Seattle Schools Community Forum

Update:  State Superintendent Dorn's filing . Interview with Summer Stinson of Washington's Paramount Duty, Rep. Reuven Carlyle and Superintendent Dorn on Q13 yesterday. Dorn is pushing for all kind of answers including, yes, closing down schools in 2017.  (That would give the legislature a whole year - a year - to get this done which, by their own requirements, they should have it all done before school year 2017-2018.)

It's March 3rd and there is now just one more week until the end of the session on March 10th.  A new bill - 6670 - a so-called "title-only" bill that is a placeholder (along with HB 3000, also a placeholder) for something to come.  Here's 6670 - in its entirety - Sec. 1. This act may be known and cited as the public schools that are not common schools act. This Hemingway-length legislation is brought to us by the usual suspects in the form of Senators Fain, Mullet, Litzow and Hobbs. A little backstory on what this is and how it is happening comes to us via the Tri-City Herald which seems to take a dim view of this type of legislation (bold mine).

Update:   Story from The Capitol Record and link to oral arguments. End of update. Fascinating and yes, if you aren't a lawyer, somewhat hard to follow.  You are trying to quickly follow the line of argument and then, as well, the line of questioning.  (These are very rough notes as I was listening AND typing.)

 Thanks to reader Watching. Action is needed here.  There is a bill affecting the rights of students at school to be searched - moving through the Legislature. This bill, SB 6023 , wants to "include searches by school resource officers and local police school liaison officers within the warrantless school search exception." From Publicola : In the runup to the this week's legislative deadline (policy bills need to make it out of committees by Friday in the state senate), the Republicans unilaterally pushed a bill through the law and justice comittee today that jeopardizes the civil rights of students accordig to the ACLU. "This is the 'policization' of our schools," ACLU lobbyist Shankar Narayan said coining a term he likened to militarization. The bill , sponsored by GOP Sens. Steve O'Ban (R-28, University Place) and Pam Roach (R-31, Auburn), would allow law enforcement officers to conduct searches of students without ...

First, the Seattle Times continues to try to use smoke and mirrors on their readers on this issue. Their latest editorial's headline says "A charter schools victory at the state Supreme Court."  The reality?  It was a decision by a King County court (although, yes, it is very likely to head to the Supreme Court).  This, like Lynne Varner's statement in her opinion piece that it is the Gates' puppet charter group that will review charter applications, is a gross error that should be correct and yet, the Times is allowing both to stand. Very bad journalistic form and it points to their agenda in both reporting and editorializing. I also want to put in Charlie's very cogent statement on the ruling which is exactly how I read it as well (and, as he points out, has not been refuted by the state attorney general's office): Just to be completely clear, the judge specifically ruled that charter schools - when and if they are created - will not be com...

Here's the complete letter sent to Attorney General Bob Ferguson's office by the League of Women Voters, El Centro de la Raza, and the WEA.  From the first paragraph: We request that your office investigate and promptly institute legal proceedings to remedy the constitutional violations arising from ...(it continues on with the RCWs in question). Specifically, the Charter School Act improperly diverts public school funds to private non-profits in violation of the Washington Constitution and is otherwise unconstitutional on multiple grounds, including but not limited to the following: And then they put forth their arguments.  Here's my summation: