Command Sgt. Maj. Steven Winters received his orders last June to report to Fort Lewis. The Army gave him 30 days to move.
It was Winters’ 11th move in 18 years. He was accustomed to the routine. But the biggest headaches might belong to his four children.
His son Steven had trouble getting into Advanced Placement classes at Bethel High School despite a 3.75 grade-point average because a Texas school district lagged in sending official transcripts.
His daughter Haley, 15, also faced obstacles when her parents tried to enroll her in AP courses.
“When you only get 30 days’ notice to leave, the schools don’t react that quickly,” Winters told a meeting of the Senate Committee on Early Learning and K-12 Education in Olympia on Wednesday.
The 40-year-old is a top enlisted leader in the 296th Brigade Support Battalion, a unit of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. He shared his story with state senators, urging them to pass the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children.
The compact is a binding agreement among states that aims to address an array of disruptions military children face when they move, including graduation requirements, standardized testing, eligibility rules for sports and immunization regulations.
Entering the agreement would cost Washington $102,500 next fiscal year, according to a state estimate.
“Local school counselors don’t understand the problems military children face,” said Winters, whose son was on track to graduate early until graduation requirements in his new district intervened.
“Some of (the school officials) don’t understand – and just don’t care,” said Winters, who will deploy to Iraq with his Stryker brigade in August.
An attempt to ratify the compact failed last year; the Washington House instead created a task force to study the issue. The group of officials from the state, the Department of Defense and military-community school districts and other education leaders met regularly over six months. In November, it recommended the adoption of a revised version of the compact.
The bill has been introduced in both legislative chambers.
The Senate version faced little opposition in Wednesday’s hearing; 11 of the committee’s 12 members are co-sponsors.
The state has more than 135,000 active-duty family members – servicemembers, spouses and children – and 25 percent to 33 percent move every year, said Mark San Souci, a state liaison from the Department of Defense.
“Soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines have sacrificed for service to this country. You never stay in the same place,” said Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, an Army Iraq war veteran who co-chaired the task force. “We’re trying – and there’s no other way than this compact – to lessen that sacrifice for children, who didn’t sign up for the service.”
Representatives from Fort Lewis, McChord Air Force Base and education association officials testified before the committee. Jerry Bender, the director of governmental relations for the Association of Washington School Principals, worried about unforeseen unfunded mandates, such as adding a transfer student into a class that’s already at capacity.
“I think it’s an irony that this vehicle to provide support to military children comes at a time when the governor’s budget calls for cuts,” he said.
Barbara Mertens of the Washington Association of School Administrators asked if the Attorney General’s Office or another state agency had studied whether the state can legally delegate part of its K-12 authority to an outside entity: the federal commission that oversees the compact.
Colleen Warren, an assistant attorney general, served on the task force and researched questions about state sovereignty. But she left the question open.
“She was careful to not come to conclusions,” San Souci said.
The senators, however, seemed intent on assuring the bill’s passage. Eleven states already have signed the compact.
“I think it’s fair,” said Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima. “I think it’s equitable. And I do think we need to address these issues.”
Scott Fontaine: 253-320-4758
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