Seattle Schools Community Forum

Update 2: I did forget one key thing. From the get go, the former charter schools wanted reimbursement from the State from their costs, from Sep. 4, 2015, to run their schools if a new charter law came thru.  I found this fairly interesting given that the Court ruled the law unconstitutional and just because the legislature could find a financial fix, it didn't seem to me that the State owed them money. I cannot tell if this is still valid in this bill. 

Lately at the blog, my observation is that much of the discussion around charter schools is about whether they are useful, not useful, take resources from other public schools, etc. I'm not going to be talking about those issues any longer. Why? Two reasons. 1) From some comments, I get the feeling there are some charter supporters (employees?) who are here to stir the pot and/or waste my time. Mind you, I do recognize several names of long-time readers who disagree with me on charter schools and that's fine. However, my stand on charters is clear and unchanged. I have done my research, I have visited some charters and I feel my opinion has been created on a solid foundation. If you disagree, again fine, but you won't be changing my mind. (To note, I separate charter school supporters/funders from charter school families. I don't believe the thinking or knowledge base or agenda is the same in both groups.) 2) Like the Supreme Court, I am not here to argue th...

(Editor's note: I am not a lawyer.  I am a layperson who is interested in the law and I have sought to understand the Washington State Supreme Court ruling on the charter school law.)  Background

The Washington State Charter Commission will not be waiting for their next regularly-scheduled meeting on September 17th to talk about the Supreme Court ruling on the charter school law. Special Commission Meeting (Agenda) Wednesday, September 9, 2015 │ 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

One upside to the charter law news is that it take the blinding spotlight off the SPS and SEA negotiations over the teachers contract.  Here's hoping that the negotiating teams are finding common ground to open schools on Wednesday. As for the charter law ruling, the Washington State Charter Schools Association had quite the statement yesterday(partial):

From Florida, a state where ed reform is almost completely out of control, two stories. The first is a continuing issue of Florida's insistence on testing all students, even the most severely disabled.

Items of interest: - the Charter Commission is going to have a phone-in meeting tomorrow, the 28th from 9 am to 10 am.  The agenda vaguely says " discussion of resolution process" and "bills currently under consideration."  Dial-in number is 800-245-9874, Access code 7784207. - the Charter Commission will have a regular meeting this Thursday the 29th, in Seattle, from 8:30 am to 5:50 pm at TAF Headquarters, Bethaday Community Learning Space, 605 SW 108th St.  Agenda This should be quite the meeting as the Commission will be announcing what charter applications have been approved (if any).  They seem to be expecting a crowded meeting as they will be putting in speaker spots by lottery (after sign-in).  (I'll have more to say about this public speaking process when I cover the charter applicant forums I attended.)

Someone, quick, get me a lawyer! Naturally, I go out of town and this ruling comes down and I am scrambling to get info and understand it. Here is the basic understanding of Judge Rietschel's ruling per Diane Ravitch: “ In a ruling issued today (pdf), King County Superior Court Judge Jean Rietschel has tossed out the heart of Washington State’s charter schools law on the grounds that it violates the constitutional provision that state education revenues be “exclusively applied to the support of the common schools.” “But, Judge Rietschel concludes: “ A charter school cannot be defined as a common school because it is not under the control of the voters of the school district. The statute places control under a private non-profit organization, a local charter board and/or the Charter Commission.” “In other words, charter schools may not be funded with state dollars dedicated to funding our state’s common schools.” That last part is the key.  She said that under the co...

I attended the first hearing on the constitutionality of I-1240, the Washington State Charter School law. To be clear, this hearing was pretty meaningless. No matter who wins or loses, this case will appealed all the way to the State Supreme Court. None of the decisions in any of the lower courts will matter. Only the one decision from the State Supreme Court will decide this.

