On Tuesday, the first special session ended with no obvious progress toward a budget agreement, and Governor Inslee immediately called for a second 30-day period, which began 15 minutes later. In his remarks on this round, the governor talked about "the necessity of compromise" following a first special session that "produced too little" and "moved too slowly."

Some have dubbed the next 30 days the "Extra Special Session," and it appears that things are beginning to thaw a bit as budget writers have progressed from occasional informal talks (and mean tweets) to regular discussions about key budget items.

The Seattle Times editorial board is less optimistic about these baby steps. An editorial last Friday suggested that Governor Inslee should refuse to call another special session, claiming the legislature is incapable of reaching a budget deal in "30 - or 300 - more days."

On the other hand, we're seeing multiple reports of significant progress from the bipartisan Education Funding Task Force (EFTF). On Tuesday, a story in The Columbian quoted Senator Ann Rivers as saying lawmakers are "very close" to a deal on the "education piece."

Part of each new session is the reintroduction of those bills that passed in their houses of origin but died in the opposite houses. That brings several education-related bills back to life, and, although most legislators will remain at home for the bulk of this session, the House did convene on Thursday to re-pass a number of bills, including HB 1046, which would decouple state assessments from graduation requirements. Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking for the Class of 2017.

CSTP's Stories From School Blogger Mark Gardner has summed this session up well in a recent blog post. 

On Wednesday, Superintendent Reykdal held a press conference to lay out his vision for comprehensive school reform. According to the Spokesman Review, the six-year plan is designed to get the legislature to look beyond the immediate school funding issue and " start thinking about how to reshape the system in the coming years."

 

Odds & Ends

Embrace your inner nerd! From the Cult of Pedagogy blog: Why Teaching is Like Dating

And finally, we know you'd never consider the End-of-May, Movie-as Lesson-Plan Survival Strategy, but this teacher tool might come in handy: ClassHook

Have a great weekend!