Seattle Schools Community Forum

From my previous thread and now with some answers to questions arising from the reconsideration extension granted to the Washington State Charter School Association by the Washington State Supreme Court.

Today the Washington State Charter School Association announced that the state Supreme Court had granted their request for more time to file for a reconsideration of the ruling on the charter law from the Court.  The due date had been around this time and is now October 24th.  I'm thinking the Court is a bit chastised for the timing of their ruling and may be throwing a bone out there.  I don't think it means much else. Second, the State Auditor released an audit of First Place Charter School.  Below is the press release.  Pretty damning and expands even more on issues the Charter Commission had raised for months.   Public charter schools are required to follow state laws holding them accountable for the use of public resources. The state Charter School Commission asked our Office to conduct an audit of First Place Scholars Charter School, the first school to receive public funding under Washington’s Charter School I...

Washington State charters, a terse OSPI tweet on the NCLB waiver, a district trying to growing their own Special Education teachers and NYC students talking about difference.  Washington State just finished its first charter school conference (you weren't there? me neither).  And boy, were there a lot of tweets.  Some of them were funny like claiming a room was "full" when the photo in the tweet clearly shows empty seats.  Others were more troubling like: By being an authorizer, we have a say in what charters come into our districts.  This from a Spokane school district rep. This is not true because the law says either a district that has become an authorizer may authorize within their district OR the Charter Commission may authorize a charter school anywhere in the state.  A district becoming an authorizer does NOT mean they control their destiny in terms of charters coming in their district. We need to use language that is inviting and speaks ...

From Daily Kos, comes a fairly unbelievable story (and yet, they are not The Onion) about a charter school group, run by a for-profit education management org, called Mosaica.  To note before I get to the main story, Mosaica, run in the Muskegon, Michigan area, was recently in the news as they were not able to meet their own payroll.  The state is fronting $231,000 to the charter school district in Muskegon Heights so it can pay its employees. Teachers and staff didn’t get paid like they were supposed to on Monday. The new Muskegon Heights Public School Academy System was set up in June 2012 when the old school district there went broke. A state-appointed emergency manager created the PSA, which hired Mosaica, a charter school company, to run the school system. Now the new school system is running a deficit of its own. Right, because private industry does run so much better for all areas. The unbelievable story is about "Faculty Fun Day" at Mosaica's ...

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.)

From the Gates Foundation website: LEV Foundation Date: October 2013 Purpose: to build capacity for a state-wide public charter school support organization in Washington State Amount: $4,200,000 Term: 24 Topic: College-Ready Regions Served: GLOBAL|NORTH AMERICA Program: United States Grantee Location: Seattle, Washington So let's review. Lisa Macfarlane co-founded the League of Education Voters.  She now works as the Washington State Director of DFER (Democrats for Education Reform).   (Their advisory committee membership is telling:  Chris Eide, Dan Grimm, Erin Kahn, Robin Lake, Steve Sundquist and Megan Wyatt.  It's kind of funny how these people all serve on each others' boards.) Chris Korsmo is CEO of LEV but also a Board member of the Washington State Charter Schools Association.  Mary Beth Lambert who is the press person for LEV is also the press person for the Washington State Charter Schools Assn....

I am obviously way behind on this thread as the next Charter Commission meeting is this week.  It was held at the Technology Access Foundation headquarters in White Center.  Very nice building and great staff.  One of the Charter Commission members, Trish Millines Dziko, runs TAF and its programs.  Chair Steve Sundquist, in his chairman remarks, stated that the Commission had sent a letter to the Board of Education.  The Commission would like to influence the BOE on the issues of timelines and fee schedules.  It appears they did get what they wanted.  One, there will be a requirement of a letter of intent to apply for a charter .  This is great because it gives everyone a heads up to who is coming and where they intend to apply (either through the Charter Commission or a school district).  Two, t he timeline for extending the deadline for decision-making has been moved to Feb. 24th.   The BOE rejected their ideas on the fe...

Just so no one can say I'm not a good sport. From the Washington State Charter Schools Association website : The Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement has announced their 2013 grant process for planning, program design, and initial implementation of charter schools.  There will be two webinars explaining the application process for the start-up funds: One on Monday, June 17 at 12pm PST (3pm EST) to 1:30 pm PST (4:30 EST) One on Thursday, June 20 at 8am PST (11am EST) to 9:30am PST (12:30pm EST) To sign up for the webinars, please RSVP to charterschools@ed.gov . Applications for the grant funds are due on July 12, 2013. This is a great opportunity to learn about potential start-up funds and the federal grant process. For more information on the grant application and program, please visit the following links: Department of Education announcement Federal Register announcement I know some here have been wondering about trying to open a...

I do plan on doing a thread on the latest Charter Commission meeting but there is some other charter news. From the Everett Herald, there's a story about Jim Spady and his efforts, over the last 20 years, to bring charters to Washington State.  As an activist, I can only admire their drive and tenacity (even if I don't really support the outcome).   The article does bring up two issues I had wanted to call out. One, the lawsuit against 1240 is very much alive, according to Rich Wood of the WEA.  According to the article, it's "in the works" but the WEA is concentrating on McCleary first.  (Good call.) Two, Mr. Spady is to be part of the new Washington State Charter School Association .  This association is a line-up of the usual suspects.  Funded by Gates Foundation ($800k)?  Check.  Chris Korsmo of LEV, spokesperson for the group? Check (but let's hope they make her more camera-ready than she has been in the past).  More LEV ...