Good Bills Should All Pass!

HO481: This bill is at the top of the list as it should be.   It takes care of the “cap” issue, which has penalized our State, our students and parents since our first charter school legislation was approved over a decade ago.  Our current charter school statute is viewed as an unfriendly law because of the “cap,” which has been harmful to our applications for grants and awards.  Now is the right time to pass this legislation, as it will have no fiscal impact on the State’s distribution of general fund dollars to school districts for the foreseeable future. Additionally, passage of this legislation will give new hope to many of the potential petitioners who want to provide more education choice but see the “cap” as an impediment.   Opponents of this legislation in prior years have always made the claim that charter schools cost more to operate and therefore their numbers must be controlled.  This claim is simply not true as charter schools cost taxpayers LESS than the traditional schools.  Most importantly, passage of this legislation is long overdue and  simply the right thing to do!

HO426: This bill will further advance what many schools are doing today, providing opportunities for their students to accelerate their education.   Assistant principal of the Vallivue High School Julie Yamamoto said, “The school has worked with parents to develop a system that allows the most motivated and mature students the chance to move ahead.  We recognize that times have changed and we need to be a lot more versatile.”   This legislation will give schools, students and parents that versatility.   It is high time to realize that what we are doing in our schools today does not meet the needs of many of our students.  We must open up new avenues, more choices, more opportunities and this legislation will do that.  We will never make any headway if we continue to refuse to think outside of the proverbial “box” a bit.

H0534: This legislation eliminates the requirement of 3 years teaching experience before a teacher would be eligible for a bonus for assuming a leadership role.  Today we have many new teachers that are just entering the profession that have had years of experience in other professions and perhaps other leadership roles as well.  The State should not be determining the criteria for eligibility.  The local school board should make that determination.

If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten. “Anonymous”