Committee staff reviewed how reforms from the 1990s and federal reauthorizations shaped the modern Washington K‑12 framework, telling members that much of today’s standards, assessments and accountability trace to laws and policies enacted during that decade.

Ethan Moreno summarized the reform narrative and highlighted the 1990s as a particularly active period for state education reform. He said the reforms focused on three linked areas — learning standards, student assessments and accountability — and noted that state reforms created enduring features such as statewide learning goals, links between assessments and graduation, higher graduation credit requirements and a statewide report card.

Moreno identified two landmark state bills from the era: Substitute Senate Bill 5953 (1992), which emphasized local decisionmaking and rigorous expectations, and Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1209 (1993), which he described as "Washington's key education reform law" for moving concepts into statutory requirements. At the federal level, staff traced the arc from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to No Child Left Behind in 2002 and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 as successive reauthorizations that altered accountability and federal funding provisions.

The presentation positioned the 1990s reforms as the backbone for the policy landscape committee members now oversee, while noting reform remains an ongoing process.

No formal committee action followed the briefing; staff said they would provide further detail on specific federal changes between NCLB and ESSA on request.