From: Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>
Date: Mon Apr 23, 2007 4:47:28 AM US/Pacific
To: ARN Main List <arn-l@interversity.org>, ARN State
<ARN-state@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [ARN-state] Washington State Victory
Reply-To: ARN-state@yahoogroups.com
<>WASL DEADLINE FOR MATH DELAYED TO 2013
Seattle Times -- April 23, 2007
by Andrew Garber and Linda Shaw
Olympia -- Students won't have to pass the math portion of the
Washington Assessment of Student Learning in order to graduate until
2013.
That's the bottom line of a messy deal reached Sunday in the
Legislature
shortly before lawmakers adjourned for the year.
The agreement, passed by the House and Senate, also pushes back the
deadline for passing the science WASL to 2013.
The bill has a provision that would allow the state Board of Education
to set an earlier date for either test.
Legislative leaders spent their final days in Olympia battling over the
issue, which at times threatened to drag lawmakers into a special
session.
Key Democrats wanted to delay the reading and writing portions of the
test as well as math and science, but Gov. Christine Gregoire balked at
that.
In the end, the governor won. Legislators passed a bill that delayed
only the math and science portions of the test. Students in the class
of
2008 would still have to pass the reading and writing portions.
Lawmakers also included other provisions, such as an expanded appeals
process for students who fail one or more sections of the test.
Marty Brown, Gregoire's legislative liaison, said that although the
governor supports the delay for the math and science requirement, it's
not clear what other parts of the bill she might keep or veto.
Rep. Dave Quall, D-Mount Vernon, chairman of the House Education
Committee, said he hopes the governor "will honor the majority of
what's
in the bill. I fully understand her veto pen might be there, but we
would hope she'd honor the work that we've done."
The WASL debate was the last major fight of the session and one of only
a handful of cases this year where infighting by Democrats spilled into
public view.
Lawmakers quickly regrouped Sunday after passing the WASL bill and
pushed through a $33.4 billion, two-year state budget that boosts
spending by $4 billion over the last biennium. They also approved a
capital budget.
In addition, they approved a controversial bill to set up a new
state-run program that, in 2009, will offer parents up to five weeks of
paid leave to bond with newborn or newly adopted children.
A new task force of lawmakers, business representatives and others
would
study how to finance the program, then report to the Legislature by
Jan. 1.
Democrats, with their near-record majorities in the House and Senate,
were able to push through most of what they wanted this year, including
extending rights to gay and lesbian couples, expanding health-care
access for children from needy families, and sending a constitutional
amendment to the ballot that would allow school districts to pass
property-tax levies with a simple majority vote of the public, instead
of 60 percent.
"We delivered exactly what the people of Washington state wanted,"
Gregoire said late Sunday, summing up the session.
The last-minute WASL fight was a bit of a surprise. While there's long
been talk of delaying the reading and writing portions of the test,
advocates waited until the last days of the session to make a strong
push.
Students in the class of 2008 were supposed to be the first group
required to pass reading, writing and math on the WASL (or an approved
alternative) to graduate.
Students in the class of 2010 were supposed to pass the science portion
of the test as well.
To date, nearly 85 percent of them have passed the reading section of
the exam, and about the same in writing.
It's a different story in math and science, with just 56 percent
passing
math and 38 percent passing science. And that doesn't include about
3,500 students who had not yet taken the test as of this school year.
Gregoire, along with Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry
Bergeson, had pushed for a delay in math. But both were strongly
opposed
to delaying the year in which students must pass the reading and
writing
sections of the exam.
Many Democratic lawmakers wanted to delay reading and writing. School
districts with large numbers of low-income children and students who
speak English as a second language asked for the delay.
Lawmakers also pushed for other changes, such as an expanded appeals
process for students who fail one or more sections of the test.
Gregoire repeatedly told them she wanted to delay only the math and
science requirement.
The WASL bill does that, but it also includes those other provisions.
It
also requires the state Board of Education to study the prospect of
replacing the math and science WASL tests with end-of-course
assessments.
Quall said if the governor vetoes major parts of the bill "then there's
next session."
Steve Mullin, president of the Washington Roundtable, an association of
corporate executives, said the bill has too long of a delay for the
math
and science WASL requirements. "We'll be urging a full veto," he said.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/
2003677257_legislature23m.html
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