001Marissa Wrathbone. I am your current but outgoing director of strategic advocacy. I have served in this role for almost six years and my time with WASDA is coming to a close. In case you did not know, um I will be starting as the ex assistant executive director of government relations at the Washington Association of School Administrators. So our partner organization overseeing all of the central admin staff currently occupied by Dan Steel who is retiring at the end of June. So I'll be stepping into his role effective June f July 1st. I'm taking a midlife sbatical the month of June and I am leaving WASDA in the very capable hands of Logan Noel Andress and Leavonne Williams, our uh new and improved strategic advocacy team. Um, before we get started with content, uh, I'm going to
002pass it to Logan to introduce himself. I will just remind you all in case you're new to this scene that Logan actually was with WADA when I started at WASDA back in 2019. he was already on the spot and he trained me up into my role as the um uh specialist in the advocacy branch at the time and we are so grateful he is returning to us um as the incoming director of strategic advocacy. You will be in good hands and um I'll I'll turn it to him for a quick introduction and then Leavonne as well. Thanks Marissa. Um happy Tuesday everyone. Good to be back in this space to see some familiar faces, some new faces. Um, I am Logan Noel Andress, uh, and I'm the new director of strategic advocacy. Um, I have
003spent, for those of you that I don't know, I have spent the last 10 or so years in the public education space. Um, I have worked for OSPI. Um, I obviously spent six years at WADA doing educational policy and advocacy work here. Um during my time away um I was in the early learning um and child care space working for um a nonprofit in King and Pierce counties. Um also got my graduate degree while I was away through American University and am super happy to be back um two years later to the date which is kind of crazy. Um so glad to be back um and good to be with you all. Thanks for the warm welcome Marissa. Um, big shoes to fill, but leaning into it, especially with the support of Leavonne and Trisha.
004Um, Leavonne, you want to jump in? Absolutely. Thank you, Logan and Marissa. Um, Leavon Williams here. I'm the advocacy and policy analyst at Wazda. I've been on board for about five months now. Uh, so I'm still fairly new. I'm going try to keep using that excuse. Um, but yeah, I'm happy to be here. A lot of my experience, similar to Logan, comes in the realm of public education. uh for the last decade I worked in the nonprofit sector from working at local organizations such as the college success foundation. I worked at uh the University of Washington Tacoma building uh co-curricular programs for students of color. Uh did some public policy work at blue zones most recently but and I made my way to Waza. So um I'm really happy to be here, excited to be
005on the Strad team here at WADA. Um and it's a pleasure to meet you all. Great. Um Trish is going to have a chance to introduce herself here in a little bit. Strategic advocacy has some content we'd like to share and then hand it over to our colleagues who are going to give you uh an update on some of the things that are happening WASDA that do impact your schoolboard work and also advocacy going forward ultimately on behalf of Wazda as well as behalf of your communities. Um so I just wanted to um briefly start with an overview of the 2025 legislative session. It is it is a a distant view in the rearview mirror now. I think we're all um relieved to have it behind us. Although I know all of you are grappling
006with its impacts now in real world and potentially very challenging ways. Um, I joined a call earlier today, uh, the Rural Education Center, which is small school district superintendent, talking about the riff notices that they've had to deliver this week and are planning on delivering in the weeks ahead. Um and so I just want to acknowledge that that is very painful especially in your communities as you represent and know the people um who are being impacted this by directly um on a personal level and then also the students that it will impact um who you are hoping to best support and serve in uh reducing opportunity gaps, achieving their um intended academic outcomes. And um none of this makes it easy. And we were really hoping the 2025 legislative session was going to prevent those
007RIFF notices from going out and enable you to expand your programs as opposed to have to contract them. And so um I guess uh it's it's sort of in my wheelhouse to always start with good news. And my good news, if there is one to pull from this, not that you want to hear it, but I do think it's important for us to carry this with us in the um interim and the session of the future, 250 plus days ahead of us, that were it not for the fact that all of the education advocate groups were not aligned early in the interim last year and had frequent, ongoing, and consistent conversations and messages with state legislators. throughout the last interim going into this legislative session. I really do not think we would have gotten the
008300 million we did get for special education. Again, acknowledging it that it's about a third or a fourth of the total amount that we actually needed. Um there was not any money from the perspective of legislators and the governor to give to public education or any other sector for that matter. And the fact that they actually made some increases for special education because it was among our top priorities, I think is absolutely we because we were loud and consistent throughout the interim. And so I I just reiterate that and shine a light on that because it's an important lesson for us. I don't think the 2026 legislative session is going to be any easier in terms of budget shortfall conversations. It's part of a bienium. So, it's actually the same budget year. Um, it means
009that we need to be aligned again, identify our priorities, and be consistent and loud in our messaging throughout the interim because it's just too easy not to give us money right now because there's so many uh competing interests as well as um a very low if not deficit level amount of funding to offer. So, um, being aligned, being early, having frequent conversations all very, very often. That's a good setup for, um, talking about interim, which Logan and Leavonne are going to tackle here in a second. I just want to point you to two resources as legislative session recaps for your um, review in session from May 4th gives sort of a highle overview of what happened in the budget and some of the key policy issues that landed. Um and then also uh a bill
