Washington State Senate Democrats: Eric Oemig

Washington Awarded $17.3 Million for Education Data System

Senate Democrats — Fri, 21 May 2010 21:56:00 GMT

I am proud to pass on the good news that Washington state has been awarded $17.3 million for implementation of an Education Data System. This is one of my main areas of focus in Olympia.

Please read the Governor’s press release below for more information:

OLYMPIA — Washington state was awarded $17.3 million for the design and implementation of a statewide data system, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced this morning.

The money is being funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Known as a statewide longitudinal data systems grant, the money will support the development of an integrated data system from early childhood education to adult employment.

“We know that transitions in school – from preschool to kindergarten, and from high school to college – present challenges to students,” Gov. Chris Gregoire said. “Having a data system to look at the progress of a student from pre-kindergarten through college is something that will help us better understand their needs. This grant will be an important part of our efforts to implement education reform and improve the quality of education for our children.”

While a number of data systems currently exist, the three-year grant will combine the K-12 data system, managed by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, with pre-kindergarten data, post-secondary data and workforce data to create a comprehensive, unified and efficient P-20 data system.

“Early learning, K-12 and higher education have needed a system like this for many years now,” said Randy Dorn, state superintendent. “It will bring us the data we need to better assist all students through the entire educational system.”

The grant will build on work already started by SPI and the Education Research and Data Center (ERDC) to link data across education sectors, and to learn more about the factors that determine student success.

Proposed projects will focus on five areas:

1) Data governance. When, how, and what data can be shared, while protecting individuals’ privacy.

2) Research and reporting. Reports will be written and datasets created that will inform both policy at the state level and practice at the school level.

3) Data warehouse environment. A data system will be developed to allow more efficient access to data across time, so that students can be tracked throughout their P-20 careers.

4) Interoperability. The goal is to facilitate the efficient and standardized exchange between ESP-20 and contributing data systems.

5) Strengthening systems. Those systems that supply data to the P-20 system will be strengthened and possibly augmented.

OSPI will serve as the fiscal agent for the grant and the ERDC will manage the execution of the grant activities in collaboration with OSPI, the Legislative Evaluation and Accountability Program and other partner agencies. This unique arrangement highlights the close collaboration of agencies across state government dedicated to improving the state’s education system. The ERDC was created by the 2007 Washington state Legislature. Its purpose is, in part, to “[conduct] analyses of early learning, K-12, and higher education programs and education issues across the P-20 system.” The ERDC is located in the Office of Financial Management (OFM), the Governor’s Budget Office.

The grant process was administered by the Institute of Education Sciences at the Department of Education. In total, $250 million was awarded this year through the grant competition to 20 states. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands applied.

45th District 2010 Resource and Budget Guide

Senate Democrats — Wed, 12 May 2010 21:30:00 GMT

My 2010 Resource and Budget Guide has been mailed to 45th District voters. If you did not receive a copy please find an updated pdf here or contact my aide, Syd, at locke.syd@leg.wa.gov.

I hope you refer to it often when looking for community resources or budget information.

There are a few corrections I want to point out for those of you who received a hard copy in the mail (which are updated in the attached pdf document):

The area code for King County officials on p. 5 of the Resources section should be 206 instead of 425.
The Legislative hotline on the cover should be 1-800-562-6000.

I’ve gotten a lot of helpful comments. Keep them coming. And thanks to the Kirkland resident who offered this, “Many thanks … This booklet is the best thing I have ever received in my 53 years as a Washington state resident.”

I hope you find it useful too!

Video: Legislative Update - March 5

Senate Democrats — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:46:00 GMT

Elimination of coal tax exemption still considered

Senate Democrats — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:57:00 GMT

The state’s environmental community received some good news with the release of the Senate operating budget Tuesday.

Senate Bill 6573, sponsored by Sen. Eric Oemig, D-Kirkland, closes a $4 million per year tax break for a coal-fired thermal generation facility. The bill has been folded into Senate Bill 6873, a larger package of measures to close tax loopholes.

Environmental activists were pleased to see the state’s largest greenhouse gas emitter asked to pay its fair share.

“As Washington faces the biggest financial crisis in state history, it is unconscionable to think that our state’s most harmful polluter should be allowed to continue receiving tax breaks,” said Doug Howell, the Sierra Club’s Senior Representative of the Coal-Free Northwest Campaign. “We applaud the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and Senator Eric Oemig, for including this reasonable solution to an economic injustice in the consolidated package of bills that will end corporate tax loopholes.”

The ending of this and other tax exemptions is part of a larger goal toward balancing the state’s $2.8 billion shortfall. Literally hundreds of tax exemptions, exclusions, deductions, deferrals, differential rates and credits that have been built into the state’s tax structure over time.

45th District lawmakers listen to citizens at Kirkland town hall

Senate Democrats — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 20:11:00 GMT

Citizens packed into Kirkland City Hall to ask questions of their 45th District lawmakers — Sen. Eric Oemig and Reps. Larry Springer and Roger Goodman.

