Seattle Schools Community Forum

In something of a shocker, the Stranger Slog is reporting the following: The union representing 26,000 "educational support professionals" in the public school system says today that Republican Rob McKenna can do in the governor's mansion what Democrat Jay Inslee can't. He can restore funding for K-12 education (even though he's never convincingly explained how he can do this without crushing employee unions). Meanwhile, Inslee is "too committed to preserving the status quo."  The union is Public School Employees of Washington/SEIU 1948.   The WEA, Washington Education Association, is endorsing Inslee. One issue that has split the education workers' unions is health care benefits. From a Q&A on this issue:   Won’t Rob McKenna take away our collective bargaining rights?  We are a union and we strongly support collective bargaining. Rob McKenna has...

Gregoire - new state income tax only for education McKenna - more effective spending and slower growth on other state government spending Inslee - improve the economy with a jobs plan and more efficient management/changes to state health-care system to save money to use for education. Both Inslee and McKenna spoke to the WSPTA convention.  From the Times' article : I guess McKenna got his daily talking points fax because it's the same words we've all heard hundreds of times: "Charter schools are not a panacea, they are not a silver bullet," he said. "I just think they should be one tool in the toolbox." Inslee: Inslee, who recently resigned his congressional seat to campaign full-time, supports something similar to charter schools that he calls "innovative schools" — grant-funded alternative schools overseen by local school boards. "We've seen the power of innovation that is in place in many places around the state...

I attended a Renton event a couple of weeks ago where Jay Inslee rolled out his ideas for public education.  It was held at Talbot Hill Elementary school where they have a student-based governance system and the school's leaders were front and center.  (And they were well-behaved and truly seemed to be listening.) It was smallish, held right in the front lobby of the school, and crowded with reporters, staff and many education advocates including WEA's Mary Lindquist and Lisa Macfarlane of Democrats for Education Reform.  Also in attendance was Dr. Mary Alice Heuschel, Superintendent of Renton School District and 2011 Washington State Superintendent of the Year and someone I hope applied for Seattle's job.  Steve Sundquist was there as well. I was pretty happy with his plan .   He starts with a simple two-pronged premise.  The first is that 1 out of 5 kindergarteners will not graduate or not graduate on-time.  The second is that there ARE innova...

Went to the Alliance for Education breakfast today. It was a packed house despite the fact that there was another breakfast fund-raiser going on for King County Dems and the Mayor was off making a policing announcement.  Yay to the Ingraham band who showed up (and, poor things, had to stay until the end to play us out).  Yay to Maple Elementary's dragon dancers and spoken word performers (but next time, give the kid doing rap the microphone).  Impressions: - kind of subdued, almost like people are weary of talking about education - nice round of applause for Susan Enfield but nothing out of the ordinary despite her departure - Dr. Enfield called the Alliance "Seattle's local education fund".   - Sara Morris of the Alliance said the Alliance was both "a critic and a friend to the district" and "the independent guardian of funds."  She also spoke of Seattle someday becoming the "envy of the nation."  I wonder how we get there if we ...

At noon, KUOW's The Conversation will have Rob McKenna on to talk education.  Mr. McKenna has huge plans for public education if elected but hasn't quite explained how he would pay for it.  His website reflects four top issues: jobs, education, government reform and higher education.  Under "education": Invest in expanded career skills opportunities for high school students across the state, keying on the high-demand for machinists, electrical workers, and other workers in the skilled trades. Fund more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) programs like Aviation, Delta, and Marysville Arts & Technology High Schools, as well as International Baccalaureate and other AP/Honors programs. Permit and encourage highly innovative charter schools, drawing on the most successful models from around America such as KIPP , Rocketship and Harlem Success Academy. Provide incentives to state colleges of education to increase admissions standards and ra...

Publicola had an interview with Governor Gregoire and she had some interesting things to say about education: PubliCola:  It seems more aggressive than the one you laid out.  [Gregoire announced a reform proposal last week—AP report here — that will put a pilot project of 4-tiered teacher evaluations in play statewide] . It ties teacher evaluations to student test scores, calls for charter schools, and allows the state to step in and take over failing schools. It’s in sync with President Obama’s education reform agenda. The proposal you came out with last week seems like a “lite” version of that to education reformers [because the evaluations aren't tied explicitly to "student academic growth"]. Gregoire:  I don’t really think so. I think what it is is a  Washington  reform. The most recent studies on charter schools come out of Stanford. And there’s no guarantee of anything there. As many as there are doing OK, there are an equal number that ar...

