Tuesday Open Thread

My wrap-up - such that it is - of the first SAP/High School Boundaries community meeting at Eckstein is to follow.  In a phrase - not good - and Halloween candy and balloons aren't going to cut it.

The Washington State Supreme Court heard oral arguments for and against the Legislature's work on fully funding public education via the McCleary decision.  You can hear the whole thing at 7pm tonight on TVW or here's a link.  


In a great turn of events, the Seattle Times came out with a strongly worded editorial that McCleary has not been fulfilled and they look to the Court for relief.

The Supreme Court should not rubber stamp the Legislature’s work and join the premature celebration. The work is not finished, and the children of Washington depend on the Legislature and the Supreme Court getting McCleary right.

Across the state, school districts report they still won’t have enough state dollars to pay the full cost of special education, an important component of basic education. Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal says,

Some school administrators are worried the new approach to teacher pay will hurt their ability to recruit the best — or any — teachers for their classrooms. 

And without a capital budget to pay for more classroom space, how can the Legislature say it has fully paid the cost of reforms like smaller class sizes?

Great piece from the South Seattle Emerald about Orca K-8 and a "mutual mentorship" group.  I firmly believe in the power of relationships that kids have with adults other than their parents but as the article says:

Like many public programs in Seattle, Bridging Wisdom struggles with a funding battle. Silver explained the difficulty in illustrating the gains of the program by saying, “We can see it, this is a loving, festival, magical relationship that’s blossoming, but how do you measure compassion? How do you measure empathy?”

Where's the data point? It's hard to measure but relationships help kids thrive and grow. 

What's on your mind?