010overview document. So all of the K12 bills that pass the legislative session and sort of timelines for when they'll be adopted and any sort of reporting curriculum or training impacts they might have um is a great resource for your board to be looking at as you look into uh the days, weeks, months ahead for your own local planning. So, I'm always available to answer questions. Um, and I will continue to be a partner to you as I move over into my new role. And I'm just so grateful for all of the work that you do and being able to serve you in this capacity. It's been an honor. I'm going to pass it to Logan to take it from here. Great. And we're working behind the scenes to get the PowerPoint on the screen. Um,
011per usual, when you land in a new job, there's a lot of technical settings that have to change, and mine have not changed yet to be able to share screen. So, Leavonne is going to pull up our PowerPoint slide deck. Thank you, Leavonne, uh, for the pivot and pivot and for getting this done. Um, but essentially just want to chat with you all about the fact that it is the interim, the session is over if you didn't know. Um and it was clearly and obviously um a pretty heartbreaking legislative session. Um while a lot happened uh there was also um a lot that didn't happen um and a lot more work that is ahead of us um to continue. So just sort of as we transition into the interim um wanted to give you all
012a chance to just think through uh what this really means for WASDA as an organization um as well as what this time period means for you all as led reps um and as indivi individual school boards. Um so just wanted to call out a couple of really quick things um for you all to be thinking about right now. Um and the first is really just reflecting um on what happened and didn't happen during the session. Um and then also sharing the impacts with your local communities. Um this is the time when you'll be receiving updates from us which you might have seen through the last in session update that came out last week. um OSPI, WASA, all of the educational organizations um at the state level are putting out updates that I think will be
013helpful um for you all to communicate some of those updates and as always as you're looking through those, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. Um additionally, uh this is the time to keep those relationships with legislators um that you developed during the legislative session. Um be sure that we are thanking them for what they did do for us. Um although we do know that what we received out of this last legislative session is not anywhere close to what we needed. Um the needle still moved and I think um as we think about our legislators, we have a citizen legislature, right? Um our state legislators do have day jobs and have lives and all of the things. Um so just making sure we're you know showing the appreciation there and continuing to stay connected
014and work together um and really shape that story and tell that story for what needs to be coming in future sessions. Um, we're about to be in graduation season. This would be a great time to think about extending invites to your legislators to pop out there. Um, as well as possibly just out to visit some of your school buildings before, uh, the school year's over. Um, additionally, think about recharging. Um, as we all know, this was a really hard session, and sometimes that means sort of stepping away and taking a breath. Um, so just prioritize your own health and your own needs during this time. Get out in the sunshine. um and really just enjoy this sort of space to take a fresh deep breath of fresh air uh following the legislative session. And then
015lastly, organize. Um we will be using this space um over the course of the next couple of months um to really talk about what organizing uh means for the education community, for the LED rep community. Um, and of course making sure that you all have the tools and resources that you need to be able to, you know, really shape that narrative for 2026, gather perspective from your communities um so that we can show up next session um in in a way that continues to be collective um pushing towards our priorities. So, just wanted to flag some of those things for you to be thinking about um at a really high level. Um, Leavon is getting ready to jump into our toolkit for legislative impact um that you all have hopefully seen by now. Um, that
016guide will sort of be the basis for some of these conversations over the next couple of months. Um, but feel free to jump in with any questions and if not um, Leavonne, feel free to take it away. Awesome. Um, yeah, sorry I had some issues with the presentation. Sorry about that, Logan. Um, yeah, so the toolkit, I'll talk briefly about that. I don't have any slide decks on it. I think it's a it's a great tool to utilize during an interim or even during the session. Um, this toolkit, sorry, give me one second. Yeah, thanks again. My name is Leavon Williams. I'm the advocacy and policy analyst at WASDA. I'm really happy to be here to support the strategic advocacy branch and really share this important resource that I would think kind of guide us
017um you and and and my department especially during this period and beyond. uh as many as you know the legislative session is it might be over but that really doesn't mean that advocacy is somewhat on hold uh in fact this is the interim period uh this is the most strategic time for us to really engage I know it can be like a quieter time for the during this year but it really provides a space for us to build those strong relationships with legislators also reflect on on the work that was done and also what didn't work during the legislative session right so you could really have some reflection time. Uh and then it also lays the foundation um for the policy change that we want to see in the next coming session. Uh I know
018from you know now until next session time can go by really fast. So um I would say this is really the opportunity the window of opportunity to shape uh those narratives and introduce some creative ideas and also like strengthen a collective voice for as you begin to process and and and fantasize about the next legislative session. Uh I would say strate strategic advocacy branch is really here to support and support you in this work. Um, I would say one of the most effective ways um is to stay active during this time is really utilize this this toolkit. It's really dense and it's comprehensive and I really appreciate that. Um, we won't go through it uh right now in each section, but we'll have the chance to uh dive into each uh each category throughout uh
