Education Legislation
| Relevant and Current Education Funding Issues in Issaquah School District |
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League of Education Voters - April 28, 7-8:30pm
The
League of Education Voters is putting on an interesting town hall event in Seattle.
They are bringing in Katie Haycock, President of the
Education Trust,
a foundation that is working towards closing the achievement gap by putting in place higher goals, and higher expectations.
She is really worth the time and effort to go hear speak.
The following is just one of the areas she will be talking about: "Students most likely to opt out of algebra when it
is not required are those whose parents are least engaged in their children's education. The result is an education
system that magnifies inequities and perpetuates socioeconomic differences from one generation to the next." (Haycock, 2007)
view the invitation
Education Funding–Salary Inequities
Issaquah ranks 268th out of 296 school districts in per pupil funding in the state of Washington.
This includes all revenue for the school district. How can we be so poorly funded? There are two main reasons:
Reason 1: We are not allowed to raise local taxes above 24.97% of our general fund.
Mercer Island and Bellevue are allowed to raise over 30% of their general fund which
raises millions of additional dollars for their school districts. This translates
into more current curriculum, wider range of programs and extended learning days.
Reason 2: Our staff is not paid at the top of the state salary range. The state
does not fund our teachers, administration (Principals) and classified (EA’s) at
the top of the scale. In fact, our teachers are at the bottom of the salary scale.
We pay property tax to the state, the state turns around and pays the salaries of
our teachers, Principals and EA’s and we are not funded equitably. There is no
logic to the funding except that it was determined in the 70’s when Issaquah was a very small, rural community.
In order to stay competitive, we augment the salaries of staff with additional dollars
that we receive from our levies. There are bills in the legislature this session that try to address these inequities.
Focus Day Feb. 13th, 2008
Location: Legislative Building, Olympia, WA
Plan to join PTA advocates from across the state in Olympia for the WSPTA annual
Focus Day. A full day of activities is planned, and includes the following:
- Issue briefings on WSPTA’s five Priority Issues
- Pre-arranged visits with legislators and legislative staff
- Brown bag lunch with fellow PTA members
- Legislative committee hearings
- A tour of the newly renovated Capitol Building
- Networking with other advocates from your area
- Additional learning opportunities
- Call-in and email opportunities for those who cannot attend the
event in Olympia
Coordinate your trip to Olympia and your Legislator meetings with your local
PTA, Council, or Region Legislation Chair. Let’s speak together in Olympia, Washington DC, and in our local communities.
We can create a victory for children.
Look for additional information on the
WSPTA website
Contact
Kathy Rodgers for carpool information.
Washington State Math and Science Standards
The Washington State Board of Education is in the process of reviewing our state’s standards for both math and science.
The newly revised math standards are due to be posted on January 21 at
http://www.utdanacenter.org/wamathrevision/standards.php.
A public meeting on the math standards will be held on January 22 at Roosevelt High School in Seattle from 6 to 8 p.m. at which
there will be a presentation and then time for public comment.
The science standards are now available for your review at
http://www.sbe.wa.gov/. Scroll to the section bottom of the page
entitled “Washington State Science Standards Review” and you will find several links of interest including the entire preliminary
report. We will pass along dates for public input when they become available.
World
Book Online Tool