Effort to re-overhaul teacher evaluations dead in Legislature

Unlike in two previous sessions, it looks like lawmakers this year will not significantly change the way public-school teachers are evaluated.

Senate Bill 5246, this session’s major proposal dealing with teacher evaluations, did not get approved at the last Senate education committee meeting of the week on Thursday night.

Today is technically — with some exceptions — the last day for non-budget-related bills to make it out of a committee if they are to have a chance this session.

Senate Bill 5246 was meant to build on last year’s historic law, which made student test scores a part of evaluations. The new bill would have mandated that test scores make up 50 percent of the evaluations.

It was sponsored by Senate education chairman Steve Litzow, R-Mercer Island, and had the backing of Democrats Rodney Tom of Bellevue and Steve Hobbs of Lake Stevens. But while the bill got a hearing Feb. 4, Litzow never scheduled it for a vote.

It is not unprecedented for teacher-evaluation bills to come back to life after the cut-off — it even happened last year.

But Senate Republicans have said they are prioritizing other policy bills.

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Comments | More in State legislature | Topics: rodney tom, Steve Hobbs, steve litzow

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Politics Northwest is the go-to blog for politics in our region. The blog explores national, state and local political news and issues. Reporters from Washington, D.C., to Seattle City Hall to the state capital in Olympia contribute. Editors are Richard Wagoner and Beth Kaiman.

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