So, last Wednesday was kind of a busy day.

The Second Special session came to an end, and Governor Inslee announced that a Third Special Session would commence immediately. During that announcement, the fairly grumpy governor (does that sound like the title of a children's book?) detailed what must happen in the 7 days remaining before the end of the fiscal year, and read a list of some of the impacts a partial government shutdown would have should it come to that. Calling the potential shutdown and a rumored 30-day stopgap budget proposal both "reckless" and "irresponsible," Governor Inslee instructed both parties to meet continuously until a two-year budget deal is reached and said he would veto a temporary budget.

Just the day before, @AustinJenkinsN3 tweeted "Sen Budget Chair Braun says his caucus won't allow government shutdown on July 1 if no budget deal. But won't say what backup plan is #WALeg"

AWKward . . .

Last Monday, HB 1827, which would expand the current and future educator workforce through recruitment and retention of highly effective educators, especially in high-need subject, grade-level, and geographic areas and establish a continuum of professional learning from preparation programs to job-embedded induction, mentoring and collaboration, got a hearing on the Proposed Second Substitute bill in the House Education committee. Committee staff provided a document detailing the new and amended portions of the bill. Following the hearing, the bill passed out of committee on a vote of 15-0 and was referred to the Appropriations committee.

At that same hearing (beginning at 26:18), the committee took testimony on HB 2224, a "compromise" bill that would establish that students who have met all other graduation requirements may not be denied a diploma because of any assessment, eliminate the science assessment as a graduation prerequisite (effective immediately) and beginning with the class of 2019, establish new and modified requirements for graduation. OSPI requested this bill, and Superintendent Chris Reykdal spoke on its behalf.  

Following the hearing, the bill passed out of committee on a vote of 15-0. A story in the Spokesman Review explains the "grumbling" that accompanied that vote.

On Friday more information came out about an agreement that has been reached related to biology, English language art and math assessments for graduation. 

Odds & Ends

Do not open 'til late July! After you've had a few weeks (or days, at least) to unwind and recover from this school year, this road map from TeachThought may inspire some planning for the next.

And finally, here's a nice clip (pun intended) about Beast Mode!