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Washington Blog

Ask your Senator to Support the Early Start Act

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Posted by Cary Evans on February 24, 2015

We just got word that the Senate Ways and Means Committee scheduled a hearing for the Early Start Act on Wednesday at 1:30 pm.

Can you call your Senator before 8 pm tonight and ask them to support the Early Start Act? Dial the toll-free hotline at 1-800-562-6000 and ask to speak to your Senator.

Here's what you need to say when you get your Senator on the line:

Legislative Roll Call: More good news

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Posted by Cary Evans on February 24, 2015

On Monday, the House Education Committee heard testimony on a bill that threatened to water down Washington’s public charter school law – one of the strongest in the nation.

HB 1971 would have arbitrarily limited the number of public charter schools that could open in a school district with no regard for the size or need of the student body.

Legislative Roll Call: Are we on the same page?

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Posted by Cary Evans on February 16, 2015

So much good news this week!

We just had our annual Legislative Summit which provided the opportunity for local constituents to hear from public officials and experts about current education policy issues. It was a great event with more than twice as many attendees as last year. People left the Legislative Summit with a better handle on the current policies being discussed in Olympia.

Testimony on the No Child Left Behind Waiver

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Posted by Jeanette Lewis on February 12, 2015

This week testimony was given before the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee. Below are some highlights of the testimony.

Superintendent Carla Santorno of Tacoma Public Schools highlights the consequences of losing control of the funding with the loss of the waiver.

Cary Evans, Government Affairs Director at Stand for Children, highlights the polling data around the waiver.

Legislative Roll Call: So many acronyms...

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Posted by Cary Evans on February 6, 2015

LIFO and ESEA and NCLB! Oh my.

We are four weeks into session and hope persists. The Early Start Act (HB 1491) passed out of the House Early Learning and Human Services Committee this week with a vote of 8 to 3. The bill now heads to the House Appropriations Committee where it faces a bigger challenge. We now need our lawmakers to commit to make the investment. 

5 Reasons to Attend Stand’s Legislative Summit!

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Posted by Jeanette Lewis on February 4, 2015

Every year, Stand for Children holds a Legislative Summit to inform our members and concerned citizens about the education issues of the day and to provide them the tools to get involved in the public discourse.

This is a fantastic event that I could go on and on about, but here are my top 5 reasons to attend.

Legislative Roll Call: Early Start Act

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Posted by Cary Evans on January 31, 2015

We are now three weeks into the legislative session. As I mentioned in last week’s Roll Call, public hearings on the Early Start Act (HB 1491/SB 5452) took place this week in both the State House and Senate early learning policy committees.

Legislative Roll Call: It's only just begun

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Posted by Cary Evans on January 26, 2015

The legislative session has started! During session I will post weekly updates of how our legislative priorities are faring in the State House and Senate. This is the first in our series of Legislative Roll Calls, which you can sign up for here. 

Governor Inslee’s budget proposal boosts basic education, early learning spending

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Posted by Parasa Chanramy on December 22, 2014

Last week, Governor Jay Inslee released his budget proposal for the 2015-17 biennium.

“This budget will accomplish these four things: stronger schools, healthier kids, cleaner air and a fairer tax system,” declared Governor Inslee.

Here are highlights from Governor Inslee’s $2.3 billion education budget proposal:

FiveThirtyEight looks at Washington's class-size initiative and asks, "Was it worth it?"

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Posted by Eric Shellan on December 19, 2014

Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight recently took a look at Washington's class-size initiative.

Their question: Should states spend billions to reduce class sizes?

More specifically, they reviewed the reserach to determine whether class-size reduction is an effective way to improve public education and "whether it can be implemented in a way that justifies the hefty price tag."

For answers, they looked to Florida:

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