Clarification on 1303

1303 essentially does two things: 1) gives interpreters who have failed the EIPA one more year to pass, and 2) provides a report about how much it would cost to fund ESSE research

We earlier reported that an amendment to 1303 would make the entire interpreter standard up to the discretion of the school districts. The legislature has since clarified that the amendment only makes the decision about whether to keep on interpreters for one more year after they have failed the EIPA up to the school districts. This makes the impact of the bill a slow chipping away of our current educational interpreter standard instead of an outright destruction of it. However, our position opposing this bill and talking points against it have not changed in light of this clarification.

According to testimony from the sponsors of this bill, the one year extension was to benefit SEE interpreters who have reported problems being able to pass the EIPA. Also, the bill has a provision that sets on the course the possibility of funding data and research of the ESSE test. This is bill was sponsored by the NW School (a SEE only private school) through a lobbyist.

Our other concern is that this bill is ultimately harmful to deaf students and the deaf community and interpreters have been actively excluded from the input and development process of this legislation. The sponsors of this bill, specifically Sen. Kurderer and Rep. Stambaugh, have not included the deaf community or interpreters in the development of this bill and are ignoring any input from us. They have not responded to the deaf community or interpreter's concerns and have not even returned the calls from DSHS about this bill. Both sponsors were well aware we had concerns and wanted to be involved in the discussion beginning at a meeting about this bill back in November, but they ignored invitations from us. However, the bill sponsors did testify in front of the legislature that this bill has the whole community's support.

We want to thank you for calling your representatives and waking them up to how important an educational interpreter assessment is for deaf children. Many representative's aids reported that they heard a lot from us, and we believe that your calls and emails forced some representatives to rethink this legislation. We are sorry for any confusion we caused. However, we continue to encourage members to keep up the pressure on the legislature so our concerns are heard before any changes are made to the current educational interpreter standard to benefit SEE signers who want to remain employed as interpreters.

We will continue to update you as this bill progresses.