Since my last post, I acquired a new laptop and finally am able to post an update to the blog.  So what has happened in the last two weeks??? Not much!

Here is a recap of the slow moving special session.

Governor Signs Education Bills
A week ago, Governor Gregoire returned to her high school alma mater, Auburn High School, to sign four education bills PSE worked on:

1. PSE's crosswalk safety bill, SSB 6363
2. the school levy bill, SHB 2893
3. the education funding reform bill,  SHB 2776, and,
4. the race to the top bill, E2SSB  6696.

House and Senate Unable to Reach Agreement on Revenue Package
So far, they have reached agreement that they will pass additional revenue of $800 million.  Of that amount, they agree on the taxes to get $600 million of that amount.  The remaining $200 million is hung up by the Senate's wish to have a 0.001% increase to the state sales tax, and the House's complete rejection of any sales tax increase.  There are other disagreements over smaller tax increases but it is hard to see that these disagreements will result in them not reaching a final agreement by April 13 (the last day of the special session).

Operating Budget Negotiations Taking Back Seat to Revenue Negotiations
Though there has been some verbal statements from a variety of House and Senate leaders, it appears that they want to tackle the revenue agreement before moving on to the spending agreements.  PSE's K 12 priorities for the special session are:

• fully fund K - 4 class-size
• continue funding of the classified employee ratio enhancement (58.75:1)
• continue funding all day kindergarten
• fund levy equalization, the enhanced levy equalization from  SHB 2893, and the per pupil inflator at 4%.

PSE's higher education priority is to reduce and/or eliminate the impact of the furlough bill and the House and Senate's efforts to have state and higher education employees pay more for insurance benefits. 

When the legislature returns to Olympia on Monday, PSE will be focusing on the following issues:

State and Higher Education Employee Insurance
There is a continuing debate over how much the state and employee's in the state insurance plan will pay for insurance benefits.  In an earlier blog, I described the $220 million shortfall in their insurance plan that needs to be filled.  The governor and the House are our most helpful allies in limiting the employee costs. 

Furlough Bill
Though this bill has been sitting on the sidelines for several weeks, it crops up from time to time because the state is looking for its $50 million in savings.  Unfortunately, most of these savings ($40 million) will require some type of employee sacrifice - this will be negotiated between the agency or university and the employee bargaining representatives.  We hope it stays on the sidelines!

Classified Employee Ratio
Though we were able to put the 58.75:1 ratio in the basic education act that becomes effective 9-1-11, we still need to make sure it sticks in the final year of the 2009-11 budget.  So far, the Governor and the House have it in their budgets.

Revenue / Cuts
In a previous blog entry, I highlighted the differences between how much each would raise in additional revenue, how much they would cut, and how much they would leave in the ending fund balance.  We like the Senate's revenue ($890 million), the House's cuts ($605 million), and the House's ending fund balance of $424 million. We'll soon see in the special session how close they get to our preferred amounts.