- A bipartisan measure on the implementation of the McCleary education ruling passed the Washington Senate 45-4 Thursday. In 2012, the Washington Supreme Court ordered that teacher-student ratios in grades K-3 be improved, the number of credits to graduate high school be increased to 24, and the number of annual instructional hours in grades 9-12 be increased to 1,080. Republicans and Democrats are feuding over the teacher-student ratio issue. However, a bill by Sen. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, and Sen. Bruce Dammeier, R-Puyallup, easily sailed through the Senate to implement the 1,080-hour requirement starting in the 2015-2016 school year, and to put the 24-credit requirement in place by 2019. Currently, those requirements vary by school district. The bill now goes to the House. — J.S.
- Janéa Holmquist Newbry, a conservative member of the Washington Senate, will form an exploratory committee to see she wants to try to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Doc hastings in east-central Washington's 4th Congressional District .The conservative Hastings has announced his impending retirement after 20 years in Congress. Last year,
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Today in Olympia: Education bill approved
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By Floyd McKay
Floyd J. McKay, professor of journalism emeritus at Western Washington University, was a print and broadcast journalist in Oregon for three decades. He is also a historian and his new book, "Reporting
Floyd J. McKay, professor of journalism emeritus at Western Washington University, was a print and broadcast journalist in Oregon for three decades. He is also a historian and his new book, "Reporting