Senator Jayapal’s bill would address equity in education, help close opportunity gap

OLYMPIA, WA: A bill sponsored by Sen Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle, which would require consideration of equity and social justice impacts in public school policy making, was heard in the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Committee.

“The opportunity gap has plagued our students, schools and state for too long,” Jayapal said. “This bill offers an important opportunity to be proactive in reducing that gap, just as the Legislature moves to make significant funding and policy changes in the education arena. We know there are kids who are systemically disadvantaged by the status quo. If we are serious about increasing success for our students in Washington, we need to make sure all kids get an equal shot at that success.”

The bill would establish a formal process for consideration of potential equity and social justice impacts to funding and policy changes for public schools. The considerations would be made by a workgroup, convened by the Office of the Superintendent for Public Instruction and including representatives from a number of relevant agencies from early learning through higher education. This process is already successfully conducted in King County as well as Oregon. Other states have a similar process for review in comparable facets of government. 

A diverse group of citizens and stakeholders came to Olympia to testify in favor of the bill, including the Equity in Education Coalition, Children’s Alliance, League of Education Voters, the American Civil Liberties Union, and representatives from several Washington school districts. 

“This bill has strong support from many corners, as well as co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle. This is an opportunity to ensure that we really are embedding equity into all of our decisions moving forward, and I hope it receives a speedy committee approval and continues to move through the process to become law,” Jayapal added. “This is an opportunity to make good on our promise to provide all kids real opportunity.”