Local News Wash. lawmakers take next step toward ed reform Seattle Times Newspaper:
"First came the governor's Washington Learns task force that published an ambitious plan to improve education in 2006. That report led to the state's new Early Learning Department, but the Legislature could not find the money to implement most of the other ideas.
Then came the reinvented State Board of Education, which moved ahead on some related ideas, including new high school math requirements and a proposal to require high school students to earn 24 credits instead of 19 to graduate."
"I'm hopeful we'll be able to make some real progress," Chopp said, adding that he is optimistic about the group's chances of completing the jobs assigned by the 2009 Legislature.
Those jobs include:
• Finding new sources of revenue for public schools.
• Building a framework for distributing dollars based on the idea of a "protypical school," and creating a timeline for transforming the current system toward one based on model schools.
• Establishing a new definition of basic education for the state, and deciding whether expenses like transportation, technology and preschool should be included.
• Demystifying the way the state allocates education dollars so any parent could understand their school district's budget and track the money the state sends to their community.
• Considering a new mentoring and support system for beginning teachers.
• Creating a new salary schedule for teachers based on how much people in similar fields make in different labor markets throughout the state.
"First came the governor's Washington Learns task force that published an ambitious plan to improve education in 2006. That report led to the state's new Early Learning Department, but the Legislature could not find the money to implement most of the other ideas.
Then came the reinvented State Board of Education, which moved ahead on some related ideas, including new high school math requirements and a proposal to require high school students to earn 24 credits instead of 19 to graduate."
"I'm hopeful we'll be able to make some real progress," Chopp said, adding that he is optimistic about the group's chances of completing the jobs assigned by the 2009 Legislature.
Those jobs include:
• Finding new sources of revenue for public schools.
• Building a framework for distributing dollars based on the idea of a "protypical school," and creating a timeline for transforming the current system toward one based on model schools.
• Establishing a new definition of basic education for the state, and deciding whether expenses like transportation, technology and preschool should be included.
• Demystifying the way the state allocates education dollars so any parent could understand their school district's budget and track the money the state sends to their community.
• Considering a new mentoring and support system for beginning teachers.
• Creating a new salary schedule for teachers based on how much people in similar fields make in different labor markets throughout the state.
