OLYMPIA — There’s a new wrinkle in the debate on whether student test scores should be used to evaluate teachers and principals in Washington public schools.
It’s Congress.
State senators are trying again to pass a law requiring test scores be part of performance reviews. If they succeed, Washington will regain the waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind Act it lost in 2014.
Sen. Steve Litzow, R-Mercer Island, is pushing legislation to start calibrating assessment results into evaluations with the 2016-17 school year. The Senate education committee he runs held hearings on two bills this past week and is expected to pass one as early as Tuesday.
But opponents say it’s an unnecessary undertaking because members of Congress — including Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Whidbey Island — are earnestly working to retool the much-criticized law.
At the hearing this week, they argued that the congressional effort could moot the need for rewriting state law.
“Tying a change in policy to a dying federal program that we know will not be here soon would be a boondoggle we cannot afford,” said Justin Fox-Bailey, a high school teacher and president of the Snohomish Education Association.
But while Murray’s involvement may incite confidence that the controversial federal law can be revamped, many education professionals don’t want to bet on it happening quickly.
“Please do not wait for Washington D.C. to fix this bill. It might be six months or six years,” Cary Evans, government affairs director of the state chapter of Stand for Children, told the legislative panel.
Litzow echoed that sentiment following the hearing.
“Let’s control what we want to do here in Washington,” he said. “You know it’s a desperate argument when you’re saying Washington, D.C. is going to fix it.”
The No Child Left Behind Act was scheduled for an update and reauthorization by Congress in 2007, but it never happened.
While there’s wide agreement among teachers, principals, school boards, and state and federal lawmakers on the need to redo the law, the conversation in Congress typically bogs down on how far the federal government should reach into public schools.
There’s optimism that the U.S. Senate can come up with a politically palatable answer after two respected veterans, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Murray, announced earlier this month they will work on a bipartisan rewrite. Alexander is chairman of the Senate education panel and Murray the ranking minority member.
“It makes no sense to dramatically change our successful teacher evaluation system when Congress appears ready to rewrite the overarching federal law,” said Rich Wood, spokesman for the Washington Education Association, the statewide teacher union.
A spokesman for Murray tried to temper expectations.
The senator “will fight as hard as she can to fix the law in a way that works for Washington state students and schools,” but it won’t be easy in the Republican-controlled Congress, spokesman Eli Zupnick said.
“Senator Murray would like to do this as quickly as possible, but there’s a lot of negotiating left to go and any bipartisan deal would have to move through the committee, through the Senate and the House, and then get signed into law.”
Washington is the only state to lose its waiver.
That meant the state and 297 public school districts couldn’t spend about $40 million in federal money the way they wanted. It also meant that 1,916 schools across the state were deemed as failing schools by the U.S. Department of Education, and letters had to be sent to parents explaining why.
Those rooting for success in Congress are still pushing for change in Olympia.
“We’re not fans of federal intrusion but we’re not fans of failing letters going out to 1,900 schools,” said Alan Burke, executive director of the Washington State School Directors Association. “We believe it is so important to get the waiver and get the letters to go away.”
Last year, Litzow couldn’t get his bill out of the Senate. At that time, Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn and Gov. Jay Inslee supported the effort.
Dorn is actively engaged again this year.
Inslee is waiting to see how the conversations play out.
“Neither the House nor Senate last year was able to pass a waiver bill,” said a statement issued by his office. “We’ll take a look at any proposal that progresses forward this year, but the real change needs to happen in Congress where they are discussing much-needed improvements to No Child Left Behind.”
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
