Read­ers, we have good news to share today!

The Wash­ing­ton State House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives has once again giv­en over­whelm­ing, bipar­ti­san sup­port to a bill (HB 1508) that requires qual­i­fy­ing high needs high schools to offer break­fast after the bell pro­grams to stu­dents fol­low­ing the com­mence­ment of the school day. The House twice act­ed on this leg­is­la­tion last year, but it unfor­tu­nate­ly died in the Repub­li­can-con­trolled Senate.

The bill also does the fol­low­ing, as sum­ma­rized by non­par­ti­san leg­isla­tive staff:

• ŸDirects the Joint Leg­isla­tive Audit and Review Com­mit­tee to con­duct and com­plete an analy­sis of BAB pro­grams by Decem­ber 1, 2025.
• Autho­rizes the Office of the Super­in­ten­dent of Pub­lic Instruc­tion to coor­di­nate with the Wash­ing­ton State Depart­ment of Agri­cul­ture to pro­mote new and exist­ing region­al mar­kets pro­grams, includ­ing farm-to-school ini­tia­tives and small farm direct mar­ket­ing assistance.
• Autho­rizes the Office of the Super­in­ten­dent of Pub­lic Instruc­tion to award grants to school dis­tricts to col­lab­o­rate with com­mu­ni­ty-based orga­ni­za­tions, food banks, and farms or gar­dens for reduc­ing high school dropout occur­rences through farm engage­ment projects.

“When hun­gry kids are focused on where their next meal is com­ing from, they aren’t focused on learn­ing,” said State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Stonier, the prime spon­sor of HB 1508. “As a life­long edu­ca­tor who works with pub­lic school stu­dents every day, it’s amaz­ing to see how a snack and a piece of fruit can trans­form a child’s day.”

Now that the Sen­ate has a Demo­c­ra­t­ic major­i­ty, it will hope­ful­ly no longer be a grave­yard of progress, and we’ll see this bill reach Gov­er­nor Inslee’s desk soon.

The vote on final pas­sage of HB 1508 was eighty-three to fif­teen (with all the nays com­ing from the Repub­li­can cau­cus) and the roll call was as follows:

Roll Call
2ESHB 1508
Stu­dent meals & nutrition
Final Passage
1/10/2018

Yeas: 83; Nays: 15

Vot­ing Yea: Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Apple­ton, Barkis, Bergquist, Blake, Caldier, Chan­dler, Chap­man, Clib­born, Cody, Con­dot­ta, DeBolt, Doglio, Dolan, Eslick, Fey, Fitzgib­bon, Frame, Good­man, Graves, Gregerson, Grif­fey, Haler, Hansen, Harmsworth, Har­ris, Hayes, Holy, Hud­gins, Irwin, Jink­ins, John­son, Kagi, Kil­duff, Kir­by, Klo­ba, Kretz, Kris­tiansen, Lovick, Lyt­ton, MacEwen, Macri, Man­weller, May­cum­ber, McBride, McCabe, McDon­ald, Mor­ris, Muri, Orms­by, Ortiz-Self, Orwall, Pel­lic­ciot­ti, Peter­son, Pet­ti­grew, Pol­let, Reeves, Ric­cel­li, Robin­son, Rodne, Ryu, San­tos, Sawyer, Sells, Senn, Slat­ter, Smith, Springer, Stam­baugh, Stan­ford, Steele, Stokes­bary, Stonier, Sul­li­van, Tar­leton, Tharinger, Valdez, Van Wer­ven, Volz, Walsh, Wilcox, Wylie, Young, and Chopp

Vot­ing Nay: Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Buys, Dent, Dye, Har­grove, Jenkin, Klip­pert, Kraft, McCaslin, Nealey, Orcutt, Pike, Schmick, Shea, Tay­lor, and Vick

HB 1508 is expect­ed to be referred to Ear­ly Learn­ing & K‑12 Edu­ca­tion when it reach­es the Sen­ate. That com­mit­tee is now chaired by Sen­a­tor Lisa Well­man (D‑41st Dis­trict: Mer­cer Island, Belle­vue, New­cas­tle, Renton).

NPI con­grat­u­lates the House for once again pass­ing this wor­thy leg­is­la­tion and we look for­ward to the day when it final­ly gets the vote it deserves in the Senate.