OLYMPIA, Wash. — Community and technical colleges are calling for investment from Washington state lawmakers this legislative session. Staff at community and technical colleges have launched the Reinvest in Our Colleges campaign and are asking for $500 million in permanent funding over the next two years.

Nearly 60 percent of postsecondary students in the state attend or graduate from CTCs, but those 34 colleges receive less than 40 percent of the state's higher education funding. Jim Howe, vice president for legislative affairs with the American Federation of Teachers of Washington and also a faculty member at Lake Washington Institute of Technology, said CTCs can fill the state's growing labor gap.

"There's a shortage of workers in so many fields - high-tech and nursing and things like that - and we're the ones that can supply those,” Howe said. “But it's a heavy lift, and we're struggling with our funding already."

In 2013, the Washington Student Achievement Council set a goal that 70 percent of adults would have postsecondary credentials by 2023. To achieve that goal, the colleges will need to graduate more than 45,000 students a year, roughly 12,000 more students than they currently graduate.

Howe said pay needs to be competitive to retain faculty. Forty percent of staff only make three-quarters of market-value salaries.

House Bill 1300 would create the Reinvest in Our Colleges program, with goals to increase compensation for faculty, establish an office for diversity and equity, and provide better wages for faculty and staff that work with incarcerated populations. The bill also calls for funding to increase the number of counselors at the colleges.

Earl Martin, a counselor at Everett Community College, said another bill, HB 1355, would set ratios for the number of students to each counselor.

"The last time the state had a standard was many years ago and they called for 1-to-500. But that was just a policy recommendation, never put into code,” Martin said. “We're asking for almost twice as high as that at the 900 level."

Martin said counselors are key for getting students ready to be part of the workforce. He also noted that community and technical colleges are the affordable - and sometimes only - option for Washingtonians. On average, tuition costs per quarter at CTCs are nearly 40 percent less than at a university, and nearly 65 percent less than at a research university.


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Jude Bruno, president-elect of the Florida Parent Teacher Association, is leading a charge against two controversial education bills which would reshape the state's school system, even as Republican lawmakers tout the measures as expanding parental choice.

The legislative battle comes in what is supposed to be the session's final week, with high stakes for public school funding and governance. His organization opposes House Bill 123, which would permit municipal charter schools to bypass local district oversight, arguing it creates unequal standards for taxpayer-funded institutions.

"We are not against charter schools but we are against mechanisms and rules that would circumvent the governance of our local public schools and our communities," Bruno explained.

The bill's companion, Senate Bill 140, which passed the Senate 30-7 last week, would allow traditional public schools to convert to charter schools with approval from 50% of parents, while explicitly excluding teachers and staff from the voting process. Supporters argued the measures empower families, particularly in underserved communities.

The PTA is raising concerns about proposed budget reductions, which could affect mental health services for students and funding for advanced academic programs. Bruno stressed the growing need for student support services.

"Even coming off the pandemic, we realize how important it is that we address the social and emotional needs of our students," Bruno emphasized. "That can only be effectively done by having licensed practitioners in that field be in our schools."

The PTA's legislative priorities come amid a broader debate over education funding that has pitted parent groups against lawmakers supporting school choice initiatives.


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Tennessee educators are expressing concern over President Donald Trump's push to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and return control to the states.

The Tennessee Department of Education serves more than 1 million students in 147 districts.

Tanya Coats, president of the Tennessee Education Association, said states already oversee most aspects of public education. She argued the plan risks key student services and could lead to defunding and privatizing public schools, resulting in larger class sizes, less individual attention and fewer resources for students with disabilities.

"Since there's only less than 30 days for most schools in the state of Tennessee to be in service, that it would cut our after-school programs come the next year," Coats pointed out. "And particularly our summer programs that augment this in school learning and skill building."

She noted educators would lose access to programs helping low-income students and those with disabilities go to college.

Gov. Bill Lee supports keeping education control in Tennessee's hands. In his State of the State address, he announced an additional $580 million for public education, including more funding for the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement formula and another teacher pay raise.

Coats argued if the Department of Education is dismantled, vulnerable students could lose essential academic resources, civil rights protections and life skills, putting their futures at risk. Federal programs like the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act have transformed lives, ensuring crucial support for students with disabilities.

"When we think about if it's transferred to another department, it will likely cause chaos," Coats emphasized. "Chaos for those students with special needs and their families. But students and their families who currently have these Individualized Education Program and students with special needs will adversely be the most impacted by this change."

According to National Education Association, more than $308 million is allocated for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act funding in Tennessee.

Coats urged legislators, the governor and local communities to recognize the risks of unequal access to vital educational services. She stressed it is crucial every child, regardless of their ZIP Code, receives the support they need.


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Mississippi's decade-long focus on early literacy has transformed the state.

According to the Mississippi Department of Education, the state's fourth graders are making the nation's largest gains on reading assessments. They once ranked last on the tests. Media reports have dubbed the transformation the "Mississippi miracle."

Harry Patrinos, professor of education policy at the University of Arkansas, said the turnaround is anything but luck.

"Mississippi was 49th in the state in fourth grade reading. In just a decade, they went to 21st place in reading, and these gains continued to impress," Patrinos explained. "The country was hit with the school closures during COVID-19 but since then, Mississippi has not lost anything in terms of learning outcomes, which is rare in the country and the world."

The state's progress stems from its 2013 Literacy-Based Promotion Act, which emphasized speech-based instruction, early intervention and retention for students not meeting reading benchmarks.

Michelle Nowell, executive director of elementary education and reading for the Mississippi Department of Education, said the so-called "miracle" comes from sustained reforms focused on teacher training.

"We have renamed it the Mississippi Marathon," Nowell noted. "When I say we, I mean the department, the literacy coaches, because it really was a marathon, not a miracle because so much hard work went into it."

Nowell believes it is the human element behind the policy success, describing how literacy coaches from the state's education department built trust in schools across the state.

"In the past, anytime you mentioned MDE and MDE visiting a school district, it wasn't always a good thing," Nowell acknowledged. "It was either for an audit, and we wanted to change that perception. It's not a gotcha, we're here to help you. So we had to really build those relationships."

According to Patrinos, the reforms had an extra cost of $32 per student annually. The Trump administration recently announced $132 million in cuts to Mississippi's education funding, threatening the long-term success of its literacy programs.


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