We hope all the leaders and staff at our WFIS member schools had a refreshing winter break. The 2024 WA state legislative session is set to begin next week. However, the elected officials have been in Olympia this week to familiarize themselves with their assigned committees and the policies up for review.
This will be a brief session, and WFIS is hearing that the legislators are extremely busy with limited time as we schedule appointments for our Advocacy Day at the end of this month. Nonetheless, the WFIS board and fellow private school advocates will make the rounds to express the needs of private school students and families. Our focus is on ensuring that they hear our perspective on the following:
- Independence of mission and curriculum at each school.
- Limited government intervention.
- Inclusion in free college credits to all students taking ‘College in the high school courses’ from public universities.
- Parity with public schools for transitional kindergarten programs.
K12 pre-filed bills of interest:
HB 1959 PFML for small employers: Walen
SB 5793 Changes to paid sick leave: Saldana
SB 5849 Computer science/graduation: Wellman
SB 5851 Holocaust and genocide education: Braun
SB 5850 Chronically absent students: Braun and Wellman
Early Learning pre-filed bills of interest:
SB 5774 Fingerprint background checks: Billig
SB 5793 Changes to paid sick leave: Saldana
SB 5941 Changes to subsidized childcare: Wilson, C.
