Too Much Testing?
[Update: 5/8/15 added link to AP article “New standardized tests bring technical challenges, concern“] One of the issues that is tangentially budget-related that needs to be addressed during this...
View ArticleSchool District Compensation and Levy Reform
Last week the Appropriations committee held a hearing on the second half of the McCleary decision; the requirement that the state fund adequate compensation, not local taxpayers. The hearing took over...
View ArticleSchool Levy and Compensation Reform
Two recent articles in the Seattle Times point out one of the remaining key elements of resolving the McCleary “problem”, and it’s a BIG element. Most estimates have the size of the problem at about...
View ArticleMeeting on K-12 Compensation and Levy Reform
[UPDATE 5/20/15 10:30 PM We will be on TVW. You can find it on their website or click here.] As I mentioned in my last blog post and newsletter, I think it’s necessary to discuss...
View ArticleMcCleary, the Court and Funding Compensation
Chris Vance has a lot to say in this article on Crosscut that I agree with, but more that I don’t. He is right that the Legislature didn’t address the compensation element and still needs to....
View ArticlePost-Session Notes, Operating Budget Comments
Thank you again for letting me represent you in Olympia. It’s an honor and a privilege, though I feel much less privileged when the session runs into July. We finished our work Friday morning June...
View ArticleRoss’ Statement on August McCleary Order
The Supreme Court released a new order in the McCleary case this morning, holding the state in contempt and fining it $100,000 per day (to pay for basic education) until it resolves the remaining...
View ArticleConstitutional Crisis? Not so much.
19 members of the Republican caucus in the Washington State Senate released an open letter today complaining about a “constitutional crisis” between the Legislature and the Supreme Court over the...
View ArticleMcCleary Phase II
The Legislature has made significant progress toward fully funding basic education. In the last three years, we’ve reduced K-3 class sizes, funded all-day kindergarten, and provided kids adequate...
View ArticleImportant Announcement
I came to the legislature more than 13 years ago to fix the way we fund education in Washington State. Towards that end I’ve led the charge to clarify and broaden the definition of “basic...
View ArticleA Different Approach to Breaking the Cycle of Poverty
This is a super-interesting story from The Atlantic Monthly (driven by anecdotes) that raises a lot of interesting questions about how states administer federal childcare money, including how we set up...
View ArticleAt DEL we’re all about those results boss
We (the Department of Early Learning) published an outcomes report on the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (or ECEAP) last week. ECEAP is, despite its horribleness as an acronym,...
View ArticleGreat New Report on WA State Preschool Program
The Learning Policy Institute, run by Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, released a report yesterday that talks a lot about the quality of Washington’s Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP),...
View ArticleMcCleary Resources
The League of Education Voters recently published a page of resources for understanding the McCleary decision and how it impacts school funding. It’s a reasonable collection of items. McCleary...
View ArticleTranparency Provides Clarity
Sorry for the worst headline ever. Click here for the video above. This article in the Huffington Post from Allan Golston, President of US Programs for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation touches on...
View ArticleDosage Matters for Washington’s Preschool Kids!
Our goal as an agency is to get 90% of Washington’s children to be “ready for kindergarten,” and to have race and family income not be predictors of readiness. About 20% of Washington’s children are...
View ArticleMath in High School Matters
This slide came up for discussion today at Governor Inslee’s Results Washington meeting for the education group. We were talking about STEM enrollment in community college programs and talked about one...
View ArticleMcCleary Almost Done
The latest decision from the court is available here. The slide deck this particular image is from is available here. This was used in the November 16, 2017 House Appropriations Committee meeting and...
View ArticleGreat Seattle Times Article on Racial Disproportionality in Education
The Seattle Times has a great article in today’s paper on racial disproportionality in outcomes for kids in the Seattle School District. The article talks about efforts to change things and makes a...
View ArticleImproving Education for Incarcerated Youth
The laws that define education funding in Washington are complex. You know this if you have been reading this blog for a long time – I spent a good part of the last two decades working on bringing it...
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