Key Dates

The Legislature’s Second Special Session began Tuesday. As Governor Inslee immediately called for the Second Special Session to begin, the 30-day clock started on May 23. 

June 7: Economic Forcast

June 20: Revenue Forcast

June 30: Budget or Continuing Resolution for 2017-2019 must be adopted

July 7: Initiative Filing Deadline

Policy Round Up

In the midst of complex, technical negotiations with lawmakers, Stand for Children commissioned a poll to ensure that the outcomes of legislative policy under consideration are in alignment with Washington residents’ priorities. The survey was a “temperature check” on sentiments on education funding and awareness of specific challenges facing education funding statewide.

Key Numbers

• 51 percent of residents have not seen/heard/read anything about the McCleary decision.

• 81 percent of residents favored attracting and retaining effective educators and 76 percent supported removing barriers to education for kids who are in poverty, who are homeless or who face other challenges that increased their risk of falling behind.

• 55 percent of residents favored reducing class sizes and 53 percent favored increasing teacher salaries, earning the lowest proportion of “extremely” or “very important” levels of support from those surveyed.

Social Media Chatter

@NealMorton of @SeattleTimes tweeted on Wednesday that “McCleary negotiator says #WAleg won't need 30 days: ‘In terms of the education piece, we’re very close’ #WAedu,” sharing @TheColumbian story by @LaurenDake.

What We're Reading

McCleary deal must eliminate overreliance on local levies
“To satisfy the court…the Legislature must cut local levies dramatically, make sure that money is used only for extras like sports uniforms or playground equipment and fully fund the salaries of teachers and other school employees with state dollars.”

Teachers' Low Expectations for Students of Color Found to Affect Students' Success
"'Based on my analysis, teachers' underestimating their students' abilities actually causes students to have lower academic expectations of themselves, meaning that they expected they would complete less school,' Cherng says in a statement.”