Advocacy in Action! March 15, 2023
WSPTA advocacy committee member Tori Emerson testified as Other on ESHB 1436, the House bill regarding special education funding, before the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Committee on March 15th. Tori asked senators to consider amending the House bill to remove the cap and increase the multiplier to the levels found in E2SSB 5311. Listen to…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Advocacy in Action! March 14, 2023
Parent advocate Natalya Yudkovsky asked House Education Committee members to support E2SSB 5243, meaningful high school and beyond plans. Natalya shared the elements of the revised HSBP supported by WSPTA, including elements added at the association’s request for student data privacy and making sure technology needs for the platform are covered, including the portability of a…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Advocacy in Action! March 13, 2023
March 13th was a busy day for Washington State PTA, with four members testifying in both the Senate and House education committees. WSPTA past president Michelle Nims shared a personal story about her daughter’s experience in high school to underscore the importance of HB 1308, which would add a performance-based pathway for graduation purposes during a Senate…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
March 8 Deadline Ends Journey for Many Bills in Week 9 Report
Prepared by Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org After a week of long nights, sometimes into the next day for the House, and some difficult policy discussions in both chambers, the Legislature reached the third major milestone of the session on March 8th – the deadline by which bills needed to pass out of the place in which…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
WSPTA Advocates Federally During NPTA LegCon’s Hill Day 2023
Prepared by Susan Baird-Joshi, Federal Legislative Chair, WSPTA fedleg@wastatepta.org Fifteen WSPTA members met with five members of Congress (MOC) on March 8, 2023, including the first woman President Pro Tempore, Senator Patty Murray. Other MOCs our delegation met with were Representative Suzan DelBene (WA-01) and staff, and the staff of Senator Maria Cantwell, Representative Pramila Jayapal…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Legislature hits half-way point, March 8th next deadline
Prepared by Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org March 4th marked the 55th day of a 105-day session, leaving only seven weeks to go before lawmakers will wrap up the business of the 2023 regular session of the 68th Legislature. The House worked late several nights and on Saturday, finally adjourning at 2:15 AM Sunday morning. The Senate…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Advocacy in Action! March 1, 2023
House Education Committee, March 1, 2023 Austina De Bonte, WSPTA member and President of the Washington Coalition for Gifted Education, urged House Education Committee members to pass SSB 5072, universal screening for highly capable students during a public hearing March 1st. Listen to Austina here. Rene Price, testifying on behalf of Washington State PTA, overcame…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
March 2023 – Executive Director Message
Dear Members, Those who have been on their annual treks to warmth and sunshine, know that there has been very little of it. Many vacation plans have gone awry with the storm that blew in off the Pacific coast. So much for big plans! At a conference in 1957, President Eisenhower said, “Plans are worthless,…
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Leadership
Many Bills End Their Journey in 2023 with Fiscal Cutoff
Prepared by Marie Sullivan, legconsultant@wastatepta.org The Legislature is now on the downward slope towards the end of session in April, with the second deadline of Friday, February 24 ending the journey for many policy bills with fiscal impacts to the state. Bills with fiscal impacts to local governments or school districts usually don’t get similar…
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Advocacy
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Legislative
Focus on Advocacy Day 2023 Recap
Following on the success of our virtual Focus on Advocacy Week, during which PTA members sent over 3300 messages, advocates came to Olympia on February 20 to meet with their legislators. Members who met with legislators can let WSPTA know how the discussion went by filling out the meeting summary form. PTA members also had…
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Advocacy
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Legislative