Seattle Schools Community Forum

The Seattle Times is the major newspaper of record in our city and it really does fall to them to give the fullest picture in their reporting and then, if they must, lead their readers to a conclusion about that story (or write an editorial.) The Times did both things recently.

The Governor has his own discretionary fund and is allotting the $500,000 needed to continue the Critical Incident Planning and Mapping System that I had previously reported was going to be shutdown for funding.

It's none other than Trish Millines Dziko who announced it today on Facebook.   Trish is one of a couple of public education heroes of mine (along with Diane Ravitch.)  About Trish:

Tomorrow, Friday, April 1st.  Ironic because it's April Fools' Day (but who will be laughing?) Ironic that yesterday when Governor was signing the education opportunity bill to support more underserved students - he dubbed it the Student Sunshine bill, to try to wipe out the gray of decades and decades of injustice - it was at Aki Kurose Middle School.  (That selection of school was not random; Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos of the 37th picked it.) It's ironic because Aki Kurose was considered - just several years back - to be a "failing" school but now is a "growth" school with a steady rise over several years in test scores.  As well, they have falling discipline rates.  And, their principal, Mia Williams , was just named Middle School Principal of the Year for Washington State.   All these things that charters claim just aren't happening in public schools and yet, there you go. And think of what Ms. Williams and her staff could do with fully-fu...

 Update: from the tell-it-like-it-is pages of The Stranger, their view on the current charter school situation in Washington State. end of update. The Governor sounded more annoyed than upset at last night's press conference.  Basically, he asked why the legislature couldn't get its most basic duty done which was to produce the session's Supplemental Budget. Sure, they had hours of time to discuss charter schools and transgendered restrooms but fully-funding schools via the McCleary decision? Nah. The budget?  Ditto. So the Governor held true to his word when he said no budget and he would be vetoing bills and he vetoed 27 bills and signed 10 (most of them about public safety.)  None of them were the charter school bill which got to his desk late.  From Washington's Paramount Duty's Summer Stinson: The legislation can override each veto with 2/3 vote. Or legislature can reintroduce each bill. Bills sent to governor's desk within past five days ...

WA GOP gut bipartisan education legislation RELEASE: Jan. 27, 2016  (this came via Senator John McCoy but I'm not sure of its origins) Senate Republicans gut bipartisan McCleary bill

Two words - not impressed . This is not to say that the Superintendent dissed the Governor.  No, he liked: Inslee does fund some increases to Jobs for Washington’s Graduates , CorePlus , Career and Technical Education , Healthiest Next Generation initiative , language access for families and discipline equity. And he did raise beginning teacher salaries and increase funding for  mentoring to help decrease our state’s teacher shortage .

Yet.  This from The Stranger: Today, Governor Jay Inslee admitted to the outlaw nature of our current state government in a letter (.PDF) to all state legislators that, among other things, says flatly that Olympia's standing is eroding "with Washingtonians who expect we will support public education and live by the rule of law."    After three years of them not living by the rule of law, that's a bit of an understatement. But given this concern for how he and others in Olympia are now perceived, will the governor call a special session right now to find the money for Washington public schools that's still needed in order to get himself and the legislature on the right side of the Washington constitution? After all, what's still needed for schools is around $2.6 billion—a large amount, true, but only a fraction of the $8.7 billion Inslee gave Boeing in tax breaks during a very speedy special session called in 2013. (That, by the way, was th...

Here's the link to the Governor's e-mail page should you want to weigh in on the appropriateness of Sundquist's appointment. Steve Sundquist on KUOW on the Charter Commission yesterday.   Naturally the host of the show did not ask why Steve had been against charters when he ran for his second term and now is for them.  (I like KUOW but boy, they don't do their homework before they interview education folks.) Sundquist dodged the question about the conversion schools.  He said, over and over, that the performance criteria would determine who would open a charter school. When asked about the argument that charters would take money out of public schools, he said "no, that charter schools are public schools."  Which, of course, did not answer the question.  As a former Board member, he should well know that districts will be losing dollars. He said "objectivity" would be very important for the CC. He also said - and this was surprising but ...

From the Times: Gov.-elect Jay Inslee named Renton Schools Superintendent Mary Alice Heuschel as his chief of staff in a news conference in Seattle on Thursday morning. Heuschel, one of three co-chairs of Inslee’s transition team, led Renton schools for seven years and last year was a finalist for national superintendent of the year. She also served as deputy superintendent of the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for six years. I personally like Superintendent Heuschel and while I don't always agree with her, find her a thoughtful person.  I think it's a good call but Renton's loss.