019the upcoming meetings. Um, so this tool is really designed to help you walk through any like fundamentals of the advocacy work with having like the clear uh easy uh understanding of the tools whether you're new to this type of work. Myself, I have some experience working at the county level. So, it's really cool to see this tool to help me out as as well. So, I'm learning. Um, and and also this tool is for folks who who's been doing this work for for decades or years. All right? even if you have that much experience. Um, and really the best part of this is not for us to just say, "Hey, here's the toolkit. You figure it out. We're going to dig into this together bit by bit during the the next upcoming uh legislative representative
020network meetings, I think." Um, so during each meeting, you'll have the chance to dive in to explore each section. Um, right. Um, so the the biggest question, what is this toolkit? What is this resource? Um, I would say it really covers everything from understanding the legislative process in Washington state and really how to craft a persuasive message to get lawmakers attention. Um, it really includes uh emails, phone scripts, testimony templates, uh, oped writing guides, uh, any tips to really engage a community. uh you can find guidance on how to maintain like that nonpartisan stance, really coordinate your advocacy work and ground yourself in that. Uh and also could help you set your board's legislative priorities in a way that really aligns with your district uh most pressing needs uh during the session. Um so I
021wouldn't consider it just a simple guide. This this uh this toolkit is really important. it could help you connect uh your personal and local experiences and into that broader policy those broader policy conversations. Uh one of the I say one of the most powerful forms of advocacy work is storytelling. Whether you're testifying, you're writing a lawmaker, uh because you're having a you could have the chance to share a real lived experience and it puts like your face to to that policy. uh and I think this toolkit really does that by helping you understand in the most strategic and clear and compelling way. Uh it uh another thing I want to highlight it helps with consistency across all networks. Uh when there's different members engaging with legislators or within a media uh it ensures like we're
022we're speaking the the same language and we have this one strong unified voice and we are sharing those same those same values. So um I'll share A few quick examples. I know I'm short on time, but I think this toolkit could be really helpful in real life, right? As I was saying earlier, let's say you want to invite your lawmaker to tour one of your local schools to see the firsthand impacts of underfunded program such as special education, right, or MSOC. I think uh this toolkit is is really could help you uh schedule a site visit, uh planning a checklist to walk through the process step by step. uh or even maybe your board wants to submit feedback on a proposed bill. Um that could this toolkit has those resources in there uh to formulate
023that type of that type of communication with legislators. Um so uh these tools can be really can be used today is not really just in theory. Uh and and I would say that to remember that the toolkit is not only for the big policy pushes. It's it's really equally valuable for for everyday engagement. Uh you could write a have guide steps on how to write a thank you note to your legislator, how to support support a priority bill, whether you're posting a social media platform, any updates on that platform uh within your community or you're coordinating with districts on shared uh issues. Uh you know, I I think this summarizes a lot during a legislative session. it could be a great asset for you. Um to wrap up, I would say that um I want
024to emphasize on this toolkit um is really a companion in your work. Um it is here to help you be a better to be a better advocate for your district to give you that confidence and connection that you need whether you're communicating or advocating with the legislature. Uh so as we move through the interim together, I really plan on going um into each section and giving you uh better insight on how to use this toolkit. Uh so we're not reacting to legislators during this session. We're actually shaping our voice and our policy during that time. So I'm excited to go through this toolkit with you in the upcoming legislative sessions. I'm sorry. Sorry. The upcoming uh LED rep network meetings and um you know answer any questions and dive into this work together. So let's
025my closing remarks will be let's just keep this uh advocacy strong, steady, and centered and and within our community voices. So um thank you so much. I'm excited we'll have the chance to to dive into the the ledge uh the the toolkit itself and at the future meetings. Thanks, Logan. Nice work, Leavon. Thanks so much for sharing that overview. Um we hope you all found that helpful and um you know please as you're looking through that toolkit on your own. Um don't hesitate to reach out to us with questions. We'll also like Leavonne said uh really be going through that section by section over the next two to three Ledger Network meetings um as we get through the summer. So thank you for that. Um we are going to move on but before we do
026um I see a question in the chat the battleground. Um just wanting to hear a little bit more about um what the term I used a heartbreaking session um and how uh that might be shared sort of in a comparative way to other sessions. I have no frame of reference. That's my point. See, I'm so new to this. Yeah. No, Terry, you are totally good. Um I'm happy to share what that means to me and of course Marissa Leavonne um and others feel free to jump in on that. But I think for me um you know uh I was obviously in the early learning sector during this last session. So not directly in the K12 space but obviously watching it. Um and I think for a lot of us that were on the ground in
027Olympia. Um this is uh the toughest session to navigate that I've ever had and I think for many others just in recent memory in terms of um the politics of it especially with the state uh state budget deficit that was experienced um during this last year um it also feels like in the K12 space in particular um this is some of the most aligned K12 has ever been. you heard the messaging about the big three um for many months before the legislative session started all throughout. Um and just to see uh the need that we were arriving with versus the results that we actually got. Um that gap I think was just um heartbreaking in the sense of where conversation conversations and bills started at the beginning of session versus how dramatically uh some really