Oemig welcomed questions from any and all, saying, “If you’re thinking it, odds are your friends and neighbors are thinking it, too — and your husband or wife is thinking the opposite.”

Most of the questions from citizens centered around the budget, the need for more education funding and possible tax increases to close a $2.8 billion budget gap.

“There really is only one issue: it’s all budget, all the time,” Springer said of the 2010 session.

Jerry from Woodinville said he’s the owner of a small business, and that his family has slashed spending and his business has cut back. He asked what the state was doing on spending cuts.

“I own a small business, so I know what this feels like,” Springer said. “We’ve had to fill a gap of $12 billion. Our own House and Senate staff have taken 68 percent of all the cuts and furloughs for state workers so far.”

Goodman said that his family of four is under the federal poverty level, but he’s going to cut his own salary by 5 percent. Goodman drives a 27-year-old car and lives in an 800-square foot house with his wife and two young children.

“I’ve cut back,” Goodman said. “I hear the fear and the worry. What if I lose my job, health care for my family or lose the house?”

After a woman talked about being taxed out of her home, Goodman pointed to the need for reform — of the tax system, of the criminal justice system and health care.

“The tax system is unfair, absolutely — it’s unfair and unbalanced,” Goodman said. “We need to restructure our tax system so people aren’t forced out of their homes, so poor people aren’t kept in poverty and small businesses aren’t hammered. I want to end the Business and Occupation tax.”

Goodman said $400 million is wasted each year in the criminal justice system, arresting and locking up drug addicts and the mentally ill, and that the health care system is wasteful and needs to be fixed.

He also said that the U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down campaign finance reform opened the door for wealthy special interests buying their way into power.

“We can’t legislate in a workable way if moneyed interests run the show,” Goodman said, adding that he’d seen a photo-shopped picture of the nine Supreme Court justices with their black robes covered in corporate logos, like NASCAR racers.

Oemig said that the state made deep cuts last in last year’s budget, and must make further cuts this year because of the global recession.

When a man asked why the state always runs a budget deficit, Springer pointed out that the state never runs a deficit. It always has a balanced budget — it’s in the constitution.

“We can’t print money like the feds,” Springer said. “Every year, we have a balanced budget, and if the economy goes south, we come back to session and cut more.”

Springer and Goodman both pointed out that the bad economy didn’t only force lawmakers to suspend I-960 on raising taxes, but lawmakers have had to suspend many other initiatives passed when the economy was good, especially two initiatives passed by almost 70 percent of the voters to increase spending on public schools to reduce class sizes and improve teacher pay.

“We’re actually taking in fewer dollars this year than before,” Springer said.

Oemig added that he had staff run the numbers to see if it was really true that the size of government just keeps going up. The numbers are misleading because of inflation and the millions of people who’ve come to Washington state.

“If you adjust the numbers for inflation and the number of people in this state, we spend less per person than we did 15 years ago,” Oemig said.

Video: Legislative Update - Feb. 17

Senate Democrats — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:43:05 GMT

Video: Legislative Update - Feb. 12

Senate Democrats — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:41:12 GMT

Highly capable students bill passes the Senate

Senate Democrats — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:45:00 GMT

SB 6629 asks the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to convene a technical working group with representatives who have significant expertise in the education of highly capable students. This group would work with national experts, counselors and parents to make recommendations to the Legislature on how to move forward with programs for these students. Sponsored by Oemig, the bill passed 48-0.

Join 45th District legislators at a Feb. 20 town hall meeting in Kirkland

Senate Democrats — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 02:38:00 GMT

Sen. Eric Oemig and Reps. Larry Springer and Roger Goodman invite you to the 45th District town hall to share your comments, questions and concerns about the 45^th District and topics related to the Washington state Legislature.

The event is free and open to all constituents of the 45^th Legislative District, which includes Carnation, Duvall, Woodinville, parts of Kirkland, Redmond, Sammamish, and the Upper Snoqualmie Valley.

the details:

Saturday, Feb. 20, from 10:30 a.m.- noon

Kirkland City Hall, Council Chambers

123 Fifth Avenue

Kirkland, Washington 98033

Senate passes Oemig’s school funding formula bill over to the House

Senate Democrats — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:18:00 GMT

Thursday, the Senate passed Oemig’s SB 6760, 46-0.

The measure replaces current K-12 funding formulas with new prototypical school funding formulas based on the findings of the Funding Formula Technical Working Group. The new funding structure is designed to provide more realistic allocations of resources necessary to support K-12 education for all students in Washington.

“One of my main focuses here in Olympia is to bring transparency and updated, data based methods to K-12 funding,” Oemig said. “We must continue to work toward the expectation that all children deserve an education that prepares them to succeed in the 21st century. Funding the right staff, programs and schools is the best way to reach that goal.”