Among the changes made to the bill is language to eliminate a proviso dedicated to the Latino/a Educational Achievement Project (LEAP) bilingual teacher mentoring program in the amount of $75,000 in each year ($150,000 total) in the Office of the Superintendent of Instruction and redirect these funds to the to the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) for alternate route and teacher recruitment programs, including pipeline for paraeducators, retooling to teach math and science, and the recruiting Washington teachers program.
In addition, lanuage was added to provide $50,000 each fiscal year out of the existing appropriation for the Office of Financial Management to contract with the Washington State Quality Award for training, outreach and assessments for public agencies and their vendors.
The language also instructs all state agencies, except the community and technical colleges, to track and report employees trained in performance management; provide to the Government Management and Accountability Program (GMAP), State Auditor’s Office and the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee copies of their Washington State Quality Award (WSQA) assessment, and to post the results to the GMAP’s website; to integrate performance management, including the Washington State Quality Award assessment, into agencies strategic plans. The community and technical colleges were amended out of the requirement for community colleges to conduct a full Washington State Quality Award assessment by June 30, 2013.
Finally, language was included that directs the Office of Financial Management to estimate on an annual basis the percentage of Washington households with incomes in the middle-income bracket or higher, and provide a report to the Governor and appropriate committees of the legislature and directs the Work Force Training and Education Board to include in its comprehensive plan specific strategies to increase the percentage of middle-income bracket or higher households, as calculation by the Office of Financial Management and developed by the agency or educational institution that will lead each strategy.