Support safe schools and healthy students by emailing Gov. Inslee
Email Gov. Inslee here.Gov. Jay Inslee could release his state budget proposal as soon as Dec. 13 – and WEA members are encouraging him to make school safety a top budget priority.
Hundreds of educators across the state are emailing the Governor and sending him postcards with this message: Increase state funding for additional school counselors, psychologists, nurses, social workers and other education staff associates who work with students.
Email Inslee here.
School safety is one of WEA’s 2019 Legislative Priorities. WEA members believe students, educators and community members have a fundamental right to be safe at school.
That means all students deserve the individual help, support and resources they need to be successful in the classroom and in the community – including the increasing number of students who have serious emotional, economic and behavioral challenges.
In the Spring of 2018, WEA leadership and Gov. Inslee convened a series of community meetings focused on student health and school safety. Students, educators, administrators and others met in different parts of the state. In small groups, they discussed their fears, concerns and needs around school safety and their own health.
“The focus of the school safety meetings was the health and safety of educators and students, not improvements to building security,” says the executive summary of the meetings.
Hundreds of educators across the state are emailing the Governor and sending him postcards with this message: Increase state funding for additional school counselors, psychologists, nurses, social workers and other education staff associates who work with students.
Email Inslee here.
School safety is one of WEA’s 2019 Legislative Priorities. WEA members believe students, educators and community members have a fundamental right to be safe at school.
That means all students deserve the individual help, support and resources they need to be successful in the classroom and in the community – including the increasing number of students who have serious emotional, economic and behavioral challenges.
In the Spring of 2018, WEA leadership and Gov. Inslee convened a series of community meetings focused on student health and school safety. Students, educators, administrators and others met in different parts of the state. In small groups, they discussed their fears, concerns and needs around school safety and their own health.
“The focus of the school safety meetings was the health and safety of educators and students, not improvements to building security,” says the executive summary of the meetings.
Superintendent Reykdal’s Budget Moves K–12 Education Forward
The proposal aims to close opportunity gaps by increasing spending on comprehensive supports, pathways to graduation, and creating a new model for funding elementary school buildings.OLYMPIA—October 9, 2018--More nurses and middle school counselors. Dual language education. Increased funding for students with disabilities.
These and other items are included in Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal’s proposal for the 2019–21 Operating and Capital Budgets.
“The Legislature has made great strides in education funding,” Reykdal said. “But we can’t continue to use a 10-year-old funding model that was not enough even at the time it was created. Our students deserve an education system that does not allow opportunity gaps to persist. That can only happen if our system provides equitable opportunities and individual learning pathways for each student.”
Budget proposal Following two surveys of the public, Reykdal’s budget priorities center on six foundational ideas. Most of them will prioritize schools who are most in need of support before being phased-in to full funding across all buildings. A summary of a few of the proposals is below.
“We have to look years into the future,” he said. “The old model of basic education was only the first step. We need to shift our focus onto what will transform our educational system. Our system can only claim success if it truly provides equitable opportunity and an unprecedented embrace of individual learning pathways for each student.”
Bringing balance to local fundingAnother key aspect of Reykdal’s budget priorities involves addressing inequities created by recent changes to education funding.
Last year, the Legislature capped the amount of money school districts can raise through local levies. State law now allows districts to collect no more than the lesser of two amounts: $2,500 per student or $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value in the district.
Reykdal proposes a much simpler levy plan, where total levy authority cannot exceed 22 percent of a school district’s state and federal revenues.
“Without critical changes, the reduction in levies will leave some districts in a very tough financial situation,” said Reykdal. “We were never comfortable with taking away the ability of local communities to enhance their schools. Local levies typically fund afterschool programs, early learning, and other vital programs. School districts need to have more flexibility so they can meet the individual needs of their communities.”
Reykdal will propose a capital gains tax, which will generate about $1 billion per year. Under Reykdal’s proposal, half of that money will go toward reducing state property taxes to ease the burden on homeowners if districts want to increase levies. The other half will be spent on OSPI’s proposed budget priorities.
Reykdal also urged the Legislature to reexamine its regionalization model, which provides more money for some districts with higher property values. Reykdal said the model was a unique calculation for each district and not regionally based.
“Educators do not necessarily live in the districts where they teach,” he said. “The new model creates funding levels for neighboring districts that share no real differences in housing values or cost of living. Southwest Washington was hit particularly hard by this model.”
Second budget survey resultsA survey taken this past spring asked Washingtonians to identify their priorities in K–12 education. A second survey, completed at the end of the summer, asked the public to allocate funding to the top seven categories identified in the first survey by more than 30,000 respondents.
