By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

OLYMPIA, Wash. – A bipartisan coalition of Washington state senators approved a pair of education bills Wednesday that would give principals greater control over hiring decisions and assign letter grades to all of Washington’s K-12 schools.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

But the two bills may be in for trouble in the state House, which is controlled by union-friendly Democrats.

Supporters say the bills are designed to hold schools and their leaders more accountable for students’ academic performance.

“Principals keep telling me that if we’re going to hold them accountable for their schools … they want more flexibility and control over who their teams are,” said Republican Sen. Steve Litzow, who sponsored both bills, according to TheOlympian.com.

Under the proposed principal empowerment law, a school leader would have the option of allowing or blocking a displaced teacher to join his or her staff.

“But if a permanent place for the teacher … couldn’t be found within eight months, he or she could be fired,” reports TheOlympian.com.

If no school leader chooses to hire a displaced teacher, common sense would suggest that educator is lacking and probably doesn’t belong in any classroom.

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

That’s not how the teacher unions see it, of course. A spokesman for the Washington Education Association argued that giving school principals more control over personnel moves “eliminate(s) any semblance of fairness or objectivity.”

Enough Washington senators disagreed with the union and the measure passed 27-22.

The proposal to issue letter grades to individual schools – based on student test scores and graduation rates – also passed the Senate, 26-23.

Assigning letter grades to schools is meant to help parents understand how well their children’s school is performing. This is particularly useful now that Washington is finally allowing a handful of charter schools to compete with government-run public schools.

“This bill is about creating an easily understood and transparent accountability system that is clear to every parent,” Litzow said. “ … What we have now is a murky description which does not define the difference between Good and Very Good, between Fair or Struggling.”

“Labeling schools as a D or an F will provide a great impetus for them to improve,” added Republican state Sen. John Smith.

According to Liv Finne, education specialist for the Washington Policy Center, “The main argument of opponents was that giving schools letter grades could hurt the feelings of some of the adults working in public education.

“The purpose of the public schools is to serve children, not make adults feel comfortable. A good education develops the whole child, and provides children the skills and knowledge they need to prepare for the future,” Finne wrote.

She praised senators for “thinking about the welfare of children first, not the bruised feelings of some adults.”

The education reform proposals now head to the House of Representatives, where they will meet stiff opposition from union-friendly Democrats who hold a sizeable majority.

Washington’s new Democratic governor, Jay Inslee, has been an outspoken advocate for assigning letter grades to schools, though it’s unclear where he stands on the principal empowerment bill.

It appears that Inslee will have to twist quite a few arms to get either bill passed into law.

But given Washington’s long-standing opposition to even the mildest K-12 reforms, Wednesday’s successful votes in the Senate suggests that lawmakers may be waking up to the need for genuine, meaningful education reform in The Evergreen State.