LEGISLATIVE INFO

Link to Washington State PTSA website:    www.wastatepta.org

Link to Washington State PTSA Legislative Page of website: www.wastatepta.org/legislation.htm.

Here in Issaquah the end budget caused us to be approximately $1.7 million short. This year the shortfall will be pretty much covered by the increase in the amount we can collect in our M&O Levy. It seems this year we have been able to avoid making cuts (although many school districts are working through large cuts) but the outlook for next year is not as good. Jake Kruper (ISD Finance Director) indicates that every 1% increase in COLA costs us $400,000 in local money.

Also notice that the Legislators have moved us away from the Math WASL and towards an End of Course (EOC) assessment. High school students graduating in 2013 still must pass the either the Math WASL or the Math EOC assessment. Starting with the graduating class of 2014 only the End of Course assessments will be used. This is HB3166 which is still waiting for the governors signature. There is an action alert out for this which I will forward in another email.

The legislators also reduced the number of open-ended questions and increased the number of multiple choice questions on the WASL which will save us $12.4 million. The contract with the company that provides the WASL was up for renewal which made these changes possible.

There was also an increase for Libraries of approximately $4 per FTE.

SB6879 which is still waiting for the governor to sign gives the Basic Education Finance Task Force a completion date of 12/1/08. This is absolutely critical! There is an action alert out for this which I will forward in another email.

Click on the articles below for more information

• Help Improve Our Schools  ** New Article**

• Focus Day Information, February 13, 2008 

• Why Should I Vote? 

• Washington State PTA Sets Legislative Priorities

• REGION 2 PTSA LEGISLATIVE ROUNDTABLE 

• Simple Majority

• Phone a Thon

• Pine Lake PTSA Supports Simple Majority
  Simple Majority 

• More on Education Funding and Salary Inequities 

• Why isn't there enough money for education?

• Your Support is needed to change Public Education Funding

• Language Immersion Program Article

• Simple Majority - What it is and Why do we Care?

• School Funding?  Lawmakers look to bigger levies

Education Funding Presentation 2006 by Kelly Munn
Please click here to read about Education Funding for the Issaquah School District. It was created in Power Point. Once you click on the link, just use your mouse to scroll down to see each slide.