Those taking the second survey allocated more than half of the total funding to the following three categories: student support services (21.1 percent), class size reductions (18.3 percent), and effective buildings and facilities for learning (14.7 percent).
*n=sample size
*The “Other Educators” grouping includes survey participants who indicated they are a superintendent, school board director, principal, school or district administrator, classified employee, paraeducator, educational staff associate, non-profit employee working with schools, or other.
“The public has been very clear about what is important to them,” Reykdal said. “This input was invaluable to us as we built our budget requests.”
These and other items are included in Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal’s proposal for the 2019–21 Operating and Capital Budgets.
“The Legislature has made great strides in education funding,” Reykdal said. “But we can’t continue to use a 10-year-old funding model that was not enough even at the time it was created. Our students deserve an education system that does not allow opportunity gaps to persist. That can only happen if our system provides equitable opportunities and individual learning pathways for each student.”
Budget proposal Following two surveys of the public, Reykdal’s budget priorities center on six foundational ideas. Most of them will prioritize schools who are most in need of support before being phased-in to full funding across all buildings. A summary of a few of the proposals is below.
- Inclusive and effective learning and teaching. $180 million would increase funding for students with disabilities and provide additional professional learning days for all school staff.
- Comprehensive supports. $60 million would provide more school nurses, middle school counselors, and family and community engagement coordinators.
- Multiple pathways to graduation. $65 million would expand dual credit and career and technical education (CTE) programs, including opportunities for students to receive required academic credits in CTE courses.
- Expanded learning opportunities. $10 million would fund a pilot program for school districts or tribal compact schools to extend or expand the school day or year, or switch to a year-round schedule.
- Safe and effective school facilities. $400 million would allow OSPI to create a new funding model for elementary schools, which will build capacity to meet the state’s K–3 class size ratios. The proposal would also create a new program to assist primarily rural schools in preserving and maintaining buildings.
- Dual language. $14 million would allow 12 additional school districts and tribal compact schools to receive competitive grant funding for dual language programs. Funding would also expand capacity to teach in these programs by providing stipends and bonuses to bilingual teachers and paraeducators.
“We have to look years into the future,” he said. “The old model of basic education was only the first step. We need to shift our focus onto what will transform our educational system. Our system can only claim success if it truly provides equitable opportunity and an unprecedented embrace of individual learning pathways for each student.”
Bringing balance to local fundingAnother key aspect of Reykdal’s budget priorities involves addressing inequities created by recent changes to education funding.
Last year, the Legislature capped the amount of money school districts can raise through local levies. State law now allows districts to collect no more than the lesser of two amounts: $2,500 per student or $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value in the district.
Reykdal proposes a much simpler levy plan, where total levy authority cannot exceed 22 percent of a school district’s state and federal revenues.
“Without critical changes, the reduction in levies will leave some districts in a very tough financial situation,” said Reykdal. “We were never comfortable with taking away the ability of local communities to enhance their schools. Local levies typically fund afterschool programs, early learning, and other vital programs. School districts need to have more flexibility so they can meet the individual needs of their communities.”
Reykdal will propose a capital gains tax, which will generate about $1 billion per year. Under Reykdal’s proposal, half of that money will go toward reducing state property taxes to ease the burden on homeowners if districts want to increase levies. The other half will be spent on OSPI’s proposed budget priorities.
Reykdal also urged the Legislature to reexamine its regionalization model, which provides more money for some districts with higher property values. Reykdal said the model was a unique calculation for each district and not regionally based.
“Educators do not necessarily live in the districts where they teach,” he said. “The new model creates funding levels for neighboring districts that share no real differences in housing values or cost of living. Southwest Washington was hit particularly hard by this model.”
Second budget survey resultsA survey taken this past spring asked Washingtonians to identify their priorities in K–12 education. A second survey, completed at the end of the summer, asked the public to allocate funding to the top seven categories identified in the first survey by more than 30,000 respondents.
Those taking the second survey allocated more than half of the total funding to the following three categories: student support services (21.1 percent), class size reductions (18.3 percent), and effective buildings and facilities for learning (14.7 percent).
*n=sample size
*The “Other Educators” grouping includes survey participants who indicated they are a superintendent, school board director, principal, school or district administrator, classified employee, paraeducator, educational staff associate, non-profit employee working with schools, or other.
“The public has been very clear about what is important to them,” Reykdal said. “This input was invaluable to us as we built our budget requests.”
BEA Delegate Vote Results
We are pleased to announce the election results.
