Leadership Development
WSSDA offers training programs, events and tools developed to maximize leadership and governance abilities for improved student learning. These services provide practical strategies and resources to help your board and superintendent function as a high-performing team. Because WSSDA is the only organization representing the…
Policy & Legal
WSSDA can help your district stay on track with the most current policies and legal developments. We offer a variety of services and publications to support effective school district governance. Free Member Services Staff members are available via telephone and email to provide timely…
Strategic Advocacy
Led by education policy professionals, WSSDA’s strategic advocacy branch exists to: WSSDA’s advocacy platform is comprised of legislative and permanent positions adopted at General Assembly that reflect the beliefs, values, and interests of Washington’s 1,477 school board members.To support all Washington school boards, WSSDA’s…
Tips for Effective Advocacy From Director Sara Betnel
WSSDA regularly asks school directors to share insights on various topics as a way for board members to learn from one another’s experience. Below are some tips for successful advocacy work plus the following example of engaging with lawmakers during a legislative session. Sara Betnel…
Legislative Session Week Seven: Bill Highlights and Preparing for Week on the Hill
Student well-being is one of WSSDA’s consistent legislative priorities. Furthermore, WASA, WSSDA, and WASBO identified this issue as one of three “hot topics” for the upcoming legislator meetings during “Week on the Hill.” In our interview with Representative Callan (below), we talked about several bills that expand on…
Legislative Session Week Six: Connect and Collaborate
Monday, February 22, marks the fiscal committee cutoff for the 2021 legislative session. This means that any bill that has not been passed through an executive session (a.k.a. “exec’d”) out of its fiscal committee of origin (e.g., House Appropriations, Senate Ways & Means) by the end…
Advocating for Digital Equity
School directors adopted two legislative positions supporting digital equity at WSSDA’s General Assembly, ranking them both in our top 10 priorities for this legislative session. There are many bills this session addressing digital equity that focus on three areas: devices, broadband access, and digital literacy/training. WSSDA created…
Legislative Session Week Five
Monday, February 15, marks the policy committee cutoff for the 2021 legislative session. This means that any bill that has not been passed through an executive session (a.k.a. “exec’d”) out of its policy committee (e.g., House Education, Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education) by the end…
Legislative Session Week Four: Activating the Advocacy Network
Periodically during a legislative session, WSSDA’s strategic advocacy team will call on school board members to contact legislators to request urgent action. The advocacy team does this when the voices of WSSDA members are essential to promote legislative action supporting the positions and priorities…
Legislative Session Week Three: Third Week is the Charm
The third week of the 2021 legislative session gave us two big takeaways. Week three reminded us that: School director testimony is crucial Public education impacts so many facets of government Legislators have told us that their lawmaking work has benefited from hearing stories…