By Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org
Friday, February 28 was the final day of consideration for bills that cost the state money to pass out of their respective fiscal committees. Both the House Appropriations and Senate Ways & Means Committees worked well into the afternoon Friday, while Transportation committees and the House Capital Budget Committee finished up work earlier in the week.
Cutoffs like last Friday’s reduce the number of bills and typically offer a glimpse into what the respective House and Senate budgets will “buy” when they are released in a few weeks. The Senate Ways & Means Committee has a policy of ensuring that fiscal impacts are reduced to a level where the Senate Chair’s proposal will include the costs, while the House Appropriations Committee typically adds “null and void” clauses at the end of each bill to provide some cover if not funded in the final budgets. A “null and void” clause means that the bill – or any sections specified in the bill – only go into effect if funding is included in the omnibus operating budget.
The Senate Ways & Means Committee adopted amendments to 2SSB 5263 (special education) and SSB 5192 (MSOC), reducing the amounts to move the bills forward. The committee did not pass SB 5187, the bill that would have directed OSPI to provide recommendations on fixing the STARS student transportation funding formula and included a $400 stipend for students who are homeless.
Access our comprehensive bill tracker here.
For MSOC, per student rates were reduced from the original proposal as follows:
- From $1,723.42 to $1,656.50 for all students.
- From $229.37 to $225.09 additional for students in grades 9-12.
- From $156.67 and $20.85 extra to $88.22 and $16.37 extra.
For special education, the amendment reduced the special education excess cost multiplier for 3- to 5-year-olds not yet enrolled in kindergarten and the multiplier for infants and toddlers. It also increased the safety net threshold from 1.5 multiplied by the special education funding allocation to 1.75 (which is still a reduction from the current safety net threshold of 2.2 or 2.0 for school districts with fewer than 1,000 students.) The excess cost multiplier for students K-22 would remain at the 1.32 level as passed the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee and would remove the enrollment cap.
The action in the House Appropriations Committee was more dramatic, with bills for special education and MSOC passing from committee as mere shells of what has been advocated for.
Regarding special education, the House fiscal committee chose to remove HB 1310 from the schedule for a vote and elevated HB 1357 for executive action. As a reminder, HB 1310 removed the cap on student enrollment, increased the excess cost multiplier, and lowered the safety net threshold. It was sponsored by Seattle Democrat Gerry Pollet.
SHB 1357 passed out of committee Friday with only three no votes (Reps. Mary Dye, R-Pomeroy; Gerry Pollet, D-Seattle; and Skyler Rude, R-Walla Walla). The amended bill would increase the multiplier from 1.12 to 1.18 for students spending 80% or more of their time in general education (GE) classrooms, and 1.06 to 1.09 for students spending less than 80% of their time in GE classrooms. It also modified the inclusionary practices grants from 25 to 20 and made at least six of the grants support ongoing demonstration sites to reduce isolation and restraint. It adopted two elements of HB 1310 – an allocation of .005 to OSPI of additional funding to support various activities related to special education monitoring, technical assistance, and professional development, and creating circumstances under which districts would not need to a reapply for the safety net funding every year.
The substitute bill also would require OSPI to offer quarterly safety net payments under certain circumstances and to school districts with fewer than 2,000 students. Also included was an amendment offered by Rep. Lisa Callan, D-Issaquah, that would direct OSPI to report on the isolation and restraint demonstration sites and a timeline for implementing changes. The comprehensive bills addressing isolation and restraint, HB 1795 and SB 5654, didn’t emerge from the fiscal committees, likely due to their larger fiscal notes, and are technically dead for the session.
SHB 1338 is Rep. April Berg’s bill to increase MSOC allocations. The Mill Creek Democrat is a former school director for the Everett and Edmonds school districts and understands the enormous challenges facing districts this session. The original bill would have increased the MSOC amounts by about 20%, included a small school factor, added an annual inflationary adjustment and required rebasing the per student amount every four years. A striking amendment was posted Wednesday evening showing the per student amount cut from about $300 to $5.55 – less than the price of a basic latte at your favorite coffee shop. This led to a serious outcry and response from school districts, which also created a lot of disagreement within the House Democratic caucus and caused the bill to be skipped over on Thursday’s committee executive action.
On Friday, the substitute bill was advanced and, initially, failed to secure the necessary votes to pass out committee – 15 Ayes, 11 Nays and 5 No without recommendation – so a 15-16 vote. Before Chair Timm Ormsby’s gavel fell, Rep. Gerry Pollet changed his No vote to Aye and the bill passed. Listen to the debate and vote here.
