Debate the issues facing Seattle Public Schools, share your opinions, read the latest news. Organize and work for high quality public schools that educate all students to become passionate, lifelong learners.
Yoo Hoo, Washington Legislature (and Governor Inslee)
Get link
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
I was just in Minnesota - great place with good education. (Funny thing - in my sister's city, they have an out-of-retirement superintendent running their district.)
Could we get another like this with Kansas Governor, Sam Brownback? He drastically cut taxes on the rich and business owners resulting in downgrades to the state's bond rating, state revenues woefully under projections, and severe cuts in education investment but no notable increase in jobs or businesses.
Minnesota and Wisconsin are a real-life experiment in the outcomes that flow from applying two very different political philosophies to states with similar fundamentals. Excellent analysis via Mother Jones:
Charlie - see in particular the second article I linked to above.
Washington State is at first blush sort of like Minnesota: A bright blue metro with 1/2 the state's population, and the other 1/2 in somewhat more conservative towns and rural areas. Minnesota has the history, though of the Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Democratic%E2%80%93Farmer%E2%80%93Labor_Party), a very progressive bunch overall. Washington State's conservatives seem to be more of a libertarian bent.
Anonymous said…
Minnesota's NAEP scores look good until you adjust them for demographics, then WA is actually a little higher. MN has a very large achievement gap: http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_29034342/nations-report-card-gives-minnesota-students-lackluster-grades
The poverty rate for Blacks in MN is much higher than in WA.
The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested. It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio. (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
This may only be a partial list of reasons; please, add anything else in the comments. The deadline to file to run for the Board is May 19th. Entire Board Majority NOT vetting the Superintendent in any way, shape or form. Even the Seattle Times thought that was wrong. It was just absolute hubris and it was wrong. For the second time in just over a year , board members voted to negotiate a superintendent contract during a special meeting with no opportunity for public comment. This time, they showed an even deeper disregard for their responsibilities as public servants: Aborting a national search for a new superintendent and denying Interim Superintendent Brent Jones a chance to show students, parents and taxpayers that, indeed, he is the best person for the job. Government bodies can’t fast-forward through transparent processes just because they think they know the right answer. One other odd thing about the hiring of Brent Jones - most permanent SPS superintendent contracts ar
Update 5 It appears that there is another person running in Director Rankin's district, Michael Christophersen. He has run before. From past interactions when he was running before, he's not school board material in the least and he comes off as creepy. (The King County Elections listing is unclear; he's on there as both running and withdrawing.) If he stays in the race, it will mean a primary for that district. That could be interesting because then you would see if Rankin - after pretty much ignoring Ingraham High parents as well as Broadview-Thomson parents and their safety concerns - truly has support in her own district. As well, there is another contender in District 6 and she's Maryanne Wood. Ms Wood's LinkedIn page says she is a "shift lead" at Kinetic Builders but there are no dates for her employment. The company is a general contracting company. I can't find much more about her. end of update Update 4 - To make it clear: District 1 (Ranki
Comments
He drastically cut taxes on the rich and business owners resulting in downgrades to the state's bond rating, state revenues woefully under projections, and severe cuts in education investment but no notable increase in jobs or businesses.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/mark-dayton-minnesota-governor-profile-scott-walker
and
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/10/minnesota-progressives-turn-state-blue
Washington State is at first blush sort of like Minnesota: A bright blue metro with 1/2 the state's population, and the other 1/2 in somewhat more conservative towns and rural areas. Minnesota has the history, though of the Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Democratic%E2%80%93Farmer%E2%80%93Labor_Party), a very progressive bunch overall. Washington State's conservatives seem to be more of a libertarian bent.
The poverty rate for Blacks in MN is much higher than in WA.
LisaG