- An unapologetic Washington Education Association responded with defiance on Thursday after learning its intransigence on the question of teacher evaluation standards could cost the state a say in millions of dollars in federal funding.
“Members of the Washington Education Association believe the Washington Legislature did the right thing last session when it rejected (the U.S. Secretary of Education’s) inflexible and bureaucratic demand,” a prepared statement from the union said. “Republicans and Democrats alike saw that … failed federal mandates would have done nothing to help Washington’s students or their teachers, but rather would have imposed failed federal law on our students.”
The WEA statement came in response to news earlier in the day that Washington had become the first state in the nation to lose the waiver its schools had heretofore been granted by the federal government while they remain out of compliance with the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan last fall informed the state the waiver would be rescinded unless the Legislature developed a teacher evaluation plan that relied at least to some degree on students’ scores on standardized tests.
Members of both parties – including Gov. Jay Inslee – initially backed a bill during the 2014 session that would have adopted such a standard. But late pressure by the union on Democrats in the state Senate resulted in the measure’s defeat.
Inslee reacted to Thursday’s news by blaming the Legislature as a whole, rather than Democrats who voted against the measure or the union arm-twisting.
“Today’s news from Secretary Duncan is disappointing but not unexpected,” he said. “The loss of this waiver could have been avoided if the state Legislature had acted last session. The waiver provided districts flexibility to use nearly $40 million in federal funds to support struggling students. Loss of that funding means those districts now face potential impacts that could include laying off some of Washington’s tremendous teachers or cutting back on programs that serve.”
Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn was more direct, putting the blame squarely on the WEA.
“Student progress should be one of multiple elements in a teacher’s evaluation,” he said. “Unfortunately the teacher’s union felt it was more important to protect their members than agree to that change and pressured the Legislature not to act.”
Forty-two other states also have received waivers, including Illinois just last week.