028quick and some over the course of the entire session were reduced um by the end of session. That's just a couple of thoughts that I would offer. We obviously have a lot of work to do um as we continue um and really hope that the K12 community can really stay uh in alignment around some of these topics as as we know that you all as school directors are uh legally and moral morally obligated um to do these things um that the legislature should be funding you for. Um, Marissa, is there anything in particular since you were here during session um that you'd want to add and maybe you don't share in my heartbreaking session sentiment right now? No, I mean I I think there was a lot of writing on the wall. Um, as an
029example, I think what I think what's heartbreaking to David Berg's point is that we had a lot of legislative uh champions, legislators who um were totally on board with acknowledging the need and working really hard to meet us there. There were more bills around our priorities than we've ever seen before. I think that's um the result of really good interim advocacy work and there certainly were legislators who um were were interested in supporting those asks. Uh but they like you are just one vote and um they need the majority of 147 individual votes to pass a budget. So um they uh they couldn't get it across the aisle. So I think the early momentum uh was hopeful and our fall was uh far and fast. Um I will say though if we were reading the
030tea leaves we might have noticed that for instance uh Representative Berg's House Bill 1338 which was the total funding of our need for material supplies and operating costs was late to be filed even though the conversations around it had happened months before session started. The reason why it was late to file is because there was pretty strong resistance from uh uh house leadership that they even wanted that bill to be filed specifically not to give us false hope. Uh the um house um uh the speaker of the house allowed it to be filed entertained uh allowing it to be heard in committee but it quickly was amended to drastically res reduce the total amount. So I think we saw early on that there was a reluctance to hear MSOC and then a quick change to
031bring MOC dollars down as quickly as possible. So um it was disappointing but also I think we saw some cues early on. Um and and then just the fact that this was the first time that the advocates were so closely aligned and we didn't get everything we wanted. Boo. Um and uh we also have to take that as um had we not be aligned like I said before had we not been aligned I don't think we would have gotten anything. In fact I think our cuts might have been more significant. So per usual it could have been worse. I'm sorry to say it's not it's not great but it could have been worse. We could have been early learning or higher ed or health care or one of the other sectors not part of the
032paramount duty. So I belvered the point. We've got two more uh presenters and limited time. I want to be sure we get to Trisha and Christine. Passing it back to you, Logan. Great. And I'm just going to pass it right over um and introduce Trisha Lubach was executive director um to share a bit about her uh work. And Leavonne, if you could pull up her slides, please that would be great. Great. Thank you, Logan. I I love it. I got the handover with it could have been worse. So, I'll I'll I'll try to have this um presentation to you all, not end with that. Um as well, that will be my goal for today. It's a low bar, but that's where I'm going with it. So, um uh good afternoon everybody. Uh nice to see
033you all here. I think I know most of you who are um on this uh webinar today, which is just great. That's really fun to see you. Um my name, if if we haven't met, my name is Trisha Lubach. I am Wazda's executive director. Um I have been executive director for um less than a year, about nine months. And but I'm not new to WASDA. So I have been with WASDA for over a decade uh working in the leadership development branch. And I'm just delighted to have moved into this new role and um be taking on some new responsibilities for WASDA. Uh for those of you who don't know, I come to WASDA as a member for 19 years. I served on a school board um the Quincy school board in the middle of the
034state for 19 years and um just stepped down from that position um less than a year ago when I took the executive director. So I come at this from multiple vantage points from the vantage point of a former school board member, former uh WASDA member. I was on the legislative committee long ago before I worked on staff and then um a decade working on staff. So, um I uh just really have always valued as a member what WASDA does and um and now I'm delighted to be able to um bring um the work to you. So, just quickly today we're going to talk a little bit about who is WASDA and what do we do? If you want to go to the next one, um, probably you know a lot of this information that there
035are 295 public school districts and seven state tribal education compact schools and our membership includes the school board members, all 1477 of them from um those 295 districts. Uh, lot of lot of employees within the system. Um, they serve over a million students u statewide. Uh, and it's a big part of the budget. So, um, not as big as we'd like it to be, but it is a big part of the budget. Okay, go ahead and go to the next one. Um, a couple of things. Some of these slides are from a presentation that I did to the House Education Committee um, back in January. Um, they convened to just give their members uh, on that education committee a little bit more information about the state agencies and the work that they each do within
036the K12 sector. And so what I shared with them again these are kind of some basics that um WASDA um is a state we are a state agency but we are um self-governing um and also we receive no funding for them from the legislature. So we're self-governing and we're self- financing. Um as you know all Washington state public school directors are WASDA members. And then the other thing that was important to remind them is that WA was no regulatory authority. So we can't tell school board members what to do or uh uh have any kind of regulation over them. Uh school board members are elected officials just like the legislature um just like the governor. Uh but what we can do is we can provide training for them, guidance, um what you're getting right now,
