Committee approves bill to let state offer school accreditation options; removes named interest groups

The Senate Education Committee passed Senate Bill 2362 as amended to create a pathway for state-provided accreditation options and to change statutory language limiting named stakeholder groups.

Committee members discussed an amendment proposed by Superintendent Basler that would permit the superintendent of public instruction to contract with an accreditation organization or vendor to create state-provided accreditation and offer it to districts at no charge; if a district selects a state-approved accreditation, the district would be responsible for accreditation-related costs. The amendment also replaced mandatory language in some subsections — for example changing the word "shall" to "may" — and removed explicit statutory references to named organizations. Senator Gearhart moved a technical amendment to strike specific organizational names and replace them with a generic list of "education stakeholder groups, school administrators, secondary and elementary school principals, and school board members." Senator Gerhardt (opposing the strike) argued named groups help ensure public-school representation; Senator Gearhart and others said removing names avoids legislating specific interest-group membership.

The committee passed the proposed amendment (vote 4-1-1) and later voted to give the bill a due pass as amended (vote 4-1-1).