State Senate OKs bill to let graduating students make up for time lost to COVID-19

The Washington state Senate approved a bill Wednesday that would allow high school students in the graduating classes of 2021 and 2022 to stay in school for a “bridge year” to catch up on learning and participate in missed extracurricular activities.

Students also could retake classes and boost grades that may have faltered during the pandemic and ensuing upheaval. Under the bills, districts are required to expunge any Ds or Fs from a student’s transcript if they get a higher grade in the same class during their bridge year.

The goal is to offer students a more meaningful conclusion to high school, according to prime sponsor Sen. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia. He saw a New Jersey law that created a bridge year program passed in June, he said, and tailored it to Washington state.

Hunt had technological issues that rendered him unable to speak to his bill when it was debated on the floor. But he sent his prepared notes to McClatchy.

“High school is about more than classes and subjects,” the notes read. “It is about football and basketball, debate, band, proms and parties. All of these were turned upside down last March when COVID-19 gripped the state and world.”

Hunt worked with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, which would administer the program, and the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association while drafting the bill, according to his remarks.

If the bill were signed into law, OSPI would administer the pilot program that allows students who’ve met graduation requirements to defer their graduation and pursue a bridge year.

In their first bridge-year term, they could take classes at their high school or an institution of higher learning that offers the Running Start program, or both. In the second, they’d be required to take classes at an institution of higher learning with Running Start classes or through a College in the High School program.

High schools would be required to designate — not hire — a “bridge-year liaison” to create individual plans for and with students.

“The credits taken by a student in this program must form a coordinated sequence of academic content that prepares the student for high-skilled, high-wage, or in-demand occupations,” the bill reads.

Private schools could elect to participate in the program, too.

Bridge-year students could take part in activities sanctioned by the WIAA — a sticking point for some.

On the floor, a couple of Republican lawmakers who voted against the bill voiced concern for younger students who might reach their senior year only to be overlooked in their activities in favor of returning seniors.

“All of that hard work, and never a chance to be the setter on the volleyball team, be the quarterback on the football team — whatever their interest is,” said Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville.

According to Hunt, the bill doesn’t grant eligibility to students but directs them to the WIAA waiver process, to see if they can be granted a waiver.

“I didn’t want to create a new world here,” Hunt said in a phone interview. “I just wanted to help facilitate this.”

The bill passed on a 32-17 vote and will head to the state House of Representatives for further consideration.

At points, the Senate floor debate veered into other topics related to schools, learning, and the pandemic.

Senate Minority Leader John Braun of Centralia proposed an amendment to the bill that would have prohibited schools to close for more than 10 days in a row unless ordered by the governor, Secretary of Health, or local health officer. He spoke about the importance and urgency of getting kids back in school before withdrawing his amendment.

“We’re sitting on the sidelines. ... The Legislature has something they can and should do about it,” Braun said. “We are not acting. I could say it’s discouraging, but it really should be unacceptable.”

Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, vouched for year-round school for a “minimum of three years” to get kids caught up. But Sen. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, urged caution in approaching that idea. Rolfes chairs the Senate Ways & Means Committee.

“I’m urging caution in your exuberance for year-long school, because every day that we add to the school year costs the taxpayers of the state $70 million,” Rolfes said. “I just want to leave that out there for you.”

Asked broadly about efforts to address learning loss in the Legislature earlier this week, Deputy Majority Leader Sen. Manka Dhingra talked about listening to behavioral health experts and ensuring school districts have flexibility to decide how to help students.

“I would challenge us all to think more creatively on what it takes to make our children successful and what resources and what programming they need in order to be successful,” she said. “And I don’t believe the answer is always book learning.”

This story was originally published March 4, 2021 at 5:45 AM with the headline "State Senate OKs bill to let graduating students make up for time lost to COVID-19."