SB 5248, a bill to fund tutoring services for Washington public school students, was scheduled for action in the Senate Ways and Means Committee on Friday, but the committee chairman, Sen. Christine Rolfes (D-Bainbridge Island), pulled the bill from consideration, blocking its passage.  The bill’s bi-partisan cosponsors are Sen. Lisa Wellman (D-Mercer Island) and Senate Republican leader John Braun (R-Centralia).

The bill is designed to provide students with high quality targeted tutoring and extended learning services in the wake of a two-year public school shut-down ordered by Governor Inslee.

The bill’s failure to pass in committee is bad news for Washington public school children.

Experts like Professor Eric Hanushek are predicting students’ academic learning losses will mean they will earn significantly less during their lifetimes.  It also mean billions of dollars in losses to the state’s gross domestic product, with a subsequent loss of state tax revenue.

National education experts are calling for immediate action to help students recover from school shut-down learning losses to avoid this harm to individual students and to society at large.  For example, Professor Thomas Kane of Harvard University writes, “Kids are far, far behind in school.”  He recommends intensive, individual tutoring as the most effective way to help students catch up academically.  

Studies show that students attending Washington’s private schools experienced little or no learning loss because their schools were not shut down as long.  Most private and charter public schools had re-opened to in-person instruction by fall 2020, while the governor kept the public system fully or partially shut-down for over 22 months. 

While SB 5248 was blocked in committee on Friday, its tutor-funding provisions could still be included in the two-year budget for 2023-25.  The budget process now provides that best way for lawmakers to help students before the legislature’s scheduled adjournment on April 24th.