037which is some legislative advocacy support and then um my colleague uh Christine will talk a little bit about the policy and legal uh resources that we provide. Next, so um we're going to talk a little bit about the authority. Um WASDA was established in statute 101 years ago. Yes, I know we look younger than that, but um that's how old we are. And uh again, as one might imagine from a 101-year-old uh statute, the language is a little bit clunky here, but really, we're here to provide um the support for school districts around the state. Um each of you govern locally and we assist you in that process by providing resources and materials. Next, um the uh again, you know what WASDA is because you're all part of it. And uh this is the RCW
038that lists that all school directors um shall uh be members of the association. Uh and we are we're in that funny space uh where a lot of state agencies aren't because while we're a state agency, we are self um funded, self-supporting um and we're also a professional association for all of you. So we kind of wear a couple of different hats there. Next, this is WASDA's mission and vision. Uh obviously we're really looking at this from the standpoint of helping you ensure that each and every student is successful within the public system. And the way that we do that isn't a direct connection with students. We really see our role as we help school board members um govern effectively and equitably within their own districts in order to make their students successful. and we provide
039that support and resources to those adults who are doing that work locally. Next, uh, believe it or not, we are the largest group of um, elected officials in the state of Washington. I think that's important for the legislature to know. There's more of us than there are of them. Keep that in mind when you're feeling nervous about um, testifying. Um, most most of you all are serving four-year terms. Some serve six terms. There are a couple districts in the uh state that have six-year terms. And this is another important one that a lot of people don't realize is that just like um any other elected official um in the state, whether it's a legislator or a governor, um school board members are duly elected by their public and can only be removed from office by
040either being voted out by that public or through a recall. Recalls are rare, but they do happen. One happened a couple of years ago. um and uh did actually remove three board members. So, it's rare, but um also is uh a way that people can be removed from from school board. Go ahead. Next. Uh just a reminder, we don't we we not only don't possess any regulatory authority, we have uh no legal authority at all. So, once again, our role really is to um provide the training and resources to help all of you make good decisions. Next. So, we'll take a look at our functions here. Um, WASDA has a nonpartisan staff and we operate from a nonpartisan lens. For any of you who might have attended the regional meetings this year, we're really talking
041about um leading through your purpose. And part of the role of um school boards is to operate from that nonpartisan stance. Uh we are in one of the states that does not require you to indicate your political persuasion. you don't have to put an R or a D or an I behind your name. Um that's that is really a strength uh because kids don't come to us from a politicized point of view. Uh so we really lean into that nonpartisan role. Uh and we do that through all three of our branches which are policy and legal, strategic advocacy and leadership development. And then we'll go through a couple slides here. Um the functions that we really think of in terms of um your work as leaders uh within your districts are are three areas and
042they align nicely with our three branches. One of them is visionary leadership. Um are you providing that kind of visionary leadership that helps your district have clarity and um lead towards ensuring that all students are successful. Effective governance is another piece of that. So how are you um how are you as a team working together? How are you ensuring that your um policy and um legal aspects are being attended to? And then finally, strategic advocacy. And I think you all probably know a little bit about that because you're serving as ledge reps within your district. Next, I won't read all of these to you. This is just a a list of um some of the services that come out of the leadership development branch. Leadership development really supports annual conference. Um we do a lot
043of services for boards. Board superintendent teams will come do workshops within your own districts as well as things like board boot camp and um leadership laws are a couple of the additional services. And we'll go to the next one which is strategic advocacy. Again, you're probably familiar with a lot of these. The bill tracker, all of the work that takes place during the ledge session as well as the priorities and positions. And then of course Ledger Repet which we're uh doing right now. And then policy and legal services. I know that Christine's going to talk about this so I'll I'll let her take this one and um and we'll go to the next slide. She can talk about what those services are. Um thinking about how WASDA is organized. Uh we say that WASDA is
044a member-driven organization. Um sometimes you might wonder, well, what does that really mean? um it literally means members run the organization and staff operates based on um much of their work. So we have a board of directors that um that is elected by each of you within the director areas. There are between 16 and 17 of them. Normally there's 16 but right now we have a 17th because we have a representative on the national schoolboard association. And then we have some the stand four standing committees. We have the legislative committee, resolutions, nominating and the intercolastic activities committee or IA. So those are the four standing positions. Again, those are all elected by each of you within your director areas. Go to the next please. And then we we have a variety of other groups as
045well. We have um several advisory groups, uh the small schools committee, we have the annual conference planning committee, there's a governmenttogoment task force, um a school directors of color council, and a school trust lands advisory committee. There are other groups that that we convene as well, but these this is just an example of some of those that have a real impact on how we operate. Next, um a couple of networks, too. Again, you're you're part of one of these networks. We have a federal relations network. Um this one for ledge reps um new directors network that we run every year when um it's an election year. So we'll start that again um in December after their newly elected board members. And then we have a student board representative network that's um been really a a
