Our 2027 Legislative Agenda
By AFT Washington Staff
This month, the AFT Washington Executive Board voted to approve the Legislative Agenda put together by our Legislative Affairs Committee. While parts of the agenda are not fully finalized, the session will be challenging due to the state’s revenue issues, and we are already talking to legislators. If you want to get involved, please contact Richard Burton at rburton@aftwa.org.
Priority Item
- Joining with others to fight cuts to education at all levels in Washington state
Secondary Items
- Parent Education advocacy, including:
- Broadening Adult Basic Education or
- Broadening Workforce Education
- Board of Trustees Reform, such as:
- More timely and transparent appointment processes
- Adding a designated Labor seat for the community colleges
- Greater access to communication with Trustees
- More accountability for Trustees
- Joining with others for School-Related Personnel respect and staffing/salary improvements
- Contingent Faculty job security, including:
- UI reform
- Pay equity
- Right to recall
- Student complaint process revisions, especially uniform data collection
- Advocating for a proviso for a pilot Academic Integrity testing center (borrowing from the model from Credential Integrity Action Alliance)
Coalition Work:
- Healthcare is a Human Right Coalition: Universal, publicly funded healthcare
- Balance Our Tax Code Coalition: Progressive revenue and defending the Millionaires Tax
- Fund Our Futures Coalition: Supporting legislation and Washington State Investment Board reform
- Retiree Chapter priorities:
- Support any legislation to end the WISeR program
- Work to create a permanent COLA for PERS/TRS 1 retirement plan; adjust employer contribution rates to accommodate a permanent Plan 1 COLA
Items we support but have not seen legislation on yet:
- Alliance for Gun Responsibility legislation
- Funding for early learning and childcare
- Education coalition work for fully funded COLAs
- ACLU/NAACP, et al, on voting rights legislation