Pat Hailey in the 9th Legislative District

Hello again,

One of the things I do for WEA-PAC locally is to take part in the candidate interviews for local legislative races, and this summer the big project was to interview all of the candidates running in the upcoming special election in the 9th LD. The 9th includes Medical Lake, Cheney, and all points south to Pullman and the Tri-Cities. There were several good candidates, so the WEA didn't make an official recommendation in the primary, but now that we're on to the general election I can share with you that the Washington Education Association has endorsed Republican Pat Hailey in the 9th Legislative District.

Ms. Hailey is a former high school secretary in the North Franklin School District (Connell) and has served on the school board there. She lost her job after they experienced a double levy failure that crippled the district, so she has an understanding of just how important school finance can be. When we interviewed her we were very impressed with her knowledge of the state testing regimen, levy equalization, and other issues that impact us right here in Medical Lake. She's a former member of the Public School Employees union, so she has an understanding of labor as well.

We may not agree on every issue--her stance on health care reform, for example, is the opposite of the party line from the NEA--but our visceral reaction was that even if she didn't agree with us she'd be willing to listen to us and offer a fair hearing, and given the economic issues of the times that's all we ask for.

That's the WEA position. I'll also speak for her on the personal level from my standpoint as the husband of a dairy farmer--Ms. Hailey is very well versed on agriculture issues and would be a great spokesman for our farm families. You can read about her ag background on her website; she runs cows and raises crops in Mesa, just north of Pasco.

If you're undecided on who to vote for come November, please consider Pat Hailey--she's the kind of pro-education candidate we need more of!

With thanks,

--Ryan--

Class Size: We Have It Pretty Good

There are a number of labor hotspots around the state, and Kent might be the hottest. They've gone to impasse, which means that the state has entered the negotiations to try and reach an agreement, and there is a chance that they could go out on strike at the end of the month.

Something that's worth looking at is the contract proposals that the Kent EA has made, particularly class size on page 2:

• They top out at 26 per class in grades K-3; we're 22 in kindergarten, 22 in 1st, 23 in 2nd, and 24 in 3rd.
  
• Their limit is 29 in grades 4-6; we top out at 26.
  
• Their limit is 29 in middle school and 31 in high-school, which is comparable to where we're at.

There's always room to improve, and here in year 2 of our three-year contract we've already got a couple of areas (CTE stipends and special ed case loads among them) that we're thinking about, but overall our skinny agreement stands very well side-by-side with the 100+ page contracts that some of the bigger districts have, and that's good for us.

We hope you had a great summer, and we'll see you soon!

With thanks,

--Ryan for the MLEA Exec Board--

From the Most Recent NEA Education Insider Newsletter

SPOTLIGHT: WHAT IS CONGRESS DOING FOR EDUCATORS?
(The first in a new periodic feature highlighting Members of Congress who are supporting public education and educators)

Lawmakers on the Hill want to see educators recoup more of the money they spend “out-of-pocket” for classroom expenses. Several of them—including Representatives Dina Titus (D-NV) and Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL)—are sponsoring legislation that would make positive changes to the educator tax deduction.

Currently, K-12 teachers can deduct up to $250 on their taxes for out-of-pocket classroom expenses. Both Titus and Kosmas have introduced bills that would double the deduction amount and make it a permanent part of the federal tax code. Representative Judy Biggert (R-IL) has also introduced legislation to double the deduction.

Meanwhile, Representative Larry Kissell (D-NC) has introduced a bill that would extend the deduction in its current form through 2011, while Representative Zach Space (D-OH) has introduced legislation to make the deduction permanent.

According to the National School Supply and Equipment Association, educators’ out-of-pocket expenses for the 2005-2006 school year, on average, totaled nearly $2,000.

Open Thread: Pro-Cert

Hello again, and I hope you're all having a good summer!

I attended a workshop in Spokane at the end of last month on the changes that are coming down the pipe regarding Professional Certification; frankly, it didn't seem very encouraging. In 2011 there will be more big changes, including a move to a sort of on-line model, and instead of being scored at the University level (the way it was when I did ProCert) or at the state level (the way I understand it is now), OSPI will instead be contracting with an outside agency to score the portfolios.