046joy and a uh very interesting to be able to have student um input. So how's our work affected by state legislation? Uh here's a prime one. Again, uh Christine's going to talk about this, but um one of our u main areas of work is the development of model policies and in some cases procedures. Um that gets uh created by the uh policy and legal branch. Um the leg uh they're ba it's based on law. as we develop model policy. Then model policies go out to you and all of you within your local authority can make changes to those if you choose. Again, we what we provide you is a model that does align with law and does protect you from liability. Uh and then we p published this terrific magazine policy and legal news which
047really allows our policy and legal staff to give you a deep dive into um what the work uh what the policy is and where it came from and how it might be applied within your district. And then there are also some legislatively required trainings. Um the legislature does tend to like to require things of school board members. Uh, one of them that uh, uh, took place during 2020. Uh, it was passed during that year was the requirement that schoolboard members take um, educational equity trainings. Those are all on our leadership development web pages. You can take a look at those. These are the five trainings that are currently available. We provide these both in person um, at some of our events as well as uh, virtually. And then you probably all know that there's the
048open government training that's required by the legislature and that's delivered actually by the secretary of state. We also provide those at a couple of our events including annual conference. So areas of focus for me for 2025 um have really been around these four areas. And um as I as I took over as as executive director in August, we were down a number of staff members. Um it was really important to me that we make sure that we staff up appropriately so that you all are served well and so that our staff members also have what they need in terms of um uh support in in their work. Uh it's what we are we call ourselves a small but mighty uh group of of staff members here that serve a lot of people around the state
049almost 1500 um actually more like about 1,800 when you include the superintendent. Um we're also working on uh updating our systems and technology to be more efficient for all of you. Uh also expanding and diversifying our revenue. Uh we primarily uh exist based on dues that school districts pay um as well as the products and services and events that we provide. We're looking for some ways to add additional revenue streams uh just to ensure that that we are on solid footing. And then um the fourth one is really important um and that's engaging unengaged members. There's so many things that schoolboard members can gain from being involved with WASDA and we want to make sure that uh everyone knows about that and has the opportunity to engage with us. And I think that's we're pretty
050close to the end here. We are indeed. So again, I just want to thank you all for your work as um as board reps and uh thank you for being here with us today. Thanks so much, Trisha. Really really appreciate um the updates. Um we do have some questions in the chat. Um we will make sure we save them um and get back to you. We have just a short amount of time and some really really great information coming from uh Christine Giri, our director of policy and legal services. So Christine, I will pass it right on over to you. Thank you for joining today. Right. Thank you. I'm not sure who's forwarding the um PowerPoint for me. So let me go to the very top one. Okay. Who is who is doing it, by
051the way? Is that you, Levine? Okay. Thank you. All right. Um, it's afternoon. Yep, it's afternoon. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for being here. I appreciate this opportunity to speak with you all. I know it can get a bit of a long day when you're just staring at a computer screen and listening to talking heads. So, I'll try to move this. I will absolutely try to answer your questions, but it may have to be afterwards just because I'm gonna um kind of do some a lot of information for you. As um Trish has already said, the policy and legal division of WASDA has its own um basically menu of services that we do. Everything from answering questions that come in emails and calls to the newsletter that you saw that goes out four times a
052year and gives the latest updates on any changes or modifications in policy and why. Um, we do policy services and you may all be familiar with Kelsey Winters who is our policy specialist and she's a true gem. Um, she can tell you the history and why it happened back into that 100redy year history of our um, organization. But what I really want to spend some time with you on today is something that's kind of become a bit of a flash point. I mean, I don't think we have to pretend it hasn't because there's a lot of question about model policy. And so I want to discuss how we make model policy and what it actually means for all of you as um school board directors so we could advance it please Leon. So I'm said
053this before and I want to I'm definitely dating myself on this but you are all very involved with how bills become laws. And when I say date myself is because when I was making up this presentation and we were all working on it and it started a few months ago. We were kind of short-term um naming this the the schoolhouse rock kind of policy because if you remember the famous one um how a bill becomes a law. I think it probably if I could see your faces I would get some nods out of that. But um you remember at the very end of that the guy comes out of Congress and he's like they've signed your bill now you're a law and like yay and all the thing. And that's kind of where a lot
054of you that that that's kind of where your job on this committee kind of seems to finalize. But once that is done, that's when our work at WASDA begins. So I want to tell you how those laws become model policies. So what is a definition of a model policy? Any model policy is basically minimally viable. That means it is legally defensible. It is the bare minimum that you need to make sure that you are in compliance with the law for any situation. Typically, there are procedures that go along with this. Um, and the procedures are tied directly to the policy. Advance, please. Okay. So, why do we have model policies? Are we have model policies? Because we, you know, we're always talking about equity and we talk about equal access. Well, there are many places
