Washington State School Directors Association – The lobbying arm of School Boards

The WSSDA (Washington State School Directors Association) is a group that represents all Washington State School Board Directors as a lobbyist with the Washington State Legislature.

• WSSDA coordinates and recommends Policy’s and Procedures for School Boards to adopt as well as recommending updates.
• WSSDA holds several meetings each year that one (or more) school board directors can attend to be “trained” as well as vote on the items WSSDA should lobby the legislature on during the next calendar year.
• Each school board must pay a fee to be a member (the State requires it)

So, how about some facts?

1. How much does each school district pay to belong?   Open this file and find your district: WSSDA Dues By District
2. For instance, the Battle Ground School District pays: $15,240.  The highest district? Seattle at $35,305
3. Who pays the annual fee? The taxpayers
4. What’s the annual budget of the WSSDA and how is it spent?  Click this link to open their last annual report for 2015: WSSDA 2016 Budget from website
   • Annual Conference $455,000
   • BoardDocs $260,000
   • Policy and Legal News $203,000
   • Model Policies Online $175,000
5. What input does the public have to WSSDA and the school board directors “guidance”? Elect the School Board Directors and hope they do a good job

What are the Top 10 legislative priorities for WSSDA in 2017 on behalf of the School Board Directors? Click this link to open the complete list: WSSDA 2017 Legislative Position Priority Ranking\

Here are the Top 5 for 2017:

• Changing School Bond Approval Requirements – WSSDA Position Category: Governance
  Action: WSSDA shall initiate and/or support legislation that would change the bond approval percentage from 60 percent to a simple majority. (Adopted 2016)
• Full Funding of Basic Education (2016 SLP 7.1.12) – WSSDA Position Category: Funding and Allocations
  Action: WSSDA shall initiate and/or support legislation that fully funds and implements all aspects of Washington’s redefined program of Basic Education as outlined in ESHB 2261 (Chapter 548, Laws of 2009). (Adopted 2012)
• Levy Equalization/Levy Lid/Grandfathered Inequities (2016 SLP 7.1.1) – WSSDA Position Category: Funding and Allocations
  Action: WSSDA shall initiate and/or support legislation which would
  • remove grandfathered inequities in K-12 education levy lids.
  • increase the percent of levy impacted by local effort assistance (LEA) to 20 percent.
  WSSDA opposes reining in or repealing the levy lid; however, if an increase in the levy lid were adopted by the Legislature, WSSDA supports requiring that LEA be fully funded and a commensurate increase in LEA be included. (Adopted 1994; Most recently amended 2016)
• Fully Fund Facilities for Mandated Class Size Reduction – WSSDA Position Category: Funding and Allocations
  Action: WSSDA supports legislation to fully fund any and all mandated class size reduction. Funding will support property acquisition and facilities to provide the necessary classroom space.
  (Introduced 2015)
• Statewide Bargaining for Salaries – WSSDA Position Category: Governance
  Action: WSSDA supports legislation that transfers authority for bargaining basic education salaries for classified, certified, and administrative school employees from local bargaining units to the state, including an immediate moratorium on all current bargaining while the details are determined, and that retains local authority for bargaining of all non-basic education enhancements. (Introduced 2016)

If you like the actions and communication and decisions of your school board then that’s great. There are, however, more than a few people who do not trust their school boards. Based on this list of priorities what say ye?

Your tax dollars are being used to pay for lobbying on behalf of school board directors. Are you aware of this? Do you care?