New Update (6:27 p.m.)   Here is a link to the Governor's list of possible education options.  Another area of reduction; preschool enrollment for 3-year olds.  Another reason to vote for the Families and Education levy.   Eliminate school bus transportation $220.0 million  Shifts responsibility for transporting students to parents and communities t hrough local transit systems, beginning in the 2012–13 school year. Maintains required transportation for eligible children with disabilities.    Also, reduce the school year by a week, eliminate National Board certification bonuses (boo), eliminate full-day K in high poverty schools, change daily attendance calculation and change the calculation for withdrawal from school from 20 consecutive days to FIVE .  Read the full list for all the ideas put forth.   You might want to weigh in with the Governor or your state legislator about what is a non-starter versus a maybe versus "...

Here's the story from the Seattle Times: Senate's school cuts get low grades from Gregoire, educators . I like the way that the Governor thinks she can save her reputation by acting upset, pouting, and stamping her little feet - but without actually taking any meaningful action to prevent the cuts to education. She's not fooling anyone. I don't mind that she's ineffectual, but I'm insulted that she thinks we will confuse this act with actual opposition. Who are the legislators who are looking to make cuts to education while preserving special tax breaks for favored industries and businesses? Oh, right, all of them.

Here's a first - I agree with nearly everything in a Times' editorial on education. I left this comment. I went to a Town Hall last night that included newly-elect state Senator Scott White. He seemed pretty enthused on this idea although the lack of detail seemed to trouble him. Several in the audience thought it "bold" but again, the details. One person asked why the Governor would be so in-your-face to Randy Dorn. Yes, it is a bit unseemly. The Times zeroed right in on the issue - streamline, consolidate and have a clear line on pre-k-higher ed. The Governor can do a lot of this on her own. But creating a whole new department with the head of it directing an elected official (Randy Dorn) who is appointed by her? And, how does this all REALLY save money? There cannot be any new initiative over the next 5 years without showing how it would save money and/or where the money would come to fund it. Everyone should take a deep breath and step back from the podium...

This is interesting. In a story in the Seattle Times, the Governor says she wants to create a new state "Department of Education" that: ...would absorb responsibilities currently held by a wide array of officials, including State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn, who oversees public K-12 education in the state. The new Education Department would be headed by a secretary, reporting to the governor. She says: "Today in our state, we do not have an education system," Gregoire said. "We have a collection of agencies that deal with the subject of education." The Democratic governor said consolidating Washington's education efforts — "from preschool to the Ph.D." — would save time, money, and improve outcomes for students. How can this be done? Gregoire's plan could require amending the state constitution, which establishes the state superintendent's office. Amending the constitution requires a difficult two-thirds...

So many public education advocates were very disappointed when Governor Gregoire, in signing the basic education bill, deleted the section on early education. The Times weighed in with an editorial about it today supporting her stance. Basically, she deleted it because (this from a Times article ) : "The governor vetoed two sections: one mandating preschool for at-risk children and the other concerning money for gifted education in districts that can't afford it. She said both ideas need more development and that all children deserve preschool, not just at-risk kids." She also said there was no funding which is also true. Now the Times goes out of its way to give many, many reasons why this is okay. To wit: "Nothing will be lost. Gregoire established the state Department of Early Learning and promises it will retain a focus on early learning, including broadening access and improving academic quality. At both the federal and state level, spending and efforts on ea...

The Governor put out some suggestions today about saving money. One of her reforms? Consolidating smaller public schools. It doesn't say whether she is talking about all K-12 or elementary. This, of course, is music to the district's ears because if you read the Facilities Master Plan, that's the direction they are headed. For each new elementary they build, the buildings get bigger. I think it unlikely that they would build any new elementary for less than 400. Now, we have many smaller schools and they all can't get rebuilt at once so I don't think smaller schools will disappear overnight. However, with the Governor making this suggestion and the district's desire to have fewer schools but in better, larger buildings, we may see fewer and fewer small schools over the next 25 years. Naturally, there is nothing stopping consolidation with another program such as Nova/Secondary BOC so that you do keep Nova, a small school, small.