The Agenda Lives!

After the Governor’s budget came out it wasn’t looking like the two prongs of the WEA agenda (compensation and class size) were going to get much traction in this session. I shared that I don’t think that Governor Gregoire has to do much for us teachers this session, because her eyes are on the gubernatorial election this coming November and the “She spends too much!” charge from Rossi sticks.

One of the early bills filed, though, is a good one: House Bill 2458 would be the first step towards getting a 17:1 ratio in grades K-3. It has 27 co-sponsors, including lead education Republican Skip Priest, who is joined from his caucus by Mike Armstrong and Larry Haler. Another co-sponsor is Fred Jarrett, who recently made news by leaving the Republicans to become a part of the majority. The interesting piece will be when the numbers come out, so we can see just how much it will cost, but this is a nice start worth keeping an eye on.