Seattle Times Truth Needle

For the upcoming elections, the Seattle Times is running a feature called The Truth Needle. The Seattle Times political team investigates the claims of candidates and campaigns and renders an opinion on whether the claims are true or false.

I have submitted the claims, by SchoolsFirst!, that the supplemental levy is needed to restore cuts to the District budget resulting from reduced support from the State.

While I am fairly confident that any comparison between the budget cuts and the planned spending for the levy revenue will disprove the claim, I am much less confident that the Seattle Times will choose to examine the claim.

I think it would be helpful if a number of other people also suggested that the Truth Needle review this claim by SchoolsFirst! (and other levy supporters). You can submit a claim for review from the Truth Needle web page.

Comments

lendlees said…
Does anyone know of an anti-levy group that would be willing to come speak at a PTSA meeting? The meeting is next Wednesday (9/29).

Thanks!
9/21/10, 12:50 PM
Charlie Mas said…
Yes!

Contact Dorothy through the opposition blog.
9/21/10, 12:56 PM
Melissa Westbrook said…
Lendlees , contact me at

sss.westbrook@gmail.com
9/21/10, 2:01 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

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.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).   end of update    Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update   I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.    To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.   But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, grief, that is to come fro
Read more

MEETING CANCELED - Hey Kids, A Meeting with Three(!) Seattle Schools Board Directors

 Update 2: So I have seen a message from President Liza Rankin on why she, Director Evan Briggs, and Director Michelle Sarju backed out of this meeting.  In a nutshell: - She says there was no organization to the meeting which is just not true. They had a moderator lined up and naturally the board members could have set parameters for what to discuss, length of meeting, etc. All that was fleshed out. - She also claimed that if the meeting was PTA sponsored, they needed to have liability insurance to use the school space. Hello? PTAs use school space all the time and know they have to have this insurance.  - She seems to be worried about the Open Public Meetings law. Look, if she has a meeting in a school building on a non-personnel topic, it should be an open meeting. It appears that Rankin is trying, over and over, to narrow the window of access that parents have to Board members. She even says in her message - "...with decisions made in public." Hmmm - She also says that th
Read more