HB 2661 passed – Now what? What role does an advocate have?
Posted on 16. Jun, 2009 by Kelly.
We’ve done the thank yous, and had the celebrations, but what do we do next? HB2261 is a historic piece of legislation, and if all goes well it will dramatically improve education in the State of Washington.
But it all seems like it is so underground now. What do we advocates do? Is our job done? Do we just wait and see and figure out if we need to advocate? Do we take a passive role or an active role? If we are active, what do we do?
We know that the Quality Education Council (QEC) workgroup comes into being on July 26, 2009. And we know that the QUC will have representatives from:
- Office of Financial Management (OFM)
- Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI)
- Legislators - 2 from each caucus
- State Board of Education (SBE)
- Professional Educators Standards Board (PESB)
- Department of Early Learning (DEL) (this is too funny, since early learning was vetoed by the Governor)
The first thing the QEC must do is submit a report to the Governor and the legislature by January 1, 2010, addressing the following:
- 1. Recommendations for any decisions requiring legislative action in the 2010 session
- 2. Consideration for a statewide beginning teacher mentoring and support system
- 3. Seek federal approval of the state’s accountability system
- 4. Use the prototypical school funding model as a reporting tool
Most of the above 4 issues weren’t on my top 10 list of ideas for improving education, except for number 4. I can get excited about number 4. If the QEC implements number 4 right now, it could help us raise revenue for schools. It would make the funding model transparent, and we’d be able to show the voters just what gets funded or not funded.
So, right now I’m waiting. There is a meeting of key players in passing HB2261 in July. At that point maybe we’ll have more of a plan. As soon as I better understand what we think we’ll happen, I’ll tell you. In the meantime, I’m sending interesting articles out for people to read, and I’m going into school districts trying to find people who would be willing to help.
My gut tells me that we have a lot of work ahead of us. It’s still all too murky to get much clarity. So I’m recruiting, teaching and waiting. As soon as there is more information, I’ll let you know.
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Education News of the Day
Posted on 16. Jun, 2009 by Lindsey.
LEV Rainer Scholar college bound: Minority scholars program reaps first crop of graduates
Change is underway: Seattle Public Schools is making changes to help students succeed
Lights, camera, action: School events on the cable TV
