Legislative Priorities

Newly adopted: 2023 Legislative Platform

At the November 2022 meeting, the Board adopted its 2023 legislative platform. It includes descriptions of requests and focuses on three priorities:

Support the whole child to create the conditions needed for learning
Enhance relevance and personalization of the student learning experience
Expand and strengthen opportunities for powerful learning

Agency request legislation

The Board submitted agency request legislation (HB 1308) to expand graduation pathway options. The proposal would add a performance-based pathway to the options that school districts may offer. This new option would allow students to show what they know and can do in real-world, hands-on ways that align with their individual goals for after high school. In addition, the proposal clarifies the purpose of graduation pathways and establishes ongoing data and monitoring requirements at the state and local levels. See the bill information. Download a descriptive two-pager on this request. Check out the latest blog post featuring examples of performance-based pathways: What does performance-based mean?

Budget request

In addition, the Board submitted a budget request to expand mastery-based learning. See a copy of the Decision Package. The Governor’s 2023-25 budget proposal includes full funding for this request.

Previous agency request legislation

SSB 5497 - Student Board Member Vote passed and was signed by Governor Inslee.

The State Board of Education is a 16-member board, including two student members. Under previous law, all the members can vote except for the student members. This bill extended voting authority to the student members on the Board, allowing them to vote in the same manner as other members. Granting student members an official vote helps make the Board more student-centered and responsive to the people most directly impacted by the Board’s policy decisions.