Senator Litzow and several other senators have introduced SB 5393.  The bill would free public schools with the highest rank, “Exemplary,” on the state’s School Achievement Index from 38 of the Common School regulation’s 72 chapters.  This would grant flexibility to some 90 schools ranked Exemplary on the Index, out of 2,212 public schools, based on the 2012-13 Index, as explained in our Policy Note here. 

SB 5393 would give principals and teachers at successful public schools the flexibility to do more for students than state rules let them do now. 

Educators at these public schools could provide students more instruction time and a longer school year, and they could choose class materials that motivate and excite students.  Principals would be free to retain and reward the best teachers, free of union seniority restrictions that often protect the worst teachers.  These schools would likely be protected from the threatened strikes and other labor disruptions that plague public schools every fall. 

It also appears principals at these public schools could pay higher salaries to teachers in special education, teachers of math and science, and teachers with extraordinary skill and ability.  Principals could evaluate teachers based on performance, and on how well they are helping the hardest-to-educate students.

SB 5393 would require Exemplary public schools to provide all students a basic education as defined by law.  Students would participate in the statewide assessment system, and all health, public safety, civil rights, nondiscrimination and equal treatment laws would apply.

SB 5393 shows Washington’s policymakers are quickly catching on to what regulatory flexibility would allow principals and teachers to accomplish for their students. Washington's ten new charter schools have a similar advantage. 

For example, next fall Spokane International Academy, a K-8 school, will open in the old St. Patrick’s School building in Hillyard. School hours will be longer than in traditional schools. Spokane International will teach the challenging Cambridge curriculum, which provides an international focus in English, math, science and social studies. Students will start learning Spanish in kindergarten, moving toward proficiency as they prepare for a school-funded trip to Latin America in the eighth grade.  Another charter school, Pride Prep, will open a college prep middle and high school that will provide student seven years of a foreign language, extra math and science instruction, a nine-hour school day and an extended school year. 

Such advances are not possible under the full burden of Washington’s Common School regulations, a weighty, inches-thick manual that state officials hand to every public school principal.  The Common School rules are so restrictive that teachers are often blocked from using creative ways to help students.

Senator Litzow has shown important leadership in introducing this bill.  If enacted, SB 5393 would support educators at some of Washington’s best public schools, to the benefit of students and families across the state.

This report is part of WPC’s Charter School Follow-up Project