Advocacy Corner
Latest Update: February 2012
ALERT: Bill pending before House Education Committee is a severe blow to basic education and funding.
The House Education Committee is considering a bill, HB 2411, that would abandon the 24-credit college and career diploma promised in the Program of Basic Education. The state instead would provide for 18 credits in high school.
Washington State PTA strongly opposes this bill. This bill closes off opportunities and is a step back in a system that is already underfunded, inequitable and unstable. If enacted, this bill would roll back the expanded graduation requirements in the 2009’s landmark HB 2261 that gave high school students a flexible schedule that accommodates the core curriculum they need for post-secondary study (trade, technical, apprenticeship or university) as well as electives so that students can explore their interests and find their passions. Having a schedule that allows students to include arts, music and physical education is important to our association, as is a schedule that allows a student to take both college prep courses and career and technical education courses. We don’t believe children should be tracked.
The 24-credit definition would better align state funding with local district need. Moving to 18 credits would mean districts would get even less money to cover basic education. Those who wanted to fund their existing 19-, 20- or 24-credit requirements would have to continue relying on private fund-raising and levies. This is the system we have now – the one the state supreme court just ruled was unconstitutional.
The state is required to not only amply fund children’s education, but to provide a general and uniform system of public schools. We believe that system should give all children an enriching course of study that enables them to graduate ready for college or career
Here are some steps you can do to help us achieve this vision:
· Visit the Take action link on the Washington State PTA site and ask your legislators to support the framework adopted in 2009’s HB 2261 and not redefine basic education to give kids less.
· JOIN US for Focus Day: Feb. 20, 2011 march and rally on the steps. Register today
· The bill was sponsored by chair of the House Education Committee, Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, and the House Appropriations Committee for K-12 and Higher Education, Rep. Kathy Haigh. Co-sponsors include representatives Hasegawa, Kenney, Upthegrove, McCoy, Hunt and Ormsby.. Email addresses for the House Education Committee are provided below.
House Education Committee:
Update: December 6, 2011
As you may know, the Washington Legislature is currently in session and considering the governor’s proposals for how to deal with the state’s budget crisis. It is very critical that we be the voice for all children in this process and make sure that the state budget is not balanced on the backs of critical education and other programs that take care of basic needs of children and families.
We all need to be communicating with our legislators about our priorities. Right now the 3 big cuts items to K-12 education on the table are LEA (Levy Equalization - helps property poor districts who have difficulty raising enough via property taxes to fund the local portion of their education costs), cutting the number of school days by 4 or 5, and raising class sizes (among others).
To learn more about these proposed cuts and the impact on our children, check out the League of Education Voters website http://www.educationvoters.org/ -- they have a lot of information about the budget proposals, as well as a budget calculator tool that you can use to make your own cuts to the budget.
LEV and WA State PTA will be testifying this Wednesday against cutting school days and both organizations are looking for people to join them! Numbers matter so please consider it (understanding this is a busy time of year!). If you can't attend then definitely email or call your legislators and let them know where you stand. You can use the action alert on the WA State PTA website http://capwiz.com/wastatepta/home/
If you are able to attend, the hearing starts at 10:00a.m. in House Hearing Room A, John L. O'Brien Building, Olympia, WA. The agenda for the meeting can be found at http://www.leg.wa.gov/House/Committees/WAYS/Pages/Agendas.aspx
The Bellevue School District has also posted some information a little more specific for us locally --
http://www.bsd405.org/about-us/departments/financial-services/bsd-annual-budget.aspx
Thank you for taking the time to advocate for our children either in person or via phone/e-mail!
Update: October 10, 2011
I wanted to give a quick update on advocacy and various events/deadlines in the next few days.
Washington State PTA has joined several other advocacy groups in encouraging our members to sign an open letter in support of the state’s application for a grant from the federal government to support early learning. You can learn more about the grant on the Department of Early Learning’s website: www.del.wa.gov/government/racetotop/default.aspx, and sign the letter at wachallenge.org.
