Proposed Bill Would Cut 20% of In-Person Classtime in WA-1 Day a Week
WA State Senator Perry Dozier (R-16th District Walla Walla) says the state Board of Education is proposing to cut your child's in-person class time (overall education) by 20 percent.
PROPOSED SENATE BILL WOULD ALLOW POTENTIAL 4-DAY SCHOOL WEEKS
Senate Bill (SB) 5735 would put into law an emergency policy that was enacted shortly after COVID 'began' and schools went to distance learning. Dozier says the plan allowed for one day 'off' from ANY learning so students could stay on top of online school.
However, now the State Board of Education, by way of Senator Mhanka Dhingra of Redmond (D) would allow the following:
(SB5735).."Allows school districts to provide up to 20 percent of the instructional hours per week using asynchronous instructional hours."
Asynchronous hours are the ones where students are not receiving any in-person or distance learning from a teacher. You may recall asynchronous was often a Wednesday during COVID when your child didn't have any classes at all. A homework day.
This will would allow THOSE hours to be counted as part of the total instruction your child is receiving, and this bill would affect all grades, K-12.
RECENT TESTING SHOWS MANY WA STUDENTS FAILING BADLY
Dozier says besides the tax dollars and resources citizens allocate to schools for the implied purpose of in-person focused learning, recent tests show students are still suffering from the effects of not being in class. Dozier says fall 2021 testing shows 70 percent of students didn't pass math requirements, and 53 percent have not passed those in English.
The bill will be heard Wednesday morning at 10:30 AM during an Education Committee hearing. If you CAN log in, we have the link to do so, if NOT, we have also provided the link where you can indicate if you like or dislike this proposal.
Dozier says parents want in-person education in the classroom, it's been proven time and time again that's what works best. Watch his video below the links for the hearing and the comment link.
TO PARTICIPATE IN THE HEARING CLICK HERE.
TO COMMENT ON SB 5735 CLICK HERE.