055that make model policy, and you must have policy as a school district. You know that. But if you all had to go out and pay for it, you could do that, too. You could take a half a million dollars and get a private law firm or group that does this, and you could make your model policies, but that really would not be fair to many of the places in this state who don't have a spare half million lying around. And so policies give you a starting point for a dialogue in your own district about how you want to run your district. It removes barriers to legal compliance because it's there for everyone and all our members. And it stops you from the ridiculous excesses and not being sure if you're actually getting very good policy
056or not. We guarantee this is one of the things that we put so much care and effort into. And I believe I am saying the complete truth when I say this is a high quality and you can trust the the model policies. Please advance. So what a model policy isn't that's I said last time that's a weirdly worded card. I want to change that one. But a model policy is not okay WASDA you must have policies but as far as W was policies it is not necessary that you adopt every policy that was it is that is not a rule in this state. Having a model policy is not a permanent guarantee of legal compliance. Why? Because laws change and we know that this year the laws change here and there. one line changes and
057the entire policy now needs to be rewritten. Model policy is never set it and forget it. It is always going to have to be looked at and you need to have schedules within your districts on how often to go back to them and make sure they're still compliant. And that's something where our legal policy services steps in. And finally, they're not unchangeable. There are things within almost every single policy that when you take it from the model level and bring it down into your school district that you can change to make it your own and have it reflect your local beliefs and um the things that are important to you. One next slide please. So why was the mix model policy? Okay, these are the two you've already seen this in a few of the
058other presentations I'm sure. We were established by an RCW 100 years ago. There's a whack that talks about this and we are charged our orders are that we are responsible for developing model policies in order to help the districts be in compliance with the law and the best practices as well as any emerging needs. So this is why one of the reasons we were created and so it's one of the three pillars of what was all about. Okay. So what prompts WA was to revise or make new policies. They come from many places, but none of them are mysteries. As you just heard, new state and federal laws come through. We get new laws, new guidelines. It needs a policy. Um, it might be a directive from the legislature where they say, "You shall create
059this policy." Emerging issues come up, and I'm going to go into examples of each of these so you get a better sense of it, but new things happen in the educational landscape that seem to need addressing with a policy. So basically they come from the places you're already familiar with all of you. They come from the legislature. They come from researchbased practices. They come from the districts themselves when they have an issue that they feel that it could be best addressed by a standardized policy. Okay. So how do we shape our model policy? The contents of state or federal laws, guidelines or regulations, legal rulings. For example, um recently in Breton, there was a legal ruling that redefined um prayer in schools. If you just strictly went by the original law and ignored the Breton
060case, you might no longer be in compliance. So, case law can put a shift on an RCW that already exists. Researchbased best practices. Um these are things that happen out in the educational field with your peers. For example, one of these might be the um new that was developed um as I said in a researchbased model that allows children, the school students to bring EpiPens to school in the event that someone in their life, their community, their household, their classroom might overdose. Um they did the research, found out that these pens, you cannot take them yourselves and have any harm. So there was no harm in the kids having them but it was a real life situation that is addressed by policy. Now finally audit findings compliance it's okay you could leave it there um
061different rulings come out and say no this is how you need to do your audits now this is how you need to do this now and that can also affect our policy. So, here's the big thing that I want to get through. If I get through almost nothing else today, I want you to take this away with you. It is required. It is required that school boards adopt policy and procedure to govern your school district. However, it is optional for school boards to adopt WASDA's model policy and procedure. While we think it's very high quality and it is very nonpartisan, it is up to the district. If you have the funds and the mental broadband to do it, then you can write every policy on your own. But since most people cannot do that, and
062most school districts would find that overwhelmingly egregious on their time demands, we instead do this part for you and then you can take it and bring it to your district and make it your own. Next slide please. Okay. So whether we already said whether a board uses our policy or not, there are three types of policies we put up there. And you may notice that there are different wording here. We are working with changing some of the wording because we realize there was some confusion about what is the difference between essential and encourage? Is essential necessary? Does encourage mean something different than discretionary since it's only encouraged? So we're trying to consolidate that and come up with things that have more of an immediate understanding when you read it. So we are looking at them
063this way right now. The policies you must have addressed issues that must be addressed at your school district level. We're calling critical things like this are absolute laws where you shall according to the RCW have something at your district. There are also federal rules. You must have a Title N um policy addressing Title N. You must have policies addressing your IEPs. I mean, these things go these are federal laws and they have funding attached and so they're critical. A school district must address these things. Something important. They're important, but you're not required 100% to have it. For example, um policies that discuss the boundaries between your teaching staff and your students. you must have something like this. Is it the law? Is it the law saying it? No. But it's common sense for liability issues
