Dear Neighbors,
This is the last e-memo that I will be sending you. Because this is an election year, my communications through an e-memo will not be possible. I hope you’ve found these items interesting and worth your time over the last months.
You, however, are under no communications restrictions at all. If you have a question or comment about any issues, please don’t hesitate to contact my office at 206-368-4491 or continuing to email me at phyllis.kenney@leg.wa.gov.
Supporting education for all ages
It is often said that education is the great equalizer. Few things have a more powerful effect on people’s lives than the education they receive.
Getting a good education is not only a key to success in life, but also to Washington’s thriving future. Building a foundation for student success requires providing our children with strong schools and the skills they will need to qualify for the jobs of tomorrow. Too many of our growing companies are importing workers from other states and countries because they can’t find qualified applicants here at home.
The budget situation the last few years has restricted our ability to increase state investments in education – in fact, we have been forced to reduce spending in many areas, particularly higher ed. This year, I am very proud that the final budget did not include any new cuts to education or higher education.
Additionally, we approved other legislation that can contribute to the success of our students and our schools by:
- Speeding up the implementation schedule for the Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) as a result of our state’s successful Early Learning Race to the Top award. This is not an assessment test, but a great way to make sure each child’s makes a successful transition from preschool to kindergarten.
- Creating competitive grant programs in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) that will encourage schools to develop tools for teaching these high-demand skills to interested students.
- Allowing public schools to use online, open-source text books that are aligned with the new Common Core education standards. We spend about $65 million a year in textbooks for our K-12 classrooms that very quickly become outdated. High-quality, open source texts that are in line with state standards are widely available on the internet at little or no cost.
- Providing $2.0 million to begin addressing the unique needs of large urban schools and closing the opportunity gap. These schools are among the state’s lowest-performing schools, have significant educational achievement gaps, and include a mix of elementary, middle, and high schools.
- Improving the Teacher/Principal Evaluation System that is set to take effect in the 2013-2014 school year. Data on student growth may be included in an evaluation if it is based on multiple measures of student achievement. The revised evaluation systems have been tried in eight pilot school districts plus one consortium of small rural school districts, beginning with a design phase in 2010-11 and trial implementation in 2011-12.
Paying for public education
Fully funding basic education is our paramount constitutional duty and every legislature’s top priority. But this year, there was an increased focus on schools. In January, the state Supreme Court ruled in the McCleary decision that the state is not meeting its constitutional obligations to fully fund basic education. This was not news to most of us. For 30 years, the state has had over a dozen complicated, overlapping, and dysfunctional education funding formulas.
After a decade of hard work led by the House Ways and Means School Funding work group, HB 2261 and HB 2776 were signed in to law in 2009 and 2010. Those measures tossed out the old, broken funding system and replaced it with a new, student-focused, transparent, and easy-to-understand funding system.
The Supreme Court agreed that those reforms – HB 2261 and HB 2776 – once fully implemented, are the right path to fulfilling our paramount duty. The next step is finding the resources needed to implement them.
A Joint Task Force on School Funding, authorized this session by the Legislature to address issues related to the McCleary decision and the constitutional mandate to fully fund a program of basic education, begins work later this month. The legislative workgroup will develop a proposal for a reliable and dependable funding mechanism to support basic education programs. This proposal will receive public hearings next session and get us on track to fully-fund the education our children – and our state – depend on.
Creating transparency, equity and accountability in K-12 employee health insurance
Providing Washington’s children with a high-quality basic education means attracting and retaining the best-of-the-best teacher for every classroom. One part of that attracting and retaining is providing good, affordable health care options for school teachers, staff and their families.
Currently, state taxpayers spend about $1 billion per year on K-12 health care benefits. During the legislative session my colleagues and I looked at ways to address issues of efficiency, transparency and accountability that are fair and protect school employees and their families. While it was a daunting task, we finally reached common ground.
What are the changes and how will they affect public school employees and their families?
- Public school employees will retain their local collective bargaining rights for all health care benefits.
- Each employee will pay a minimum premium subject to collective bargaining, and employees selecting richer plans will pay a higher premium.
- Two additional plan options will become available: a high-deductible health plan with a Health Savings Account (HSA), and a benefit plan with full-time employee share of premium that is the same as the percentage state employees pay, i.e. 15%.
- Over time these changes are designed to reduce the inequities in premiums that families face by reaching a 3:1 ratio for family to employee-only premiums
Additionally, each school district will be subject to data reporting requirements. A summary of the data collected will be submitted to the legislature each year, beginning in 2013. Any district that is found to be noncompliant for two reporting periods may be limited to offering benefits through the Public Employee Benefits Board (PEBB). By requiring this level of accountability, school districts will have incentive to reduce administrative costs and promote health innovations. The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) will report to the legislature in 2015 on the school districts’ progress in meeting the goals of the legislation.
Thank you all so much for staying involved and committed to your community. I look forward to meeting many of you in district at various meetings this summer.
Best Wishes,
Phyllis Gutiérrez Kenney State Representative 46th Legislative District