Yesterday Democrats, the majority party in the Washington Senate, proposed a leadership strategy to  navigate the narrow partisan divide within the chamber.

The proposed leadership strategy for the 2013 and 2014 legislative sessions would reduce the partisan majority on Senate committees by giving the majority party a single vote more than the minority party on Ways & Means as well as the Transportation Committee and all policy committees.

In addition the strategy calls for the creation of a new committee – the Committee on Education Finance & Results – to be equally split between both parties and led by a co-chair from each party. The new Committee would continue the current work of the legislative task force on education funding whose focus has been to look for ways to comply with the state Supreme Court’s ruling in the McCleary case. Specifically, to explore ways to improve education funding in a manner that ensures state education programs are effective such as reducing remediation rates, increasing graduation rates, and eliminating the acheivement gap.

Senate Democrats plan to discuss their proposal with Republicans after the Republicans identify their leadership team.

The Senate Democrats also identified their leadership team and committee leadership. Some of the key appointments for higher education include:

• Ways & Means: Chair Sen. Hargrove (Operating) and Vice-Chair Sen. Nelson (Capital)
• Committee on Education Finance and Results: Co-Chair Sen. Frockt
• Higher Education: Chair Sen. Tom and Vice-Chair Sen. Hasegawa

The 2013 legislative session will convene on Monday, January 14.