Tuesday, July 11, 2006

local education news, 7/11

As noted earlier, the Olympia School Board met last night to discuss the 2006-2007 budget, in advance of the public comment session this coming Monday. Not all requests for funding were met.
Any new spending means less money for future years unless the Legislature decides to increase school funding, district officials said. Lahmann's $73.9 million budget proposal includes about $4.6 million - or 6.2 percent - in a reserve fund....

Lahmann's proposal adds almost $125,000 to special education, including assistance targeting autistic students, disabled children from birth to preschool and non-native English speakers.

But it doesn't include several others, such as adding a full-time position to coordinate special education students' transition from high school to adult life after they've completed school.

"We want our full set of recommendations," said Donna Obermeyer, a Bridges member and the parent of a child in special education. "That's what we're going to push for."
In other news, the North Thurston District has created a special administrative position to tackle WASL score improvement and remediation.
Oliver said that while the district will be looking at programs to address the needs of those students who need to pass the WASL in the next two years, the middle schools are also in the middle of upgrading the math program, which will help students in the long run.

"If we don't do that, we're going to have the same problem in the future," he said. "We need to back it down to grades nine, eight, seven, so they're in a position to pass the WASL in tenth grade."

Oliver said among his first tasks will be looking at different programs that have been successful, and then bring those to the schools.

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