Participate in the 2020 Week of Action!  Click here for details and to enter to win a $25 gift card for participating!

What GPR has done: The WSASP GPR committee has reviewed new 2020 legislation, identified priorities based on the WSASP mission and vision of advocating for our profession and for students (see priority definitions below), and consulted with our WEA Lobbyist on all bills identified as a priority.  An interesting theme emerging is around policy for school based health clinics, as well as continued attention to student’s mental health in a variety of contexts. If you are interested, you can view all identified bills we are monitoring here.

What you can do: When asked to take an Advocacy Action for a priority bill, contact the representatives on the relevant policy committee in less than 1 minute with the resources we provide.  These will always be posted at the top of this page, shared on social media, and emailed directly to those who have signed up for GPR email updates. Please complete these Advocacy Action requests as soon as they come through to support this important work!  

What’s next: After Feb 7th (the legislature’s policy committee cut-off date), GPR will know which bills that are still being considered, and will post more detail about those bills.  

Our priorities are defined as follows:

HIGH PRIORITY: These bills are tracked by the committee. The WEA Lobbyist will sign in on our behalf at public hearings when we cannot attend ourselves. In addition, the committee will provide written testimony and input throughout the legislative process. This might include a call to action for all WSASP members. Finally, committee members are committed to providing testimony on these bills.

MEDIUM PRIORITY: These bills are tracked by the committee. The WEA Lobbyist will sign in on our behalf at public hearings when we cannot attend ourselves. In addition, the committee will provide written testimony and input throughout the legislative process. This might include a call to action for all WSASP members. Finally, committee members will provide testimony in person if possible.

LOW PRIORITY: These bills are tracked by the committee. The WEA Lobbyist will sign in on our behalf at public hearings when we cannot attend ourselves. Should the need arise, the committee is prepared to dedicate more resources to these bills which could include written testimony, a call to action for WSASP members, or providing testimony.

Information about the Washington Prototypical School Funding Model for School Psychologists

The OSPI Staffing Enrichment Workgroup is tasked with making recommendations for reducing educational opportunity gaps in Washington State. The group’s first directive was to make recommendations for the Prototypical School Funding Model. A report with recommendations was released during the fall, and was of concern to many WSASP members. Click here to access an article providing clarification and understanding about what the Prototypical School Funding Model is, how school psychologist roles are typically funded, and the advocacy work that WSASP is engaged in on this topic.