Our Priorities for Kids
View a comparison of the House, Senate and governor budget proposals.
Keep education reform going
- Continue working on developing and implementing the teacher and principal evaluation pilots.
- Adopt the Common Core Standards.
- Allow school districts the flexibility to grant course credits using more than just class time.
Learn more:
LEV’s Common Core Standards whitepaper
“What Can I Do” podcast on Common Core StandardsRelated bills:
HB 1443
Pass WAKids kindergarten transition program
- Requires schools that offer state-funded all-day kindergarten (currently 21 percent of the lowest-income schools) to use the WaKIDS model in all kindergarten classrooms. The program helps to identify barriers to learning and help to close the achievement gap.
Learn more:
A powerful education reform tool – kindergarten readiness data (LEV Blog)
Parents, educators support the WaKIDS kindergarten transition process (LEV Blog)
Keep effective teachers through layoffs
- Authorize school districts doing layoffs to first let go of teachers who received the lowest average ratings during their two latest evaluations.
- Allow the use of seniority as the tiebreaker when two or more teachers have the same evaluation scores.
Learn more:
Bill looks to sidestep seniority issues in future teacher layoffs (The News Tribune)
Teacher performance must be factored into teacher layoffs (Seattle Times)
Keep momentum strong for math & science end-of-course assessments
- Require students to pass end-of-course assessments in math and science in order to graduate high school, beginning with the class of 2013.
Learn more:
We can’t teach them (LEV Blog)
State Board of Education on math & science
Protect what works
- All-day kindergarten
- More counselors
- Supports for struggling students
- National Board Certification awards
- State Need Grants
Learn more: LEV’s budget whitepaper