This is interesting. You may have heard of this issue of a little girl enrolled in a charter school in Tulsa, Oklahoma was sent home because she came to school with dreadlocks and they have a policy against "faddish hair styled" that includes dreadlocks.  Her father pulled from the school.   Her new school has no problem with her hair and that school is a regular public one. (As an aside, the issue of hair is a particularly sensitive one for African-Americans.  In fact, comic Chris Rock made a documentary, Good Hair, about this issue because of his concerns for his own daughters.  When he went on Oprah, it was one of the most illuminating shows she ever had.) But what this article in Ed Week points out is not whether a charter school can have a dress code - any school can - but could this little girl's First Amendment right have been violated?  More to the point, are charters really public schools where students have First Amendment rights?  ...

One update, from KUOW, is that the contract negotiations between the district and the union have hit an impasse.  The district has indicated they have given all they can. What are the issues? The SEA and the district are at odds over several issues. The union is unhappy with the district's half-hour extension of the work day for elementary school teachers because it would not result in extra classroom time for students. The union and district are also clashing over whether to require the use of students' state test scores in teacher evaluations. The last contract required that state and district standardized test scores be used as part of the teacher evaluation process for teachers of the tested subjects: reading and math. While district officials say using state test scores in teacher evaluations is a valuable part of the contract they bargained with teachers three years ago, Knapp said the landscape for teachers and students is entirely different today. ...

Remember how I said the scores would low for Common Core assessments?  That we were warned they would be low?  This from Politico . New York released nearly 2,000 pages of data parsing the poor performance of students in third through eighth grade. In Rochester, for instance, just 5 percent of students scored proficient in math. Fewer than 9 percent of students in Syracuse passed the reading test. Statewide, just 19 percent of low-income students made the grade in language arts. From the NY Times : In New York City , 26 percent of students in third through eighth grade passed the tests in English, and 30 percent passed in math , according to the New York State Education Department.  Last year , under an easier test, 47 percent of city students passed in English, and 60 percent in math.   City and state officials spent months trying to steel the public for the grim figures. But when the results were released, many educators respon...

Yet another thing I missed on I-1240 (it's just the gift that keeps on giving) - I had thought you could not convert a private school to a charter but yes, you can.  I know, I thought 1240 had prohibited this but, in my defense, I can only say that I had read so many other states' charter laws (and many do prohibit this) that I got confused.  I double-checked with my ace reader, Eric B, and nope, we missed this. Turns out at the Board of Education (which has to write some rules around the law), they have had a bit of a struggle over this issue as well. Okay, so let's go over what we do know. First, the words "private school" do not even appear in I-1240 so that should have been a dead giveaway from the start.   I was told by the BOE that yes, " the statute is indeed silent on this issue. "  They aren't saying it's a omission but I believe it is a deliberate one. The private school has to be a 501c3 (or create one). The private schoo...

Well, look what happens when you step away for a couple of days - apparently a lot. First up, the Muni League released its ratings of School Board candidates.  Only Suzanne Dale Estey (in Michael DeBell's district) got "outstanding."  In the same race the two candidates, Sue Peters and Dean McCoglan, received a "very good" which is the next level below "outstanding."   In Kay Smith-Blum race, Stefan Blanford received "very good", LaCrese Green received "not qualified" and Ulu Thomas was not interviewed. I was unable to access the Muni League's second page of ratings to check Director Betty Patu's rating. Charlie and I just about finished our interviews and will write up a thread before you receive your primary ballots.  The early assessment is that (clearly) Patu will retain her seat, Blanford will face off against Green but is really the only candidate in that race.  So the real race is in DeBell's district ...

