Thanks for all of your support today. Your testimony as parents and education advocates in support of Senate Bill 5444 made a difference.
The second hearing entirely devoted to SB 5444 is this Wednesday at 8 AM in Senate Hearing Room 1, followed by a hearing on House Bill 1410 at 6 PM in House Hearing Room A.
If you can attend one or both hearings, contact us at info@educationvoters.org.
Here’s a brief summary of public testimony at today’s Senate Early Learning & K-12 Committee hearing.
In support of SB 5444:
- Mary Jean Ryan, chair of the State Board of Education
- Most important contribution of the Task Force is the recommendation to re-define Basic Education to ensure all children are ready for life.
- Please resist efforts to piecemeal the Task Force’s package of recommendations.
- Laura Wells, state director of Fight Crime Invest in Kids Washington
- Proponent of the Task Force’s recommendation to make early learning for at-risk children a part of Basic Education.
- Dan Kimball, Thurston County Sheriff, reinforced the importance of investing in high quality early learning programs to reduce crime and help children succeed in school and life.
- Ruth Lipscomb, Board Member, League of Education Voters Foundation, Bellevue schools parent
- Implementation of 6 period school day critical for schools.
- Bellevue’s 7 period school day enables students to take the courses they need to get into job training programs, college and university.
- Byron Shutz, member of Washington State PTA, two children in Lake Washington School District
- This is a once in a generation opportunity to reform our schools.
- We must be bold enough to do better for our kids and communities across our state.
- Brooke Valentine, parent, Kent schools
- Reinforced the importance of paying teachers based on productivity in the classroom.
- Biggest concern is to ensure our children’s future is brighter and better.
- Mary Bannister, teacher and librarian in Seattle Public Schools
- In favor of bill because it will help reduce the achievement gap.
- Enhanced funding for librarians and library resources will help all students have access to technology and a world class education.
- Connie Gerlitz, parent
- Testified year after year to ensure our schools receive the funding they need.
- So grateful that we have a proposal to fix the problems we in our education system.
- Passionate plea to move forward and pass education reform this year.
- Kursten Holabird, SEIU Local 925
- Support for including early learning in basic education.
- Eric B., parent of two elementary children in Seattle
- Daughters are using portable classrooms their grandfather used.
- We need to give our schools resources necessary to provide a modern learning environment.
- John Stokes, parent, Bellevue Schools
- This bill is exciting because it has vision and hope to offer something for the future for our kids.
- Connie Fletcher, Issaquah school board
- We’ve waited a long time for these recommendations.
- Basic Education is re-defined to help our students learn the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in today’s economy.
- Urge legislators to reconsider the implementation schedule. Today’s 5th graders will be the first graduating class to benefit from the recommendations.
- Steve Miller, Board Member, League of Education Voters
- Time to move beyond a complex, obscure funding structure.
- This bill is a good foundation for a more transparent, equitable, and stable funding structure.
In opposition to SB 5444:
- Mary Lindquist, president, Washington Education Association
- The bill is divisive, dramatically alters the K-12 system while the fiscal note says it comes at no cost to the state.
- Offers no means to pay for the promise.
- Urges legislators to look at the Full Funding Coalition proposal in order to provide ample funding for education.
- David Spring, parent in North Bend
- The bill does not provide a single additional dollar for schools.
