Social worker loan repayment bill needed to address “epidemic” turnover
AFSCME Council 28 (WFSE) priority bill to help Children’s Administration social workers repay their college debt is an innovative way to address the recruitment and retention crisis there.
That’s what the bill’s sponsor and Federation members told the Senate Ways and Means Committee Thursday night (Feb. 1) on SSB 6259.
“The Children’s Administration social worker turnover is at an epidemic,” said Joyce Murphy, a social services supervisor in Vancouver and member of Local 313.
Murphy and other social workers care for abused, neglected and at-risk children. They see things every day none of us can even imagine. But they work years to get the master’s degrees to take on this valuable public service. Yet lagging pay, high caseloads and student debt often take their toll. Many move on.
It doesn’t have to be that way, said Sen. Kevin Ranker of the 40th Dist.
“The bill recognizes that we need to keep these incredible employees who are doing absolutely critical work,” Ranker told the committee.
The social worker student loan repayment bill would help to do what Ranker envisions, said Nolan Manion, a social worker with the Children’s office in Kent and a member of Local 843.
SSB 6259 would “incentivize state workers to persevere through these exertions and to encourage the next generation to pursue careers in social work,” Manion said.
SSB 6259 must clear the Senate Ways and Means Committee by Tuesday (Feb. 6).
