• HB 1046, which would decouple graduation requirements from statewide assessments by discontinuing the Certificate of Academic Achievement (including an emergency clause that would impact this year's seniors by decoupling the Biology EOC exam), passed out of the House Education committee on a vote of 17-2. On Wednesday, it received a hearing (beginning at 2:00) in the House Appropriations committee. Staff to the committee described that passage of the bill would result in a savings of $21 million over the next two years, most of which would come from doing away with requirements and staffing of the Collection of Evidence program. Representatives from the Pasco School District and the WEA testified in favor of the bill. No negative testimony was offered.
• Last week, HB 1319, which would reduce the frequency that classroom teachers with a professional or a National Board certificates and principals with a professional certificate, who previously received a performance rating of three or above, must receive a comprehensive summative evaluation from every four years to every six years, passed out of the House Education committee on a vote of 19-0 and was referred to Rules. On Tuesday, it was placed on second reading.

• HB 1601, (beginning at 15:35) which would expand the Beginning Educator Support Team (BEST) program to beginning principals and add requirements to the program, including professional development for participants and mentors, passed out of the committee on a vote of 19-0 and was referred to Appropriations.
• HB 1654, (beginning at 20:45) which would provide the PESB with expected outcomes and rulemaking authority for program design for Alternative Route programs, passed out of the committee on a vote of 19-0 and was referred to Rules.
• HB 1732, (beginning at 24:15) which would protect the confidentiality of PGPs, passed out of the committee on a vote of 19-0 and was referred to Appropriations.

• HB 1341, (beginning at 18:00) which would require the PESB to adopt new rules for professional certification for administrators and teachers and base the professional teacher certificate on professional development credits rather than a certification assessment, was considered in the House Education committee, was passed out of committee on a vote of 18-0.
• HB 1509, (beginning at 20:25) which would eliminate the twenty-four-credit graduation requirement and establish a twenty-one-credit requirement, was passed out of the committee on a vote of 13-5.
• HB 1827, (beginning at 48:08) which would expand the workforce supply by improving recruitment and retention, especially in high-need areas, and establish a continuum of professional learning, among other measures, was passed out of the committee on a vote of 17-1.

• SB 5238, which would require that cursive writing be taught in schools.
• SB 5283, which would eliminate the limit on the number of non-school service years that can be counted toward years of service for educational staff associates (including occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, audiologists, nurses, social workers, counselors, and psychologists).
• SB 5487, which would allow retired teachers to be employed as mentors to teachers or advisers to students in teacher preparation programs and was amended to include retired principals.
• SB 5601, which would allow teachers who retired early to return to work as substitute teachers without suspension of their retirement benefits.