KUOW Asks Superintendents - So How's That Budget This Year?

KUOW 94.9 FM will have several K-12 superintendents talking about budgets and budget cuts on tomorrow's 9:00 a.m. Weekday program. Tentatively, it will be Renton and Spokane with a third one not yet known. It could be interesting to hear what other districts are doing in the face of falling budgets.

Also, KING-5 tv will be doing a story on the sale of the MLK, Jr. building to First AME Church and I believe it will appear on tomorrow's (3/11) news starting at 5 p.m.

I heard Michael say, "I thought we had settled this." That was before Pottergate. The whole unfortunate racial aspect of Pottergate and Fred Stephens extremely close association with First AME Church (the eventual winners of the bidding) makes the sale worth revisiting.

Comments

Anonymous said…
This is good. I hope it really begs the question about selling schools too. They are our District and neighborhood assets. joanna
3/9/11, 3:13 PM
Anonymous said…
Melissa, is tomorrow 3/11? joanna
3/9/11, 3:37 PM
Anonymous said…
This was not an above the board transaction, and the taxpayers should not be buying a building for a church. But it is too late i believe because AME already has the keys to the building, thanks to Fred Stephens and Ron English. MGJ had lots of friends in AME also.
3/9/11, 5:16 PM
Anonymous said…
It will air tonight 3/9 at 11:00 PM or tomorrow on the 5:00 PM news (3/10). joanna
3/9/11, 5:16 PM
kprugman said…
Behind a web of bottles, bales,
Tobacco, sugar, coffin nails
The gombeen like a spider sits,
Surfeited; and, for all his wits,
As meagre as the tally-board
On which his usuries are scored.

-J. Campbell
3/9/11, 5:58 PM
WenD said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
3/9/11, 6:29 PM
WenD said…
RE: King 5, while I don't think their ferries investigation was totally fair, once they exposed wrongdoing, WSF responded, much to their credit. Why is it that once again, the SPS board is held to a different standard or no standard at all?

Anon: I have nothing against the First AME, but I've wondered why none of the losing bidders challenged the decision. Can they still do so?
3/9/11, 6:32 PM
Anonymous said…
How's this for a quick swap-a-rooney on the MLK property. FAME has already filed a quit claim on the property and passed it to the possession of, get this, the MLK Family Arts Mentoring Enrichment Community Center". Ron English signed the the Statutory Warantee Deed on 2/14/2011 (Recording # 20110217001529), and Reverend Carey G. Anderson signed the Quit Claim Deed on 2/17/2011 (recording # 20110218000653) with MLK FAMECC as the Grantee. Hmmm...Just as I typed the acronym I realized FAME...FAME. MLKFAME has a non-profit corporation filing date of 1/25/2011 according to the Secretary of State web site.

Inquiring minds want to know.

Oompah
3/9/11, 8:17 PM
wsnorth said…
The near scandalous "give away" to AME is nothing compared to what (it appears) the district is doing with the old Denny School site. They are going to bulldoze the building and - on this multi million dollar piece of property - put up Tennis courts. OK, that's nice, but, Tennis courts, really? That's what the land use bulletin in the front of the school says.
3/9/11, 9:45 PM
Marion said…
Too bad the KING story didn't mention that the State's Department of Commerce loaned FAME the 2.5 million to purchase the MLK site. This decision has never felt right.
3/10/11, 8:37 AM
Melissa Westbrook said…
WS North, it may not be the best use but they are replacing what they tore out. They are replacing tennis courts and a softball field that the taxpayers paid for under BTA II and then whoops! they changed their minds and created the joint campus.

Now we get to pay AGAIN for those same courts and field.
3/10/11, 8:46 AM
Anonymous said…
KUOW is turning its superintendent's interview into a question about school boards...with the implication being that Seattle's has done a cruddy job re: governance.

And in other news, Joni Balter has written a truly bad opinion piece this morning. Her thesis: The district needs More Gates Foundation! More National Ed Reform! Yippeeeeeee!

WV says: "Canceld". Indeed!

-skeptical-
3/10/11, 9:26 AM
kprugman said…
And how does one know whether the bidding wasn t prearranged...you are presuming too much. This is quite a thread.
3/10/11, 10:34 AM
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, gr...
Read more

Education News Roundup

From the ever-amusing Washington Policy Center : Vouchers are Pell Grants for students under 18.  Vouchers are no different than Pell Grants or GI benefits, except the money goes to the families of students younger than age 18.  Except they are. Pell Grants were created to help needy students and that's not really the goal of the voucher program.  The Pell grant website does have a couple of great studies on why low-income students drop out before finishing their higher ed and what makes a difference.
Read more