The 2012 Legislative session kicked off on Monday, and we covered lots of ground here on the blog and on Legislative Review, our 10-minute wrap-up of the day’s events that airs nightly at 6:30 p.m. on TVW. Here’s a quick look back at what happened this week.

Monday: Opening ceremonies got underway with speeches from Reps. Frank Chopp and Richard DeBolt. TVW aired a two-hour opening day special of “The Impact” with interviews from the Governor and dozens of lawmakers, who touched on everything from the budget to gay marriage and medical marijuana.

Watch Monday’s Legislative Review here.

Tuesday:  Gov. Chris Gregoire gave her final state of the state address, calling for a $3.6 billion transportation package that would include a $1.50 fee per barrel on oil produced in Washington. Sen. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, delivered the Republican response. That was followed by a news conference where several Republicans said they were concerned that the Governor’s proposed oil fee would cause prices to rise at the gas pump.

Watch Tuesday’s Legislative Review here.

Wednesday: After three years of delivering gloomy economic forecasts, the state’s chief economist Arun Raha announced he was resigning to take a new job in Cleveland — but not without cracking a few of his signature “Arun-ism” jokes first. We kept an eye on two environmental bills — one would ban plastic grocery bags in Washington state, and the other would ban petroleum-based plastic bottles. And, the Senate took a look at a proposal that would consolidate the healthcare benefits of K-12 public school employees under one insurance plan.

Watch Wednesday’s Legislative Review here.

Thursday: A bipartisan group of lawmakers held a press conference to announce their plans for education reform, including a bill that would authorize charter schools in Washington state. Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, D-Burien, held a press conference to promote his version of a bill that would ban plastic bags. The employment department and chief economist Arun Raha gave an update on how the state’s economy is doing.

Watch Thursday’s Leglative Review here.

Friday: The Sandusky scandal prompted the Senate to hear a bill that would hold certain higher education employees responsible for reporting suspected child abuse. Also, the Senate honored Sen. Scott White, who died in October of a heart attack. Friday’s edition of Legislative Review airs at 6:30 p.m. on TVW.

Tags: Arun Raha, Environment, gay marriage, Gov. Gregoire, Legislative Review, Schools

“We’re here because we believe that education is truly the answer,” said Rep. Eric Pettigrew, kicking off the education reform press conference where he and a handful of other lawmakers are unveiling their ideas for the session. He said 11 students per hour drop out in this state, and many fourth graders aren’t reading or doing math at grade level. He said the coalition of lawmakers is proposing a group of bills that would aim to help those struggling students now.

Pettigrew said he knows education reform is an emotional subject, but when it’s done with the right reasons, “it’s well worth the fight … All we’re asking for is an honest, open dialogue.”

Sen. Steve Litzow took the mic. “We know that our schools are not keeping pace with the needs of a dynamic and growing international marketplace,” he said. “There are 920 schools that are designated Title I” — that’s 40 percent of Washington schools where students aren’t meeting adequately yearly progress.

Litzow said the single most important factor in a child’s education is a quality teacher. “We need to do everything that we can do to make sure that everyone … has the opportunity to succeed.” He said that includes a more robust method to evaluate teachers that can help develop quality teachers — and weed out those for whom teaching might not be a good fit. (more…)

Tags: school reform

This morning the Senate Health and Long-Term Care committee heard details about an overhaul of the healthcare benefit system for nearly 200,000 public school employees.

The proposal would consolidate the healthcare plans of 295 school districts, and include medical, dental and vision. Life insurance and long-term disability would be left to the individual school districts.

The plan could save the state an estimated about 1-2 percent of the current billion dollars that is currently spent on public school employee benefits, according to a report by the Health Care Authority.

Sen. Steve Conway said that although the cost savings was important, that’s not the only issue at hand. “What we’re trying to do is get a good product to the people who work in the school districts,” Conway said.

Randy Parr of the Washington Education Association said that they oppose any plan that would give a government board power over employee healthcare plans.

“This is a genuinely seriously subject and you are talking about 200,000 lives,” Parr said. “I hope you understand the importance and magnitude of decisions” that could affect people’s healthcare coverage, premiums and choice of doctors, Parr added.

Tags: benefits, education, healthcare, Schools

We just wrapped up an interview with Gov. Chris Gregoire as part of our special opening day edition of “The Impact.” You can catch the rebroadcast at 7 p.m. tonight, and we’ll post web clips as they become available.

Gregoire spoke about her proposal for a half-cent state sales tax hike, gay marriage, education reform and medical marijuana.

The Washington Supreme Court’s recent decision on the McCleary case — which said that the state isn’t doing its duty to fully fund education — emphasizes the need for a sales tax increase, Gregoire said.

“The court put an exclamation point behind my recommendation,” Gregoire said during the interview.

Gregoire said she hopes to get a gay marriage bill out this week, and possibly as soon as today. The bill would make gay marriage legal in Washington state.

Current domestic partnerships would transition to marriages within two years, she said, unless those partnerships are dissolved. Heterosexual or homosexual couples over the age of 62 who are in a domestic partnerships for financial reasons will be able to continue that relationship if they choose, she added.

She also spoke about her continuing efforts to get the federal government to reclassify medical marijuana as a Class II drug, which would give it accepted medical uses.

Tags: gay marriage, Gov. Gregoire, medical marijuana, sales tax

In just a few minutes TVW will be on air with legislators with discussions spanning the topics of the budget, jobs, and higher education.

