Session reached its third cutoff deadline Wednesday at 5 p.m. when bills need to be passed by their originating chamber in order to continue in the legislative process. Ahead of that, the Senate on Tuesday passed the bill that would extend the Customized Training Program's business and occupation tax credit until 2031.
Committee work picked up again Thursday with the House Education Committee taking up a bill that would support competency-based high school education.
Customized Training Program tax credit extension bill passes Senate
March 11 — The Senate on Tuesday passed the bill that would extend the Customized Training Program’s business and occupation tax credit expiration date to July 1, 2031 with a 47 to 1 vote. First created in 2006, the program provides interest-free loan assistance to businesses contracting with colleges for employee training. The State Board pays up-front costs that the business pays back once the training is complete. Businesses may take a B&O tax credit equal to 50% of the payment. The tax credit is set to expire July 1, 2026.
"This is a huge benefit to the manufacturers and the businesses in my area that are coming in faster than some of the workforce can be developed," Sen. Judy Warnick, the bill's prime sponsor, said of SB 5682.
Competency-based high school education bill heard in House Education
March 13 — A bill that would support competency-based high school education throughout the state was up for a hearing during Thursday’s House Education Committee meeting. If passed, SB 5189 would direct the Washington State Board of Education to design and recommend a process for identifying schools and school districts with competency-based education. It would also direct the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to consult with the State Board, the state’s universities, the State Board of Education, and the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board to develop a standard competency-based education high school transcript.
Community and technical colleges offer High School+, a competency-based high school diploma for students who are at least 18 years old.
“This bill endorses our colleges’ decade-plus mission of offering competency-based high school completion, accelerating Washington residents with their high school diplomas through High School+,” Troy Goracke, a State Board policy associate overseeing high school completion programs, said in support of the bill. “We also look forward to the cross-education agency collaboration to enhance high school transcripts with a competency-based education focus, which will improve the quality of Washington high school students' educational records, which is an important improvement.”
Trustees confirmed by Senate
The Senate this week confirmed three trustees to the boards of their colleges:
- Lauren Adler to Pierce College District
- Cristhian Canseco Juarez to Clark College
- Joseph Bowman to Highline College
Coming up next week
House and Senate policy committees start their first full week of meetings hearing bills sent from the opposite chamber. The House Postsecondary Education and Workforce Committee is set to hear the State Board's three requested bills on Tribal elder tuition waivers, expanding the College Bound Scholarship to students who receive a high school equivalency certificate, and eliminating the age limit for tuition waivers for students pursuing their high school diploma.
