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Dear friends and neighbors,
We convened in Olympia this past Monday to kick-off legislative action and address many issues that families and communities in our district and across the state are facing. During this 105-day session, I hope we’ll find creative solutions to some of our most pressing challenges, such as our housing and homelessness crises, supporting our small businesses and growing our workforce to revitalize our economy. I also especially want to ensure we continue making our education system better and expanding behavioral health services.
I will be working on different issues and will keep you informed on all of them, but in this first newsletter I want to give you a quick overview of my two top priority bills. Let’s get to it!
Recruiting and retaining teachers
One of my priorities this session, and indeed of our entire caucus, is strengthening our workforce across the board to address the serious shortage of workers in fields like nursing, behavioral health, childcare, and K-12 education, among others.
We need to incentivize young Washingtonians to pursue careers in these sectors, which is what my teacher recruitment and retention bill, to be introduced early next week, would help accomplish.
Currently, students in the education field must spend their last semester working as student teachers. This is great for practice and to gain experience, except they are not getting paid for that work. In fact, they are still paying tuition while working for free. My legislation creates a residency program in which students would co-teach during their last year and get paid as para-educators. The bill would also provide the mentoring needed for our first-year teachers.
In addition, my legislation would create a human resources portal to streamline and standardize the application process for teachers seeking jobs in our schools. And lastly, it would look at licensing across multiple states to simplify transitions and remove barriers so that teachers licensed outside of Washington can fill vacancies in our schools.
Speaking a second language is an asset
Over the past five years I’ve worked on dual language measures through grants that we continuously have to expand. I believe having a second language opens doors, aids brain development, and multiplies opportunities, which is what Washington children and youth deserve.
Acquiring language skills is important enough that it should be a regular part of our education system instead of having to depend on grants. So I introduced HB 1228- Building a Multilingual, Multiliterate Washington through Dual and Tribal Language Education, which would require at least one school in every district in the state, except for the very small ones, to offer a dual language program by 2040 starting as early as kindergarten. If we’re serious about wanting our kids to be fluent in two languages, we need to start offering these programs as early as possible instead of waiting until students are in junior high.
My bill also addresses the workforce crisis with an incentive in the form of a $5,000 stipend for bilingual teachers when they finish their certification, as well as a stipend of $1,500 for para-educators who work in dual language programs.
Send us your kid for a week!
The Washington State Legislature has one of the best Page Programs in the country. One of the great things about being back on campus in Olympia is that students from every corner of the state can serve as legislative pages again.
Pages are sponsored by legislators and serve for one week learning about the legislative process while distributing materials throughout the Capitol, assisting offices, delivering messages, and presenting colors at the opening of the day’s legislative session.
This year, the legislature is making a one-time exception for students who are 17-18 years old and were unable to previously participate due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Learn more about the Page Program here!
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Stay involved and get in touch
Over the past two years we held virtual legislative sessions due to the high risk of contagion presented by the pandemic. This meant we had to develop ways to effectively function remotely, including making it possible for constituents to continue participating in the legislative process, and we decided to maintain that ability now that we are back at the Capitol.
Here are some ways to continue to stay involved:
- Watch — TVW.org broadcasts all the debates and votes that happen in the House and Senate, along with committee meetings and other events you may be interested in. You can watch live or access recorded content.
- Testify — Committee testimony will continue to have a virtual option, so instead of driving to Olympia to weigh-in on legislation during committee hearings, you can continue to do so from home. Written testimony is also an option, and you can always share your story with me. Learn more about how to testify.
- Get in touch — This year, we will accommodate in-person and virtual meetings. To schedule a meeting, please contact my Legislative Assistant, Samantha Cruz-Mendoza, at Samantha.Cruz-Mendoza@leg.wa.gov. And keep in mind that your input is truly necessary for me to do a good job representing you. All my contact information is below, so don’t hesitate to call or email with your concerns and ideas.
Sincerely,
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