Committee Advances Multiple Education Bills, Confirms Three Appointments in Executive Session

In a subsequent executive session the Early Learning & K‑12 Education Committee advanced multiple bills and reported gubernatorial appointments.

Key committee actions recorded in the transcript:

- Senate Bill 5369 (school social workers): The committee adopted Proposed Substitute A and gave the substitute a due‑pass recommendation to the Rules Committee. The substitute codifies intent language, removes changes to prototypical model allocations, adds suicide risk assessment management and treatment to social worker duties, and directs the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) to adopt placement rules for social worker candidates.

- Senate Bill 5272 (school‑related crimes/signage): The committee gave the bill a due‑pass recommendation and reported it to Rules; staff noted signage costs for gymnasiums, auditoriums and athletic fields and a fiscal estimate for signage.

- Senate Bill 5418 (charter school contracts): The committee adopted Proposed Substitute B and recommended a due pass to Rules. The substitute requires that a charter school provide a program of basic education unless an exemption is authorized by the charter contract and clarifies consultation with the State Board of Education.

- Senate Bill 5186 and Senate Joint Resolution 8200 (school district bond thresholds and local funding authority): The committee adopted proposed substitutes and moved both measures forward. The substitutes change the bond‑approval threshold to a simple majority (a negotiatied outcome described in committee discussion), remove future school impact fees collected by local jurisdictions, and add a constitutional amendment component tying several local funding authorities into a single integrated plan. The substitute bills were sent to the Ways & Means Committee.

- Gubernatorial appointments: The committee reported three gubernatorial appointments with confirmation recommendations (the transcript names Brent L. Stark for the Washington State School for the Blind Board of Trustees and Wesley Henson for the Washington Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Youth; the third appointee was reported in the motion but the transcript record is garbled for that name). The committee recorded a voice confirmation recommendation for the appointments.

The transcript records voice votes for the motions (committee members responded “aye” or “nay”); individual roll‑call counts were not provided in the hearing record. Committee discussion included concerns about unfunded mandates, implementation costs and assurances that funding or amendments could be addressed in later floor or budget deliberations.

Outcomes recorded in the executive session were procedural: adoption of substitutes where noted and due‑pass recommendations to the Rules or Ways & Means committees; final floor action and appropriations (where applicable) remain subject to further legislative steps.