Washington Business Fall 2016 | Legislative Review

2016 legislative review Education & Workforce Development Amy Anderson: Education, Workforce, Federal Issues, and AWB Institute While education funding was the predominant discussion in the 2016 legislative session, several education bills addressing class size, assessments, teacher salaries, and teacher shortages were also debated. Teacher shortages were addressed through Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 6455, providing a mechanism for retired teachers to return as substitute teachers and providing a program to recruit, retain, and mentor K-12 teachers. Our state’s student assessments system was kept in place. We see this as a win, providing consistency for both our students and teachers. Lawmakers this year continued to move toward compliance with the state Supreme Court’s 2012 education funding ruling — McCleary — by passing a plan to study how to fully comply with the court’s education spending mandate in the 105-day 2017 session. The 2015-2017 supplemental budget added $573.3 million to the original $2.9 billion investment in K-12 funding. In another positive move, the Legislature passed a fix to the public charter schools law passed by voters but ruled unconstitutional by the state’s high court. Unfortunately Gov. Jay Inslee did not see this as an important issue and failed to sign the bill, allowing it to become law without his input. E2SSB 6195 education funding task force Passed/AWB Supported Sponsored by Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center the so-called “plan for a plan” measure — Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 6195 — was the first bill signed into law this year. It is meant to address the final piece in the McCleary education funding puzzle. It creates the Education Funding Task Force (EFTF), which is composed of two members from each caucus within each chamber who will work throughout 2016 to find a solution to ensure the state pays for all K-12 basic education expenses, including portions currently being paid for with local levy dollars. The fix is estimated to cost anywhere from $2.6 billion to $4 billion in every two-year budget. Ideas — and hopefully a solution — will be put forward at the start of the 2017 legislative session. 16 association of washington business Since the McCleary ruling, the Legislature has allocated 36 percent more money to K-12 education spending, or $4.6 billion, over the last two budgets. The EFTF bill was controversial, but passed the Senate 26-23 and the House 66-31. E2SSB 6194 charter school reauthorization Passed/AWB Supported Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 6194, the public charter school fix legislation, passed the Legislature March 10 — the final day of the regular session. Prime sponsor Sen. Steve Litzow, R-Mercer Island, introduced the bill after the state Supreme Court ruled the voter-approved public charter schools law, Initiative 1240, unconstitutional based on the state constitution’s definition of “common schools.” The court ruled that the new schools were unconstitutional, and therefore could not receive state funding. This left roughly 1,100 children enrolled in the eight new schools facing an uncertain future. This bill addresses how the schools are funded — through the Opportunity Pathways account — and addresses the “common schools” issue and keeps in place the ability for communities to apply with the state to open a public charter school. AWB supports innovation in education. Public charter schools are not the only answer, but they are one choice that allows parents an option for public education. With a House vote of 58-39 and a Senate vote of 26-23, E2SSB 6194, the Charter School bill, was delivered to the governor. However, after refusing to take action to save charter schools, E2SSB 6194 became law without the governor’s signature.

Washington Business Fall 2016 | Legislative Review | Page 18