First education bill hearings posted

Several committees have posted notices for hearings for the upcoming week, including the House Public Education Committee. Among the scheduled bills are:

House Public Education Committee

• HB 131 by Murr, which allows districts to excuse students for a"career investigation day to visit a professional at their workplace during the student's junior or senior year.
• HB 621 by Shaheen, which allows retired or honorably discharged active military personnel to substitute some of their military time for certain education requirements for teacher certification. For example, f or a certificate requiring a bachelor's degree, the individual could instead have 48 months of active military service and 60 credits at an institution of higher education with at least a 2.5 GPA. The certificate earned in this manner would be temporary and valid for five years.
• HB 699 by Frank, which requires the UIL to use the same classification formula for all districts based on student enrollment regardless of whether the district allows non-enrolled students to participate in UIL activities.
• HB 768 by Allen, which allow employees with available personal leave to use the leave for compensation for a day designated as a school holiday for which the employee would otherwise not be compensated.

House Human Services Committee

• HB 63 by Swanson, which would prohibit anonymous reports of child abuse or neglect; requiring that the reporter provide their name, phone number and address; the representative receiving the report would not be allowed to accept an anonymous report. Oral reports of abuse or neglect would be audio-recorded.