The Delegates that will represent you at WEA-RA in Spokane are:
Lisa Peterson - BEA President
Eric Hofstedt - Sehome
Josh Meese - Whatcom
Kate Mills - Parkview
Kate Manthey - Lowell
The Delegates that will represent you at NEA-RA in Minneapolis are:
Lisa Peterson - BEA President
Becky Walstad - Silver Beach
Kate Manthey - Lowell
Alternate - Kate Mills - Parkview
We are pleased to announce the election results.
The Delegates that will represent you at WEA-RA in Spokane are:
Lisa Peterson - BEA President
Eric Hofstedt - Sehome
Josh Meese - Whatcom
Kate Mills - Parkview
Kate Manthey - Lowell
The Delegates that will represent you at NEA-RA in Minneapolis are:
Lisa Peterson - BEA President
Becky Walstad - Silver Beach
Kate Manthey - Lowell
Alternate - Kate Mills - Parkview
The questions continue to come in regarding issues of school safety. Specifically, I've heard from many people who want to know WEA's position on whether teachers and educators should be armed.
Here is the statement I released today on this topic
“Schools are supposed to be safe places for all children to learn. WEA has never wavered from that position and never will. We know that the people who choose to work in schools are there because they are committed to their students. WEA believes that educators should not be armed and that guns and other weapons should not be allowed in schools. Further, Washington state law prohibits guns and weapons on school campuses.“
Km Mead – WEA president
Here is the statement I released today on this topic
“Schools are supposed to be safe places for all children to learn. WEA has never wavered from that position and never will. We know that the people who choose to work in schools are there because they are committed to their students. WEA believes that educators should not be armed and that guns and other weapons should not be allowed in schools. Further, Washington state law prohibits guns and weapons on school campuses.“
Km Mead – WEA president
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Bellingham Is In The Top 30 In The Nation!
I am very happy to congratulate the 30 new National Board Certificated Members in our district! Way to go! Bellingham School District is one of the top 30 school districts in the nation in terms of NBCTs. Pretty impressive!! 15 of the top 30 districts are WEA locals/districts.
I am very happy to congratulate the 30 new National Board Certificated Members in our district! Way to go! Bellingham School District is one of the top 30 school districts in the nation in terms of NBCTs. Pretty impressive!! 15 of the top 30 districts are WEA locals/districts.
Bellingham Public Schools Bond Information
As you are aware, The Bellingham School District is running a Bond to be voted on February 13. For your information, our members are going to be asked to help with phone banking during the week of February 5th. For more information on what the bond is about or to add your name to the list of endorsements please click on this link: https://www.bellinghambond.org/
As you are aware, The Bellingham School District is running a Bond to be voted on February 13. For your information, our members are going to be asked to help with phone banking during the week of February 5th. For more information on what the bond is about or to add your name to the list of endorsements please click on this link: https://www.bellinghambond.org/
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A joint message from the Bellingham Public Schools and the Bellingham Education Association...
Dear Staff,
We know that many of you are eager to make plans for 2018 and beyond, and we appreciate your patience as we, the district and Bellingham Education Association, work together to finalize the 2018-19 school year calendar.
Based on feedback we received last spring (mostly via a survey and Dr. Baker’s blog), we have finalized the first day of school, as well as the holiday/break schedule for the 2018-19 school year. Please keep in mind this list does not include the last day of school, tentative graduation dates for the class of 2019, Staff Learning Fridays (for professional development, also referred to as “Purple Fridays”), or early dismissal days.
Please see the list of key dates for the 2018-19 school year:
Please see this webpage for this year’s calendar and information related to tentative graduation dates for the class of 2018.
Dear Staff,
We know that many of you are eager to make plans for 2018 and beyond, and we appreciate your patience as we, the district and Bellingham Education Association, work together to finalize the 2018-19 school year calendar.
Based on feedback we received last spring (mostly via a survey and Dr. Baker’s blog), we have finalized the first day of school, as well as the holiday/break schedule for the 2018-19 school year. Please keep in mind this list does not include the last day of school, tentative graduation dates for the class of 2019, Staff Learning Fridays (for professional development, also referred to as “Purple Fridays”), or early dismissal days.
Please see the list of key dates for the 2018-19 school year:
- Aug. 29, 2018: First day of school
- Sept. 3, 2018: No school/holiday
- Nov. 12, 2018: No school/holiday
- Nov. 22 to 23, 2018: No school/holiday
- Dec. 17, 2018 to Jan. 1, 2019: No school/holiday (winter break)
- Jan. 21, 2019: No school/holiday
- Feb. 18, 2019: No school/holiday
- April 1 to 5, 2019: No school/holiday (spring break)
- May 27, 2019: No school/holiday
Please see this webpage for this year’s calendar and information related to tentative graduation dates for the class of 2018.
