It’s been a long haul for basic education finance this session and a clear picture of what legislation will ultimately emerge from this work is still anyone’s guess. Over the past few days, however, several key developments have taken shape:

First, on Tuesday (March 24), the House Education Appropriations Committee took action on Senate Bill 6048. They essentially substituted the version the House passed previously (HB 2261) into SB 6048 and passed it out of committee. Not such a bad deal—this bill has much to like (including early-learning, all-day Kindergarten and stronger graduation requirements) and stresses laying out a “road-map” for funding basic education in the future.

Now, here’s where things start to get interesting—pay attention—on Wednesday morning, the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee held a packed public hearing on HB 2261, the House-adopted version of a bill to create a new basic education finance system. The League of Education Voters, Stand for Children and the Washington State PTA brought a large crowd of supporters of the bills. And, unsurprisingly, the Washington Education Association also had a large number of teachers on hand to oppose the bills.

BUT, curiously, the Committee also took testimony on SB 6048, the Senate version of the finance reform bill, even though the bill has already been adopted by the full Senate.

What does it all mean?! Well, here’s a good guess: If the Senate adopts the HB 2261 later this week, it is highly likely they will strike the bill’s current language and replace it with the Senate's own original language from SB 6048. Think one big legislative game of “tit-for-tat”—SB 6408 swaps language with HB 2261 and HB 2261 swaps language with SB 6048. Take that!

This “I’ll strike you, if you strike me” game is nothing new in Olympia, but, if it continues, one worries if these bills--and, more importantly, the potential reforms they represent--will ever make it anywhere this session.

Stay tuned…and if your wonky heart desires a comparison of HB 2261 and SB 6048 (soon to be flipped…oh, forget it!) check this great comparison prepared by our friends at the League of Education Voters.