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Legislature sends Schmick
bills to governor
As state lawmakers head
toward the March 13 conclusion of their scheduled 60-day session, two
bills sponsored by 9th District
Rep. Joe Schmick
cleared their final legislative hurdles and were sent to the governor
for signature.
House Bill 3129, which won final approval Saturday, would improve
public information efforts to promote the value and availability of
online learning programs. The measure is aimed at ensuring that students
– particularly those who reside in rural and remote communities – are
apprised of how to pursue distance-learning options on the Internet.
Schmick’s proposal would require the Office of Superintendent of Public
Instruction (OSPI) to compile and post information on its Web site about
the benefits of online learning programs and how to access them. In
addition to the OSPI Web-site posting, the bill calls for high schools
to ensure that teachers and counselors have information about online
learning programs. The measure also would require school districts to
provide general information about Web-delivered education to all 10th -,
11th - and 12th-grade students and their parents.
“Being separated by geographic distance from a conventional classroom
needn’t be a barrier to a student who wants to fill in credit gaps or
pursue an entire degree program,” said Schmick, R-Colfax. “This bill can
help us do a better job of making the connection between where people
live and where educational resources exist.”
The Legislature also completed work on House Bill 3200, a measure
Schmick sponsored to make it easier for counties to establish local
cemetery districts. The measure would lower the number of voter
signatures required on a cemetery-district petition, and allow county
commissioners to put the proposal before voters as a ballot proposition.
“This bill is really targeted toward rural areas,” said Schmick. “Asotin
County, for example, has had trouble getting signatures to form a
cemetery district. There is still a high threshold before a district can
be created, but the modest changes in the measure would help make the
process more manageable.”
There are about 100 cemetery districts in 77 cities and towns around the
state, according to the Municipal Research and Services Center of
Washington.
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For more information, contact
Bill Taylor, Information Officer:
(360) 786-7074
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