Late Tuesday evening, the House bill, with over $900 million for E-12 education, passed off the floor on a 78-55 vote. Lawmakers spent 11-hours listening to over 100 amendments -some more contentious than others.

To put things in context, the House Education bill was the first to go to the floor for a vote. The bill, as amended, is now what will move forward to negotiate with the Senate, once their bill passes off the floor later this week or early next week. Conference committees will most likely be announced later this week and begin their work to blend the bills next week.

Some changes in the House bill that were adopted and are moving forward include:

• Labor Day Start- districts are not be able to start classes prior to Labor Day in 2019 and 2020.
• Employment - School boards, before making an offer of employment to a person, must request a copy of the person's personnel file from the previous employing district or charter school.
• World's Best Workforce - The WBWF reporting requirements change to include an understanding of  "civic life" and specific activities are added to the accountability system.   
• Teacher Pay -A school district must provide adult basic education and early childhood and family education teachers salaries comparable to the salaries of K-12 teachers.

Now is still a perfect time to reach out to leadership and ask for a target to support the proposed increases on the general education formula.