Ding-Dong

The charter schools bill is dead. 

At least for this session as lawmakers finally got a budget passed early this morning (like 5 am). From the AP:

Sen. Ed Murray, Senate Democrats' lead budget writer, lauded the fact that lawmakers didn't make cuts to K-12 or higher education, as they have in past budgets.

"That's key," he said following the vote.

Good news for all of us.

Now do I think that's the end of charter legislation?  Of course not.  There is money to be made and chits to be cashed in and so we will see the Son of Charter Legislation in the next session.

Will it be a smarter bill?  I doubt it.  For example, I have seen a lot of disingenuous talk both from legislators as well as ed reform groups over how charter schools can ONLY be non-profit when the bill specifies that the non-profit can then go out and contract services to for-profit companies including operating and managing the school. 

And, it may have to come down to a vote of the people again.  That's fine with me.

Comments

Patrick said…
Good, now we wait to see what the budget looks like when people can read it by the light of day.
4/11/12, 2:52 PM
mirmac1 said…
Who should run against Rodney Tom, D -Edupayola?
4/11/12, 4:04 PM
Bird said…
Reader's might want to review the Washignton State PTA annual convention voters guide, particularly the resolution on "Equitable Educational Opportunities" which aligns the PTA in support of charter schools.

Find out who your PTA is sending to the convention and let them know how you feel about this resolution.
4/11/12, 4:37 PM
Melissa Westbrook said…
Bird, I have a separate thread almost ready because yes, this is very important because parents and PTAs need to take a stand on this issue as it is clear Washington PTA intends to give this issue support.
4/11/12, 4:45 PM
KG said…
No cuts to Public education?

That is a lie. I-732 continues to be suspended and our money goes to the Aerospace giant. That is a cut to education.
4/12/12, 6:44 AM
KG said…
No more votes on Charters, it lost 3-times before. If it gets put on the ballot then all the Charter pros can pay for the entire cost it burdens the state with.
4/12/12, 6:46 AM
Melissa Westbrook said…
Well yes, KG, they did cut that saying it never had a funding source nor was it implemented every year. Many excuses were made about I-728 and I-732 and it should be a lesson to us all.
4/12/12, 7:57 AM
Anonymous said…
The Ed Reformers are celebrating their success down in Olympia.

SFC Tweets: "Heading to the South Lake Union Discovery Center for our end of #waleg celebration 5-7pm with Rep. Pettigrew & Sen. Litzow. See you there!"

Ross Hunter+Lisa McFarlane (DFER)

TFA Tom Stritikus (UW Dean of Ed) w/Stand For Children Organizer

Pettigrew+Partnership4Learning& Others

Ditto

Pettigrew: "We had incredible successes this session...our numbers are growing.

AllAboutTheKids
4/12/12, 3:12 PM
mirmac1 said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
4/12/12, 8:54 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