March Advocacy Update
The February snowstorms not only shut down schools, it also shut down a number of events and business Washington State Legislature, including Focus Day 2019. WSPTA Focus Day was supposed to be when PTA Advocacy representatives from around the state were to meet with their legislators and talk about the PTA Legislative platform issues. (Thank you to everyone who filled out a Focus Day postcard with your thoughts on education; I was able to mail them to our legislators.) I was able to reschedule two of the meetings with Senator Mark Mullet (5th district) and Representative Larry Springer (45th district), who were both very receptive to supporting Stillwater’s top PTA legislative priority, Strategies to Address the Teacher Shortage (https://www.wastatepta.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Strategies-to-Address-the-Teacher-Shortage-1pager-FINAL.pdf ). House Bill 1139 was sponsored by Representative Lisa Callan (5th District) and aims to address the Washington teacher shortage by attracting, retaining, supporting, and sustaining successful educators through:
- Intentional recruitment strategies;
- Expanding educator training programs;
- Focused financial incentives, assistance, and supports;
- Responsive and responsible retention strategies; and
- Deeper systems evaluation.
The Washington PTA supports House Bill 1139. You can find more information on this bill and follow its progress of this bill by signing up for email alerts here (https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?Year=2019&BillNumber=1139). Now is a great time to email your representatives and ask them to support this bill (Find your representatives here https://app.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder).
