MARYSVILLE — Representatives of the Marysville Special Education PTSA have made frequent trips to Olympia to lobby state legislators, but Nov. 10 marked the first time that was reciprocated.
State Rep. Mike Sells supported authorizing the Individualized Education Program team to determine graduation criteria for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. When Marysville-Pilchuck High School Life Skills teacher Jim Strickland reported that some parents harbored misgivings about the ambiguity of that, state Rep. June Robinson welcomed suggestions for the specific language they’d like to see.
When asked whether funds from the state Supreme Court’s McCleary decision would be used to address mental health needs of students, state Sen. John McCoy acknowledged “there’s a lot of unmet needs,” and vowed to push for more counselors and psychologists in schools.
Sells admitted that many homeless adults are being incarcerated because sufficient mental health services are not there, while Robinson noted that such services should be covered under Obamacare, but resources remain limited.
Board member Michele Olson reported that many psychiatric drugs are not covered under Obamacare, prompting Robinson to promise she’d look into it.
McCoy expressed frustration at what he saw as conflicting mandates, between the public’s support for fully funding education at the same time they voted to reduce taxes the state can collect.
“We can’t rob Peter to pay Paul,” McCoy said. “And if I were to draw up a bill for a state income tax, I would need to find a new job, because you would un-elect me, as you’ve done to my colleagues who had tried to do that.”
McCoy added that there’s not enough unassigned money in the budget to earmark for education.
All three legislators expressed support for incentivizing the hiring of people with disabilities, even as he regretted that “there’s just not enough of them.” Strickland suggested having the state pay a portion of those employees’ salaries.
When the questions turned to how to alleviate social isolation for disabled students and graduates, the legislators again expressed broad support while wondering where the funding would come from, although Sells suggested bringing the city of Marysville on board for such efforts.
“I don’t know how we can do a lot of these things without additional funding,” Marysville schools superintendent Becky Berg said.
When Strickland inquired about lowering the voting age to 17, so students could become invested in elections while they’re still in high school, McCoy noted that similar measures have never gotten out of the legislature.
School board member Pete Lundberg added that one of the larger obstacles facing students is the 24-credit requirement for graduation.
“You can’t fail one class and be on pace to graduate,” Lundberg said. “There are different paths, but what about the students who aren’t on IEP? I appreciate how Mike Sells said that more of this needs to be under local control, because it’s the teachers who know best.”