I am assured that the names and addresses are not being collected and will not be used for other purposes. The deadline for signing the letter of support is Wednesday, October 12th so check it out now.
For those of you who missed the candidate’s forum last week, you can find links to them at the following locations:
School Board -- http://bellevue.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=26&clip_id=3280
County and City -- http://www.ci.bellevue.wa.us/bellevue_tv.htm
There is one contested school board seat in November, as well as a contested seat on the King County council and all but one of the five council seats on the Bellevue City Council are contested. If you missed the forum but would still like an opportunity to meet the candidates in person, there will be another forum this Tuesday (October 11). Following is information on this event:
There is one contested school board seat in November, as well as a contested seat on the King County council and all but one of the five council seats on the Bellevue City Council are contested. If you missed the forum but would still like an opportunity to meet the candidates in person, there will be another forum this Tuesday (October 11). Following is information on this event:
OCT. 11th CANDIDATE FORUM OPPORTUNITY | Bellevue City Council and Bellevue School District Candidates Tuesday, October 11, 2011 6:00 - 9:00 PM At Lexus of Bellevue - 101 116th Avenue Southeast, Bellevue WA (116th and Main) Parking for this event is available in the upper south lot of the Lexus Dealership with overflow parking in the lower south lot. Carpooling is encouraged. Schedule of Events: 6:00 - 6:30 Meet and Greet the Candidates 6:30 - 7:00 Bellevue School District Candidate Introductions and Q&A 7:15 - 8:45 Bellevue City Council Candidate Introductions and Q&A 8:45 - 9:00 Candidate Informal Conversations
The Forum will be a moderator-led question and answer format, addressing various issues including hospital and school district boundaries, land use and neighborhood shopping center redevelopment, city and school district budgets, council responsibilities and local transportation challengeS. Kurt Springman, Newport Hills resident and former Bellevue City Councilmember will be the moderator. The Forum is open to the public and all residents of Bellevue are encouraged to attend. |
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September 30, 2011
Hopefully you had a chance to complete either the paper or electronic survey earlier this month so far as influencing the Washington state platform of issues we advocate for at the legislative level. If you did not, or you want to review our list of legislative priorities and issues, you can view them at the Washington State PTA web site advocacy section at www.wastatepta.org/advocacy/index.html
When advocating for our children and causes to advance their needs, there is strength in numbers. You have already taken an important step towards lending your voice as an advocate by joining PTA and allowing us count you among the members we represent when we lobby for the platform issues listed above in Olympia. Another important way to lend your voice is to participate by voting if you are eligible to vote. If you are eligible and have not yet registered, you still have time. 
The deadline for the upcoming November elections is October 10th and you can even submit your registration online.For more information, click here to go to the Washington State Online Voter Registration site.
Our state, like many others, is going through very difficult budget times right now and education is very much being affected by the cuts being made as you have doubtless felt in one way or another over the past year. We urge you to be familiar with the issues and proposals being made and will be using this section of the web site to keep you informed of decisions, proposals, etc. that affect our children and their education. We also urge you to become familiar with who your representatives are in government and contact them about issues that are important to you.
The upcoming November elections include many candidates at the local level (city council, school boards, etc.) who will be in a position to influence policy impacting our children. At the end of this update is information on an upcoming candidate forum where you will get the opportunity to meet many of the candidates running for these positions and hear them answer your questions. We encourage you to attend and/or submit questions to these candidates so that you can make an informed decision on Election Day.
That is it for this edition of advocacy corner. In our next update in October, I will report on the candidate forum, the Bellevue School Board meeting (including information on Annual Yearly Progress against our No Child Left Behind standards), and also on the legislative assembly that takes place October 14-15 and on any platform updates adopted there.
In the meantime, please feel free to write me at fgarcia222@yahoo.com with any advocacy issue you’d like to see addressed by our PTA or any questions you may have.
Your Sherwood Forest PTA Advocacy chair,
Fred Garcia