Build a Better Future for Washington’s Children

State government has let down Washington’s youth. They are plagued with significant learning loss, poor physical safety and security at school, easy access to hard drugs such as fentanyl, and poor mental-health support. Our children deserve better. Republicans want to build a better future for Washington’s children.

How do we plan to do this? Through a comprehensive plan to produce better outcomes for our kids. We must make sure kids are at school and ready to learn. We must provide them with extra tools and support to make up their losses. And we must invest more in special education programs because the kids receiving those services are among the hardest hit by pandemic learning loss.

Parents must be part of the solution. Teachers and parent should be partners in education, not adversaries. And schools must not undermine the role of parents and guardians in decisions that affect our kids.

We must also protect children from exposure to fentanyl and other controlled substances that threaten their safety and ability to thrive.

No single approach will build a better future for Washington’s children. It’s critical that we move forward together.

Read

Funding intensive tutoring is the best way to help students recover from COVID lockdown learning loss

Three-Pronged Approach

K-12 Education

Our children are still suffering from post-pandemic learning loss. It is our job to fund solutions that work, such as intensive tutoring and methods to reduce chronic absenteeism. We need to expand their access to technology. And, school districts should also have access to student transportation funding that they can use for a variety of vehicles that are still safe, but also more appropriate for different uses than buses are, such as vans. We must also open up access to the special education safety for more schools and provide a special education ombuds to help manage our special education program.

Higher Education

Making it easier for kids to graduate by reducing the requirements to graduate is the wrong way to go about improving graduation rates. Opening the “Running Start” program up to 10th graders will help some youth find a path toward higher education previously inaccessible. In the process, they graduate high school with college-level courses. For those not interested in a 4-year university, we must provide innovative programs for giving them the post-secondary education they need to find family-wage jobs that society can’t live without.

Parents and Family

Parents have the right to have more knowledge of, and input in, curriculum taught in our K-12 public schools. We should be very careful about the statewide educational curriculum mandates handed down by the Legislature, and preserve local control so communities can teach what is judged to be appropriate material. We need to protect children from domestic violence, human trafficking, sexual abuse and exposure to dangerous drugs such as fentanyl. The erosion of the family has taken a toll on the mental health and discipline of our students. The best way forward is to involve parents more, provide family resources, and hold parents accountable.

The Facts

Listen

This is the equity issue of our time.

Sen. John Braun

20th Legislative District

Quotable

"Walking Start to Running Start" approved by Senate

2024 Senate Republican Bills to Build a Better Future for Washington’s Children

  • I 2081:  Create a parents’ bill of rights
  • SB 5438:  Requires the HCA and DSHS to review policies that undermine the health of a family or discourage family engagement for those in the behavioral health system (Warnick)
  • SB 5511:  Enhances and improves the equity in K-12 education funding (Braun)
  • SB 5631:  Requires state agencies to clearly identify programs and services that accept applicants with DACA status (Torres)
  • SB 5647:  Provides school safety training to temporary school employees (Torres)
  • SB 5656:  Establishes the school security and preparedness infrastructure grant program (Torres)
  • SB 5670:  Permits 10th grade students to participate in the Running Start program in online settings (Hawkins)
  • SB 5813:  Requires instruction on agricultural literacy for students in grades 7-12 (Dozier)
  • SB 5850:  Reduces chronic absenteeism in schools (Braun)
  • SB 5851:  Requires Holocaust and genocide education in public schools (Braun)
  • SB 5852:  Provides funding for the special education safety net (Braun)
  • SB 5865:  Concerns the custody of a child when a parent has a history of domestic violence (Fortunato)
  • SB 5958:  Establishes the Washington career skills grant program (Boehnke)
  • SB 6031:  Allows student transportation funding to pay for multiple vehicle types for transporting students (Braun)
  • SB 6048:  Funds a special education ombuds (Braun)
  • SB 6049:  Funds support efforts for students’ learning recovery (Braun)
  • SB 6053:  Improves equitable access to postsecondary education (Holy)
  • SB 6096:  Enhances state local effort assistance funding for public schools (Braun)
  • SB 6171:  Orders a study on childcare for criminal justice personnel (L. Wilson)
  • SB 6204:  Provides more parental and local control over K-12 school curriculum (McCune)
  • SB 6205:  Requires instruction on the meaning and history of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools (McCune)
  • SB 6234:  Provides screening for newborn infants for branched-chain ketoacid dehydrogenase kinase deficiency (L. Wilson)
  • SB 6270:  Supports computer science programs in Washington grade schools (MacEwen)
  • SB 6289:  Establishes a work group to assess the restrictions on the employment of 16- and 17-year-olds (Boehnke)
  • SB 6296: Creates the retail industry workgroup to identify and recommend four colleges at with to pilot micro- and short-term credentials for the retail workforce (Boehnke)