OLYMPIA — Lawmakers who make education their focus are taking one more pass at helping the class of 2008 graduate — not by getting rid of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, as some students and parents would like, but by directing as much as $20 million toward those struggling to meet state standards.
A bill unanimously approved by the Senate on Wednesday contains a variety of programs, half of which would be paid from redirected dollars and half through new funds. The measure now heads to the House.
In a news conference before the vote, the bill’s primary sponsor, Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, acknowledged the governor’s plea to hold down spending, but said she wasn’t going to let that stop her from helping students.
“The governor said last year we need to do everything we can to help these students graduate. I’m going to hold her to her word,” she said.
The class of 2008 is the first group required to meet the state’s new graduation requirements, which include passing the writing and reading sections of the WASL. Lawmakers delayed the math and science tests as graduation requirements until 2013 during last year’s legislative session.
McAuliffe, who is chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, said she polled school districts to find out if the WASL is preventing kids from graduating and found that most seniors who have not been able to pass the WASL are also struggling to meet credit requirements, so the WASL isn’t the only barrier for struggling students.
Senate Bill 6673 focuses on programs for students learning English as a second language. It would provide online academic help in languages other than English, make sure students are given more than four years to graduate if they need it, and help schools track students’ graduation potential as early as during eighth grade and keep parents informed.
“If we’re going to hold our students accountable we must be accountable as well” and give students the programs that will help them succeed, McAuliffe said on the Senate floor.
The bill would also provide money to pay for all the state’s ninth-graders to take the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test, which is a scholarship-qualifying exam.
The Senate on Wednesday also approved a number of other education bills:
Senate Bill 6380 would help ailing school libraries by giving each school district $12 per full-time student to maintain and improve library materials, collections and services. McAuliffe said the money would be enough to allow some districts to change their plans and keep school libraries open.
Senate Bill 6377 would create more of a bridge between high schools and career and technical education, including a pilot program to integrate career and technical education with English as a second language instruction.
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