So far, we’ve spoken with Senators Ed Murray and Mark Schoesler about the budget and Senator Derek Kilmer about job creation.

In our discussion about higher education with Representative Larry Haler, he said “we have reached the breaking point,” regarding cuts to higher education. He said he is in talks with higher education officials and has called for a “zero percent increase” in tuition, or as close to that as is feasible, he added.

All of the interviews today will be on air at 7 p.m. as well.

Tags: Derek Kilmer, Ed Murray, Higher Education, job creation, Jobs, Larry Haler

We’ll be interviewing legislators from 10 a.m. until noon on air. We have interviews lined up with Governor Chris Gregoire, budget writers, and legislators working on same-sex marriage, higher education, transportation, K-12 education, and more! Stay tuned, and right after that, you can watch the opening ceremonies live on TVW starting at noon.

Gov. Chris Gregoire, unveiling her education reforms, said the current evaluation system for teachers and principals isn’t working. She’s proposing a new, four-tiered plan where low-performing teachers and principals can be fired if they don’t improve over a set period of time.

She said as with any profession, sometimes teachers or principals “just aren’t cut out” for teaching, and the state should work harder to weed out the field. “We owe it to our kids,” she said. She said modest funding would need to accompany this plan so that schools could be trained on how to effectively implement the new evaluation system.

Another reform idea: Take six lowest-performing schools and turn them into “lab schools.” Each low-performing school will partner with an area college of education, responsible for turning around the schools.

She’s also proposing an “Office of Student Achievement,” a cabinet-level office to be created in July 2012. “The office will focus on students in high school through graduate school,” and focus on raising the level of learning.

“These are reforms with real outcomes,” she said. “These reforms will help our kids and our businesses in the years ahead,” she said. And when the recession is over, Washington students will be prepared for the job market.

To read the governor’s press release on the proposals, click through to the jump. (more…)

Tags: Governor, Schools

A bill that would turn the 12^th grade into a “launch year,” where students could earn credit toward anything from a professional certificated to a baccalaureate degree, is getting its second public hearing this morning.

The idea was proposed by Gov. Chris Gregoire as part of her sweeping reform plan for the education system and introduced as a bill by the House on February 2. It passed out of the House 70-27 and is now under consideration by the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education committee, which plans to vote on the bill Thursday.

Rep. Kristine Lytton, a sponsor of the bill, said only 35 percent of students are taking a full course load their senior year. “As a parent of college-age students, I can appreciate that during these tough economic times they can save on college tuition,” she said.

“We also see it as a way for parents to be engaged in their students’ education,” said Lucinda Young of the Washington Education Association. A lot of students, she said, don’t have the confidence that they can do the work to get their dream job. But a launch year, she said, would show them that they are capable of achieving greater things.

The League of Education Voters supports the measure. “There is great opportunity here,” said a spokesperson for the League. “It is the most effective use of public resources.”

“We think that this emphasizes rigor,” said a representative of Gregoire’s office. “We think that this emphasizes opportunity.”

“Additional growth in kids attending college will come from these alternative pathways,” said another supporter of the bill.

Under the measure, high schools would be required to use existing resources to work toward the goal of offering enough courses to give students the chance to earn the equivalent of a year’s worth of postsecondary credit. In order to earn that credit, like an apprenticeship certification or a four-year degree, seniors would need to take advanced high school courses and pass college-level proficiency exams or demonstrate their competency. Schools would have to make sure that students and parents know about the opportunity.

Colleges would also have to develop a list of postsecondary courses that could be fulfilled by taking the AP, IB or other recognized proficiency exams.

Tags: education reform, launch year

It is safe to say that Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn did not break out the champagne this morning when he heard Gov. Chris Gregoire’s plans to reform Washington’s education system.  Her proposal would include folding all of the state’s eight education agencies into one and appoint a Secretary of Education, who among other things would be Dorn’s new boss.

“This isn’t a new idea. I’ve been a legislator, and every governor I’ve known has wanted more power. They’ve tried to abolish offices. That is not in our Constitution. Ours is direct election by the citizens of this great state,” he wrote in his reaction statement released to the press.

“I am an elected official: my boss is the people of the state, not the Governor. That is state law, explicit in Article III of the State Constitution. Would the Governor also suggest that the other elected officials report to a Governor-appointed official?”

The Superintendent’s full statement can be read here.

Tags: education reform, Governor, superintendent of public instruction

This week’s Q&A is with Secretary of State Sam Reed. I interviewed Reed in his office this morning, and have included the entire interview below.

Q. What are the challenges facing your office now?
A. Right now, the number one would be this Referendm 71. We’re checking the signatures on petitions now. One reason it’s a challenge is that they are very close – they’re going to be very close to qualifying – either just a little under or a little over. So both sides are just watching this intently and their observers are of course very nervous and questioning us. And we even expect some litigation to come of it. That is clearly our biggest challenge.
The second big challenge, which, in the long run is more significant and a higher priority is the Washington State Heritage Center, where we’re going to have a new building on the capitol campus housing the state archives, state library, a museum, there will be a place for a learning center for children. And that passed the Legislature in 2007 but then, because of the economy taking a dive and the bond market getting dicey and some of the fees supporting it getting dicey, the Legislature decided to delay it. So we are working very hard to move ahead and be ready by the 2010 Legislative session. (more…)

Tags: Q&A, Sam Reed