impact on our revenue, and this budget still contains deep reductions to what, for many people in our state, are vital services.

This budget does do some positive things. It invests in programs that will create jobs and help people with the transition from welfare back to work.

It also spends less than our expected revenues for the biennium and less, on a per-capita basis, than have since 1986. (adjusted for inflation)

House and Senate budget chairs are currently negotiating differences and hope to see a final budget within the next few days.

New teacher/principal evaluations rolling out statewide

In 2010, the Legislature enacted a bill to change the teacher/principal evaluation system. A new framework was put in place utilizing pilot programs and is currently being tested by several school districts. Initial reports indicate the new evaluation system is working well.

While I believe it was premature to act this session, based in part on the data collected from the pilot group, the Legislature approved Senate Bill 5895 this week that will make changes to the evaluation system. While some funding was put in the budget to help fund training on this, I am concerned that it may become an unfunded mandate for school districts.

Among some of the changes include:

  • Implementation: School districts will be required to begin phasing in the new evaluation system starting with the 2013-14 school year. Districts must fully-transition by the 2015-16 school year. The pilot schools will continue their work throughout the transition period and report best practices to help with the statewide implementation.
  • Professional development: The bill attempts to ensure that districts will have the training tools and resources they will need in order to implement the evaluation system statewide.
  • Four level evaluation program: Teachers and principals will be rated on a four-tiered system instead of the current two-tier system. The levels include unsatisfactory, basic, proficient, and distinguished.
  • Student growth data: The new system requires student growth data to be a substantial factor in evaluating teacher and principal performance. Safeguards are in place to make sure the data is used objectively, fairly, and consistently across districts. Concerns have been expressed about the use of simply one standardized test for this, even though safeguards are supposedly in place. There are a number of factors beyond school and teacher control that should also be factored in when considering the evaluation process.

The intent is to ensure a great teacher in every classroom and a great principal in every school. Many, however, have expressed skepticism that it will, and that its passing smacked more of a blame the teacher for school woes, while ignoring the McCleary decision on the underfunding of schools. ($8 billion over the last 10 years) I did vote for the bill in the end, as it provided for substantial practitioner input through amendments. There is no doubt that the evaluation processes in education could be improved. The question remains whether forcing this issue before all the pilot work and research is in is more about making it look like the legislature is doing something about education, or a deflection of the funding issue.

Some good economic news

There is still a long way to go, but we received more indications this week that the economy – both in our state in nation-wide – is starting to turn around.

The Employment Security Department reported that our employment rate soared last month, gaining an estimated 13,200 jobs – meaning that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to an estimated 8.3 percent. That is still way too high, and does not reflect the number who have fallen off the unemployment lists.

Employment Security Commissioner Paul Trause said that the new and improved figures “show that our economy is gaining strength, and that’s great news to start the new year.”

And we’re not alone; looks like unemployment rates are steadily falling nationwide. The Washington Post reported that the number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell slightly last week to the lowest point in four years.

But there’s more good news for America: According to a Federal Reserve Board report released this week, the U.S. economy started the year with busier factories, higher retail sales, more jobs, and growth in home sales.