064that you have some sort of guidelines in your district about how teachers may interact. Will I used to work at um OP, which for some of you who may not know is a division in OSPI um that regards teacher discipline. And I can tell you there were there are a lot of lawsuits out there over these issues with teachers accused of overstepping their boundaries. And one of the first thing that comes up in these lawsuits when the investigation is happening is the question, did the district have a policy? Second question, did the district follow its policy? So, it's critically whether you, you know, like all these issues or not, it's still critical to protect your district by having policies in place. And the last type we talk about are discretionary. We're not changing these words
065at all. Discretionary obviously means um optional and an issue um a policy here might be one that we're talking about developing now which might be a school cell phone ban at the school level. Um we're not saying we're 100% going to do it but there's been many districts that are asking about that and so that would be a policy that is made up from district need. Next slide please. Okay. Once again, critical. I'm not going to read these through because I've already explained it to you, but having a policy with the circumstances required by state or federal law. Important circumstances in this category do not necessarily need a policy. However, they're pretty relevant, pretty important, and you're going to want to have something probably discretionary is completely up to completely up to your your own
066district. Next slide, please. Okay. So once we have this model policy and I want to say one more thing about the policy because I know there's there's people you know are we partisan are we nonpartisan I can tell you just as a human being that Christine Giri does not like every single law that comes out of the legislature I look at the tax laws I have some concerns about them I mean that's just the fact of being a person in this world but when I come into WASDA and I work on these policies it doesn't matter what Christine thinks about any law. The only thing I care about is making sure that it's clear and it's legally sufficient because my only job here is to keep you all safe to keep your districts in lawful
067compliance so that when someone makes an allegation, you are prepared with the armor of your policy that's up to date and ready to go. So once we have that, you take our policy. You look up what you need or you do your refreshing and you bring it to your board. Next slide, please. Okay. So this is how you use policy to govern your school district to express your community's philosophies and values. And once they are adopted, they are basically the law of your district. So these are very important. They're not something that just passes. Once it's approved, it becomes the the orders for how your district handles the situation. Next one, please. Okay. Questions to ask when you're adopting policy at your level. Does this need to be tailored? Is this in alignment with the
068current law? Does policy recognize district resource constraints like staffing, training, or funding? Is it aligned with existing policies? Because as you know if you change one it may that one may have touched up against three or four others. So now you have to go and change all of them so that they're in alignment. Is implementation of this policy properly delegated to the superintendent and does your board revisit these policies regularly? Next one. One trillion. That number is from 2024. how much schools paid out in different liabilities. Now, it's all bunched in together there, so there's a lot of different subject matters, but that's how much schools paid out. And it's happening across Washington. It's happening across the country. There are fewer and fewer providers for school districts. So, when I say it pays to be
069prudent, it really does. Um, you need to make sure, you know, here's the thing about policy is it's not meant I haven't really touched on I suppose how we we actually write at the paper. Sometimes it's in house. Sometimes we have subject matter experts. But at the end of the day, our policy is always always based in law. And so when you look at a critical policy, one that must be had in order for your district to be in compliance, like I said, it doesn't matter what I think about the law, but it also doesn't matter what anyone in your district thinks about the law, per se. It only matters that this is legal in that respect. And so opinions and playing with that is a very bad idea because it takes it can never
070be a matter of opinion. It can never be about what we think about the law. It has to be about what the law actually is or the model policy becomes useless. It becomes just something that changes depending on who has access to it. And it can never be that if it's going to be legally firm for all of our members. So when I say be prudent, however you decide to get your policy, and we hope it's from WASDA, but however you decide, make sure that you're getting an excellent product because it will matter at some point. Um I I can look at the I can't control the questions thing on my computer. So if someone wants I don't know how you want to do the questions if we have time or no, but thanks Christine.
071Um really really appreciate that. Um, we have one minute left. Maybe this is a short answer question. Does it matter if a state law as opposed to federal law? Well, when two laws conflict, when a federal law directly conflicts with a state law, federal law wins. That's the way it goes. But what we actually have going on right now are not laws coming out of the federal government. We primarily have executive orders coming out of the federal government. So right now we stay with state law with compliance. Um if that changes and a law comes out of the federal government, we will change it to reflect the law. That is all I do. I come in and I look at it and we make sure it's in compliance so that you have something that you
072can count on and know that it wasn't meddled with and it's straight up will protect you in court. Great. Thanks so much for that, Christine. Um hope everyone had a really great time. and we're going to get you out on time. Um, I just dropped my contact info, email, and phone number in the chat if any of you want to save that. Um, looking forward to building connections with a lot of you over the next couple of months as I get resettled back in the organization. Um, and get out into um, exploring the state and getting out in school districts with Leavonne this summer. Um, so, thanks all for being here. We're one minute over. I didn't want to do that, but here we are. Um, hope you all have a great afternoon and we'll
073see you next month. Thanks everyone.