2020 Legislative Session – Week 8 Recap and Final Bill List
Spring forward – session likely to end March 12 Prepared by Marie Sullivan, WSPTA Legislative Consultant, legconsultant@wastatepta.org As mentioned in the last report, this week was expected to be fast and furious and it didn’t disappoint. March 6 was the deadline for most bills to pass the opposite chamber; the main exceptions are budget bills,…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
2020 Legislative Session – Week 7 Recap and Look Ahead to Week 8
Leaping into the last two weeks! Prepared by Marie Sullivan, WSPTA Legislative Consultant, legconsultant@wastatepta.org Both the House and Senate released proposed supplemental operating, capital and transportation budgets on February 24. Usually one chamber will release a budget proposal, and the following week the other chamber will release its budget proposal. But this 60-day session is…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Call to Action: Special Education Funding Remains Insufficient
Dear Washington State PTA Member, Every child, no matter what their ability, deserves a high-quality education. Unfortunately, the various funding factors that determine how much special education support a school district receives cause significant gaps and vast inequities across our state. We are asking you to remind our legislators that until every student with disabilities…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Call to Action: Equity Regardless of Student Immigration Status
Dear Washington State PTA Member, Access to a free public education is a basic right of all children residing in the U.S. and Washington. Nearly 40 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that undocumented school-aged children have the right to a high-quality public education. Since it is the vision of PTA that every child’s…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Call to Action: Paraeducator Funding
Dear Washington State PTA member, Paraeducators are the only educators who spend their entire workday with students, directly assisting them in learning, growing and navigating the world around them. Many paraeducators begin as PTA volunteers and continue to develop their relationships with these students in their own communities. We are asking you to contact your…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
WSPTA Testifies to House Committees
WSPTA Asks for Limits to High Capacity Magazines Kate Dillon Levin testified before the House Finance committee February 25th in favor of a new bill that would restrict high capacity magazines. Levin is one of the authors of the Preventing Gun Violence resolution adopted at Legislative Assembly. Hear Kate’s testimony. House education committee hears immigration…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
2020 Legislative Session – Look Ahead to Week 7
Legislative Session Highlights The legislative session has passed the halfway point. Of the more than 4,600 bills on the docket (including those automatically reintroduced from the last session), fewer than 600 remain “alive” after last Wednesday’s House of Origin cut-off deadline. The House and Senate are releasing their supplemental budgets on Monday, February 24. Keep up…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Call to Action: Equity in the Identifying of Highly Capable Students
Dear Washington State PTA member, Highly Capable programs across the state do not currently reflect the demographic makeup of the communities in which they reside. Children in poverty and from minority groups are 2.5 less likely to be identified for, and in, highly capable programs. We are asking you to contact your legislators with the…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Call to Action: Best Practices for School Meals
Dear Washington State PTA member, WSPTA recognizes that schools play a critical role in providing access to adequate nutrition and the formation of healthy eating habits that are a cornerstone to health, well-being, learning, and academic achievement. For too many Washington students, meals at school are their only food for the day. Without adequate time…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Testimony – WSPTA Supports Gun Destruction Bill
With the lobbyist for the NRA sitting next to her, Seattle parent Kate Levin did a fabulous job of sharing why the Washington State PTA supports HB 1010, a bill that would allow the Washington State Patrol to destroy confiscated guns rather than requiring the patrol to store and then sell the guns. Levin made…
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Advocacy
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Legislative