The 2024 Legislative Session wrapped up yesterday evening with a generally positive vibe on the House and Senate Floors. It was fun to be able to celebrate with legislators and legislative staff as we adorned our "shiny" apparel for sine - shiny die. This is absolutely serious and important work...and it is also good to bring light and joy to elevate the efforts of all who effort to bring benefit and progress to state policies. So I was pleased to be able to share in the smiles, shine, and congratulations with legislators and legislative staff as they celebrated one another on the passage of hard-earned bills and budgets. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve and represent you in this work.

While we have been laser focused on education policy and budget items for the last 60 days, many other issues were addressed and debated on this session. Our own advocacy consultant, Mike Hoover, did a nice job outlining some of those significant policy issue areas that had the attention of legislators and their staff during this short session and that will set the stage for the next legislative session. In addition, learn more about the concurrence and conference process and overall budgetary issues from the Capital Classroom with TVW, which led to the demise or success of a few bills that we were still tracking in the final hours.

We will share more information about policies and budget results in the week ahead, as they become available. In the meantime, I recommend you peruse these awesome resources from our partners:

• Final Budgets Released, This Week in Olympia (TWIO), Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA)
• Sine Die, This Week in Olympia (TWIO), Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA)
• Supplemental Capital Budget Overview, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI)

Next week, WSSDA will share several additional resources to help you navigate next steps with resources on bills and implementation timelines. In the meantime, I encourage all of you to thank your legislators as soon as possible for their service to Washingtonians and their support of public education.

The 2024 Legislative Session started on Monday, January 8th and progressed for its intended 60 days. Good thing it's a leap year, because we have one additional day in the interim to do the most important advocacy work of all. There are 310 days remaining until the 2025 Legislative Session. Effective and essential advocacy for 2025 starts now...well, maybe on Monday.

As you turn your attention to interim advocacy plans, remember that legislators need to hear how districts are demonstrating academic progress. When you talk with them next, share specific stories and data from your own district, in addition to statewide data demonstrating clear academic gains.

A few other steps for your interim advocacy planning:

• Thank your legislators for any investments in public education.
• Schedule school visits with legislators in April, May, and June (including but not limited to graduations)
• Coordinate student tour guides.
• Show how previous investments have supported student learning and academic outcomes.

Lastly, consider using the talking points and research from these newly-developed WSSDA Topic Briefs, all of which connect to your member-adopted legislative priorities:

• Ample, Equitable, and Stable Public Education
• Advance Special Education
• Build Safe and Healthy Schools
• Transport and Feed Students

The Platform Revision Window opens next Monday, March 11th and closes April 8th at 5 pm. There will be no extensions. During this time, school boards can propose revisions to WSSDA’s advocacy platform.

To help your board navigate this process, WSSDA hosted another Leg Rep Network Meeting this past week and shared a step-by-step guide on the revision process. The ppt and recording are both available for your review. Here are some other helpful tips as your board navigates this process over the next month:

PROPOSAL PREPARATION 

☐ Consider the issues within the school board’s purview needing legislative advocacy. 

☐ Review WSSDA’s (225) member-adopted positions to see if your board’s interests are already represented. 

☐ Before crafting a new position to propose, determine if your board can amend an existing WSSDA position instead. 

☐ Reach out to your Director Area representative on the Legislative or Resolutions Committee if you have questions about how the committee will process your board’s submission and possibly help fine-tune your proposal. 

☐ Schedule one or more board meetings to discuss and vote on your board’s proposal(s) prior to the deadline. Your board’s approval is required for all proposal submissions. 

☐ Consider sharing your board’s proposal with other boards to also approve and submit. 

PROPOSAL CONTENT 

☐ Do not include references to the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) or Revised Code of Washington (RCW) because they are regularly subject to change, which could invalidate the position. 

☐ If proposing a position, note that permanent positions begin with “WSSDA believes…” and legislative positions begin with “WSSDA will support or initiate legislation that…” 

☐ If you cite an acronym, please be sure it is completely spelled out the first time it is used in the proposal so others will understand it. 

☐ Build your proposal language in a Word document to check for spelling, grammar, and word count. Be concise. 

☐ Provide any data, statutory references, workgroup reports, or other resources to help in building a complete rationale statement. 

NOTE 

☐ Be prepared to provide the board meeting date of when the proposal was approved. 

For more information about how to engage in the platform revision process, contact strategicadvocacy@wssda.org.