Spokane-area school leaders talk challenges, opportunities at forum
Schools in the Inland Northwest are in many ways different than they were just a generation ago and will continue to change.
That message came from superintendents who spoke at an education forum Wednesday sponsored by Greater Spokane.
A student from Lewis and Clark High School asked how the leaders thought education would look 10 years from now.
Medical Lake Superintendent Kim Headrick replied, referring to Washington’s “Running Start” program, which allows high schoolers to earn college credits before graduation.
“The era of where a student has to enter a school day and spend six periods doing six different things I think needs to shift and is beginning to shift,” Headrick said. “We hear that from kiddos who are choosing to go into a Running Start situation.”
Superintendent John Parker from Central Valley asked state leaders to let schools be more innovative. He wants more high school students to have the chance to work toward college degrees without leaving their school buildings.
Deer Park’s Alexa Allman said superintendents have been burdened by dozens of recent unfunded legislative mandates. She told attendees she’s been meeting with Spokane-area lawmakers to explain how the new rules affect districts.
“These are great ideas. We don’t disagree with your ideas that you have coming forth, but the mandates are really hard for us,” Allman said. “It takes time. It takes human capital to make sure that they are accomplished and we just don’t have that and we have not received additional funding.”
The superintendents said they’re focused on three areas in the current legislative session. They want more money to better serve students with special needs, to help them pay higher insurance premiums and to compensate for inflation, and to help with higher costs of providing transportation.
Trump tariffs could make fuel and heating more expensive for Washingtonians
Donald Trump is proposing a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico. That could hit Washingtonians particularly hard, because the state imports more from Canada than any other country.
The state’s biggest import from Canada is natural gas. Crude oil is second. So a 25% tariff, as Trump said he is looking to impose February 1, could boost Northwest energy prices.
Congressman Rick Larsen, a Democrat who represents Washington’s Second Congressional District, calls the tariff a "stupid idea."
“The president, when he ran, said he was going to, I think, cut energy prices in half,” Larsen told KUOW public radio. “And by imposing these tariffs, he's promising higher prices for people who are buying gas for their cars or even trying to heat their homes with natural gas. So, none of this makes sense.”
At his inauguration, Trump claimed the proposed tariffs would bring in “massive” amounts of money from foreign sources. In reality, American tariffs are paid by American importers or their American customers.
ID committee advances measure targeting same-sex marriage
A piece of legislation targeting same sex marriage has moved forward through the Idaho legislature.
The House State Affairs Committee passed the measure 13-2, with only the Democrats on the committee voting "no."
The measure petitions the U-S Supreme Court to reconsider its 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same sex marriages across the country.
The bill is about preserving states’ rights to define marriage, sponsor and District 2 Republican Rep. Heather Scott said.
"We’re sending this clear message from Idaho," Scott told the committee. "We don’t want our laws and our constitution trampled on, and it should be our decision what we want to do in a state."
Opponents in the hearing said the argument of states’ rights was also used to justify segregation during the Jim Crow era.
"And as a nation, we addressed those discriminatory state laws in the wake of the Civil War with the 14th Amendment" Rep. Todd Achilles, D-Boise, told Scott. "Where do we draw the line? If we can justify in Idaho that we can discriminate against a same-sex couple, then who else is open to discrimination?"
Others who testified against the measure said the legislature should be focusing on issues like health care and education.
The measure now advances to the House floor, where if it passes, it will move to the state Senate.
WA Chief Justice updates lawmakers on the state of the judiciary
Washington Supreme Court Chief Justice Debra Stephens says the state’s courts are busier than ever. But she added they’ve become more efficient through dozens of innovative projects at the state and local levels.
Stephens mentioned a variety of projects Wednesday, during her State of the Judiciary speech before a joint session of the legislature. She said thos efforts included an increase in the number of specialty courts.
“Innovative therapeutic court programs have nearly doubled across the state,” Stephens said. “These private vital alternatives to traditional sentencing through a focus on rehabilitation and services for individuals struggling with mental health, substance use disorders and other challenges.”
Stephens said courts around Washington are using more interpreters to help people for whom English is not their first language. She said the judicial system is also using initiatives to serve people with disabilities and to make it easier for people to serve on juries.
Idaho school vouchers bill debuts
The latest effort to subsidize private school tuition with taxpayer money has been introduced in the Idaho House.
Families would receive a refundable tax credit of $5,000 per child or $7,500 for kids with disabilities. The money could pay for private school tuition, tutoring and transportation costs.
The bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Wendy Horman, rejected calls for adding accountability measures to the proposal, such as testing benchmarks or curriculum standards.
But a voucher program without accountability measures are a hard no for Democrats, including Rep. Steve Berch.
He said there should be repercussions if a family takes the tax credit, but eventually returns to the public school system – including repayment.
“There needs to be consequences for the decisions someone makes and one of them would be making sure your kid can test at grade level if you want to bring them back into the public school system,” Berch said.
The bill could get a public hearing later this week.
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Reporting was contributed by Doug Nadvornick, John Ryan, Owen Henderson, Mia Maldonado and James Dawson.