While the significant cut to the overall amount per student is incredibly disappointing, the debate from House Republicans was frustrating. Ranking Republican Travis Couture, R-Allyn, offered an amendment that would have maintained a level of funding closer to the original bill but would have required the funding to be spent only in certain categories. House Democrats rejected the amendment – mainly because it cost more than they were prepared to support – but House Republicans continued to offer amendments designed to require school districts to repay unspent funds, remit MSOC funds spent “incorrectly,” and other amendments along those lines citing a need for “accountability.”
Rather than voting against the “why bother” amount that won’t help any of their school districts, most House Republicans voted no because the bill didn’t have any “accountability” requirements. Why is this frustrating? A couple of reasons, the first being that the amount school districts receive from the state hasn’t kept pace with inflation and doesn’t cover the costs associated with insurance, utilities, technology and curriculum, let alone facilities maintenance, professional development, etc. Another reason is that school districts must report to OSPI how they spend their MSOC and this has been required for at least six years. It is some of the most transparent and available data. So, casting aspersions on districts and implying nefarious intent with MSOC funds was just as disturbing as gutting the bill.
See a comparison of the House and Senate special education funding bills here.
See a comparison of the House and Senate MSOC bills here.
Nearly eight weeks remain of this 105-day session, and the Senate bills set the highest bar. Advocacy should remain laser focused on securing the funding necessary to close the gaps and help bring more financial stability to our school districts.
Simple majority remains alive
SSB 5186 and SSJR 8200 passed out of the Senate Ways & Means Committee Friday afternoon. Senator Bob Hasegawa, D-Renton, withdrew his amendments on both measures to remove the link to school district impact fees, saying he was worried about removing a local government tool to pay for growth in the state Constitution.
The bills move to the Senate Rules Committee. As a reminder, SSJR 8200 requires 33 votes in the Senate to advance to the House for consideration. House versions of the simple majority requirement didn’t pass out of the House Education Committee by the February 21st deadline.
Bills that failed to make the February 28 cutoff
NOTE: All bills can be reviewed on the public legislative website here.
In addition to losing the isolation and restraint bills, the journey for the following bills also ended in the fiscal committees:
- HB 1120/SB 5117 would have increased the state allocation for classified staff units.
- HB 1136 and SB 5164 would have created the navigational support program.
- HB 1143/SB 5205 would have established the 9th grade success grant program.
- HB 1151/SB 5210 would have permanently established the 9th grade success grant program.
- HB 1310 would have removed the cap on enrollment for special education, increased the multiplier and reduced the threshold to reach the safety net.
- HB 1404/SB 5352 would have created a “universal meals in schools” policy (Governor Ferguson request).
- HB 1495/SB 5442 would have established a College Promise pilot program.
- HB 1554 would have made changes to the College Bound program.
- HB 1557/SB 5308 would have established the Washington guaranteed admissions program and required notification to students and parents/guardians about the opportunity.
- HB 1579/SB 5187 would have directed OSPI to recommend an update on the STARS student transportation funding formula and would have provided a $400 per student stipend for students who were homeless.
- HB 1612 would have required the state to fund all AP, IB and Cambridge International exams fees.
- HB 1634 would have created mental and behavioral health programs in schools. Also not making the cut was SSB 5369, which would have created a statewide mental health network hosted by OSPI.
- HB 1723/SB 5572 would have required school construction projects exceeding $35 million to use Project Labor Agreements (OSPI request).
- HB 1746 would have increased LEA for charter schools, public schools and tribal compact schools.
- HB 1767 would have added other elements into the calculation of levies.
- HB 1795/SB 5654 would have created new isolation and restraint requirements, including use of restraint and isolation, reporting, and definitions. The demonstration pilot programs were added as an amendment to SHB 1357, the special education bill.
- HB 1838 would have expanded access to the Washington College Grant to students enrolled in certificate programs for high-demand fields.
- HB 1910 would have required teacher-librarian funding and staffing.
- SB 5007 would have created grant programs to support students who are chronically absent.
- SSB 5402 would have changed the eligibility requirements for the Washington College Grant.
- SB 5574 would have required school districts to update their social studies curriculum to provide instruction on Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander history in public schools.
The Week Ahead – schedule subject to change
With committee work complete for a while, lawmakers will spend March 3-12 on the floor addressing bills as they emerge from House and Senate Rules Committees. All bills must pass out of the chamber in which they started by 5 PM March 12 to remain under consideration this session. The exceptions are bills that add revenue or create savings to the state operating budget.
Education (House) – HHR A and Virtual JLOB – 3/5 @ 8:00am
- ESSB 5004 – Public Hearing – Updating emergency response systems in public schools including panic or alert buttons. (Remote Testimony Available).
Access our comprehensive bill tracker here.