If you have to do ProCert, then, it could be a good time to get started now before the standards change again.

IF YOU HAVE DONE PROCERT, OR ARE IN THE PROCESS NOW, could you share some of your thoughts in the response section below? What program were you in? Did it work for you? What would you have done differently going in, given the benefit of hindsight? You can leave your posts anonymously, if that's your preference--my main goal is for this to be a resource that members can access when they have to make ProCert decisions.

Thanks!

--Ryan--

WEA Leadership Academy

Hello again, and welcome to June!

From August 3rd to August 6th the WEA will be holding their annual summer Leadership Academy in Yakima. There are a variety of classes being offered on all range of topics, from retirement to advocacy to budgeting, and it's always a good time.

You can find the complete class list here.

If you'd be interested in attending please let me know by the end of this week so I can figure out the finances.

Thanks!

--Ryan--

Where Are We At With Budgeting?

Hello again MLEA Members,

We wanted to share with you some thoughts about the impending school district budget.

As part of their budget cuts the state reduced the number of Learning Improvement Days by one, which means that next year your contract will have 181 days instead of the past 182. The District has committed to come up with enough money to pay for the lost day on a supplemental contract, meaning that you'll still receive 182 days of pay. That means no loss of salary next year.

We've also come through the process with per diem completely intact. The state didn't "freeze" the salary schedule, meaning that you'll also still receive your usual step-and-lane increases if you haven't topped out on the schedule yet.

The practical effect, then: no teacher should lose salary. Many teachers will receive a raise.

But what about jobs?

There are several provisional employees in the district who have received non-renewal notices, and we're working hard to make sure that as many of them as possible are brought back. We've had a couple of resignations that help in this regard. It's still an on-going process, and while the impact is felt mainly in two buildings it affects every single one of us through class size and services that we provide the kids.

Since our most recent collaborative budgeting there's been quite a bit of change. An anticipated hit to levy equalization didn't happen, and we've had some more retirements announced. There's also a bussing/schedule change coming through that has the potential to save the district money.

Our view, then, is that the collaborative budgeting process isn't finished. We feel very strongly that the numbers we built the budget around are no longer the numbers that reflect what next year could be, and we look forward to engaging the district more on what next year's program will look like.

Please contact a member of the exec board with any questions.

Thanks,

--Ryan, for the MLEA Exec Board--

Why Political Action Matters

Hi MLEA Members,

It really is true--that government which governs best is that government which governs least!

Let me set the stage, though--when the legislature adjourned two weeks back they didn't get all of the bills passed that they needed. One of those left begging was HB1776, which dealt specifically with education spending in this year's budget. It's the bill which would have raised the levy lid for many districts (not ours, but about 70 statewide); it also would have been devastating to Levy Equalization, a key source of funding for small and property-poor school districts like our own.

So that last Sunday was buzzing along, and then 1776 comes up for a vote in the House, and everything grinds to a halt, and it's all about the cut to levy equalization. Many of our local legislators (Rep. Shelly Short and Rep. Joel Kretz out of the 7th; Rep. Joe Schmick and Rep. Don Cox out of the 9th; Rep. Larry Crouse of the 4th; all of them, not for nothin', Republicans) made beautiful, impassioned floor speeches on why Levy Equalization mattered; Rep. Schmick actually mentioned the MLSD on the floor.

For almost 2 hours they went on, and then the bill was inexplicably tabled. The House GOP broke out in applause. Looked good.

The concern, though, was that if a special session was called that HB1776 could get pulled back onto the floor and passed. Now that the special session has been taken off the table the state will have to find the money for levy equalization out of the state reserves. For us, that's a $180,000 difference.

Your phone calls, emails, and contact made the difference. Levy Equalization would have been very, very easy for legislators from Seattle to cut, but teacher's voices persuaded them not to. Thank You to everyone who contacted their legislators--your voice made a tangible, definite difference for us right here at home.

I'll have more to come about the district budgeting process soon, as well as the WEA Representative Assembly this week.

Thank you, and enjoy these last days of spring!

--Ryan--