It's on. From the WEA: Educators and community groups file legal challenge to new charter school law A coalition of educators and community groups has filed a legal demand with the Washington Attorney General challenging the constitutionality of Initiative 1240, the state’s new charter school law. The demand asserts I-1240, the Charter School Act, violates the Washington Constitution by improperly diverting public school funds to private non-profit groups that are not subject to local voter control and impeding the state’s constitutional obligation to fund fully K-12 public education. The League of Women Voters of Washington, the Washington Education Association and El Centro de la Raza filed the demand with the state attorney general’s office earlier today. “The Washington Supreme Court has ruled the state is violating its paramount duty to fund our public schools,” said Catherine Ahl of the League. “The Charter School Act drains money from public schools ...

Glad we don't have Board members like this one in Georgia who apparently tried to run over a high-school student in a Walmart parking lot. I spoke with State Superintendent Dorn yesterday.  As I had previous surmised (and he confirmed), he is truly confused about his role under the state constitution and what the wording is in 1240.  He is planning to have a conversation with the Attorney General's office to seek clarification on this issue.  If the AG's office is unable to give him that clarification, he may have to go to the ultimate source which would be the Supreme Court but the funding for that would have to come out his office's funding.  Not a great choice.  What is interesting is that he is somewhat agnostic on charter schools (he has seen some good ones from years back but, of course, sees the issues around thinning the pot of already weak funding to our existing schools). Anyone up for a snowball fight ?  The will be an attempt at Seattle Cen...

I have received word that the WEA Board of Directors has decided to fight I-1240 in court. From their statement:  “Though our candidates won, we are disappointed that corporate interests with their $11 million were able to pass the charter school initiative. Looking forward, your board of directors has decided to fund a legal challenge against the new charters law and, as we did with McCleary, are seeking partners and developing an approach and timeline for this effort.  More details about this will come.”  Please note: the WEA has NOT filed anything but this was a statement made to their membership last month.  Naturally, these kinds of efforts take time and money and the WEA is making all due consideration about their next steps. The Washington Policy Center is itself already on the attack against this action.    From their statement;  The union faces a costly, uphill battle. A lot of information about successful charter schools in...

Here's how via the three possibilities - Governor, Lt. Governor and Speaker of the House.  Each office gets to pick three Charter Commission members.  Governor  Governor Gregoire's office is taking the applications via their regular commissions form .  They are then going to pass them along to Governor-elect Inslee's office and he will make the decisions.   I was told both offices have received calls of interest about applying. Lt. Governor Brad Owen His office is taking nominations via e-mail and snail mail.   You do not have to fill out an application and you can self-nominate OR any other person or group may nominate you.  (Apparently Stand for Children has been sending in their nominations.)   If you are nominated in any way, their office will give that due consideration.  ltgov@leg.wa.gov Lt. Gov. Brad Owen Office of the Lt. Governor PO Box 40400 Olympia, WA 98504-0400  Speaker Frank Chopp I am still findin...

I spent time today crunching vote totals for Seattle for 1240.  (And no thanks to King County Elections where apparently they can't even give you total votes for the city of Seattle for any race.  I couldn't believe it.) Thank you to my husband for his help (and the Excel tutorial).  Here are the numbers (and could you please, after all that work, give me credit if you quote them somewhere else): Total registered voters - 411,607 Total voting   - 330,246 Yes - 130,727 - 39.6% No  - 199,519 - 60.4% But boy, we looked at the precincts that DID vote yes and guess where 98% of them are?  In wealthy neighborhoods along the water.   To the NE (below Magnuson), downtown, SLU, the SW and the SE, there they were.  Almost to a precinct, it was very predictable (as we first wrote down the precincts and then looked at the map).  There were a couple of odd precincts here and there and several in the Rainier Valley and one at High Point...

A new group has formed for the protection of Washington State public schools.  It is - not surprisingly - called "Protect Our Public Schools."  They are having a formal announcement/press conference today at noon at the Seattle Center Armory, Room 311 (formerly the Center House at Seattle Center).   They are encouraging all who can to attend.  (Room 311 is balcony level on the west side of the building across from the glass elevator.) Protect Our Public Schools is affiliated with Parents Across America.  I'll put up their website as soon as I have the link available.