Who's In?

It's an interesting thing to see who has endorsed which campaign around I-1240.

First, you can thank me for the Yes side even having an endorsement page because they didn't have one for months.  But I kept calling it out at debates and I guess they got embarrassed.  What is kind of cute is the little mini-bios they have for every single person listed (but it does make the page look longer).

For variety, there isn't a lot of comparison.  The Yes is a lot of business groups/ed reformers and, for the elected officials, Republicans (with the "roadkill" Dems thrown in).

The No side/No side is quite varied and long on elected officials (but yes, very Democrat-heavy).

As far as educators and those in education, there is no comparison.  Educators, administrators and elected officials in education are overwhelmingly against I-1240. 

Community groups?  Quite a variety especially up against the Yes side.

Newspapers?  Very much for the Yes side but I note that there is an oddly same argument in most of the newspapers (almost akin to having received talking points).  At least three newspapers got it wrong about how many times we have voted on charters (which tells you how much homework they did in getting to their editorial opinions).

 Still there were some newspapers saying no like the Issaquah Press (which was interesting because their PTA folks in the region are charter-crazy), The Stranger, NW Asian Weekly, and Publicola. 

But I do want to call out some people who DID step up early to be counted as being against 1240:  legislators Gerry Pollet, Marcie Maxwell, Bob Hasegawa, and councilman John Stokes over in Bellevue.

In Seattle, City Councilmembers Nick Licata, Jean Godden, Bruce Harrell and Sally Clark stepped up to be counted.

This kind of political courage can't be overlooked because folks, if you want to see people clam up - talk about charter schools.  Mum's the word in some rooms.

Meanwhile, Mayor McGinn, Councilmembers Tim Burgess, Mike O'Brien, Tom Rasmussen and Richard Conlin look away and demur.   Okay but if it passes and they see the bad outcomes to Seattle schools, they DON'T get to say "I didn't know."  They DO know and they are choosing to look the other way.  That's on them to explain later on (especially if anyone is running for Mayor).

Then we have the curious case of the PTA.  I'll do a separate thread on this topic but as to who is stepping up, well, it's a head-scratcher.

The Washington State PTA DID read the initiative and DID find it lacking (hence their NO on 1240) but they studiously said they wouldn't campaign against it.  That is curious given that they can all read and understand ALL the outcomes to our public schools.  You'd think that would have galvanized them.

Then, the Seattle Council has a panel "discussion" recently about I-1240 that was not good. That it included an avid supporter of charters but no one from the No side made it a little suspect.  That the document handed out about I-1240 had a "pro" side but not a "con" side made that a suspect as well.

 And, the SCPTA says:
 SCPTSA doesn't have any plans for taking a position on I-1240.  

Why wouldn't the largest PTA council in the state take a stand especially when the state PTA did?  

I note that it doesn't seem like many PTA units took up this issue either. 

It is a delicate situation but if it passes, it will be a total game changer for our district.  It should matter.