Seattle Schools Community Forum

The Issaquah School Board voted to use eminent domain to acquire property for school use.  From The Issaquah Press: The Issaquah School Board voted unanimously Wednesday night to use eminent domain to acquire the 40-acre Providence Heights College property as a site for a new high school and a new elementary school. A majority of the speakers pleaded with the board to repurpose the existing buildings. The Washington Trust for Historic Preservation included the campus on its 2016 list of the state’s seven most-endangered historic properties. State law permits school districts to use eminent domain to acquire private property as sites for schools. If a district and a landowner cannot agree on compensation, the matter goes to superior court. Stiffarm said the process, if it requires a trial, can take at least a year.   Interesting article from the Bellingham Herald about how many Democratic legislators are now running for open statewide seats (like state super...

Update: I forgot to add the new meme on McCleary.  It comes from a guy running against Joe Fitzgibbon in the 34th, Brendan Kolding. He says, yes, THE paramount duty of the state is public education....but nearly everything else should get a cut in order to fulfill it. Clever, no? That way you get to say "I'm absolutely for fulfilling the constitutional requirement" BUT you also get to use that as the excuse for cutting into the health/human services and public safety areas of the budget.

FYI, several of the Seattle legislative Reps/Senators are having town halls soon.  Might be a good idea to drop in and give them a cheerful earful about Common Core and testing.  (And oh, by the way, how's McCleary going?) March 14th   36th district 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Phinney Neighborhood Association, Community Room in the lower brick building at 6615 Dayton Ave. North. 37th district from 9-11am at the Rainier Valley Cultural Center, 3515 S Alaska St  (this is home to Eric Pettigrew and Sharon Tomiko Santos who want to split the district; couldn't hurt to give them some input on this ridiculous idea) 43rd district 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.at Erickson Theater, Seattle Central College, 1524 Harvard Avenue

These people need to get to Starbucks and stat! so they can wake up and smell the coffee. From the NW Progressive : Proving once again that their Fund education first rhetoric is nothing but a false front, Republicans today pushed a bill through the Washington State Senate that transfers sales tax revenue collected on transportation projects out of the state’s general fund and into its highway fund. Since the general fund principally pays for our schools and universities, the bill would effectively take money away from education and put it towards laying asphalt instead.

A bill in the state house, 4210 , would allow school bond measures to win approval with a simple majority instead of the 60% they now require. Another, 1971 , would limit the number of charter schools that could open in a single district in a single year to three. A third bill, which would clarify and strengthen regulations on the use of isolation and restraint tactics with special-needs children, passed the House Education Committee Tuesday.

The Times starts off the year with their "headlines we'd like to see" contest.  Funny thing, their editorial doesn't even give the top reader winners' headlines but only the ones the Times wants to see.  (None of were about public education except for "No U.S. school shootings in 2015 " which won first place.) The Times calls their own headlines "wishful thinking" and they certainly are. Hey, look at that - four of them are about public education. 

 Update:  it seems I'm not the only one who thinks that I-1351 + McCleary = the push needed to force the Legislature to make real change in revenue sources.  The somewhat to the left left, Budget & Policy Center, says this: Without an identified revenue source, I-1351 leaves it up to the legislature to determine how it will be funded. The sheer enormity of the gap between our resources and funding needs means that there is no escaping the need for new revenue. Funding I-1351 and meeting McCleary without additional revenues would be impractical. A cuts-only approach would decimate health care, child care, community colleges and universities, and other investments kids need in order to succeed in the classroom.  end of update. I hope that it has not missed anyone's attention that there is again an initiative to lower class sizes in Washington State. Our state's class size?  We are 47th out of 50th in the nation.  (Sadly, just like with McCleary, p...

From Mary Griffin of the Seattle Special Ed PTA:   SHB 2605 is a step backwards in Washington state’s efforts to make our education system more transparent and accessible for parents. That’s because this bill will make it harder, not easier, for parents to know and understand school district policies regarding restraint and isolation of students with disabilities. Right now, for students with IEPs and 504 plans, districts must provide parents with a written copy of their seclusion and restraint guidelines. This is a smart policy because it helps parents understand up front the limited circumstances under which seclusion or restraint may be used with their children. Yet under SHB 2605, school districts would only be required to share that information on their website; if parents wanted a copy or an explanation, they would have to ask for it. Common sense tells us it’s impossible to ask about a policy you don’t know exists, and yet that is precisely what SHB 2605 re...

Major news on two important education bills in the Legislature. First, the State Senate REJECTED a teacher-evaluation bill that would have changed using student test scores in teacher evaluations from "can" to "must" because the feds wanted that change.  The feds were using - as a carrot or stick, take your pick - federal funds.  Superintendent Randy Dorn has been moaning about the possible loss of these funds, about $38M (Seattle stands to lose about $2.4M). What got left out is that Washington State has applied for a NCLB waiver and may still get the federal dollars.  So far, Arne Duncan has given 37 states waivers. What is amazing is that conservative GOP members joined with minority Dems to defeat this measure and it is the first time the new Senate "coalition" majority has lost.  According to the Times , it is probably dead as 5pm today was the cutoff for non-budget legislation to get out of at least one chamber.  (This coalition is showing o...

It will soon be the start of a new legislative session in Olympia, which, of course, means that the Legislature will take another run at doing the absolute minimum they can do and still claim to be making progress towards their obligation under the McCleary decision. It also means that there will be a bunch of people - all of the usual suspects - claiming that the McCleary decision isn't just about money. Let's stop that nonsense right now. The McCleary decision was about money, not reform. Anyone who tells you different is lying. They will claim that McCleary is as much about reform as it is about money. That's simply not true. McCleary is about reform like Moby Dick is about the second mate, Stubb. Yes, he's in there, but he's not central to the narrative. The book would be the same without him. Don't let anyone deceive you: McCleary is about money, not reform. Yes, there was some mention of reform in the decision, but it wasn't central to the decisio...

First up, there are community townhalls tomorrow for legislative districts.  Go weigh in and talk to your legislators about education issues in our state.  I'm going to mine in the 43rd. What education bills are still alive in the Legislature (from the Times): Grading schools: The Senate has advanced a measure to assign A-F grades to schools based on factors including improvement of student test scores. Supporters say parents could get a clear sign of how a school is doing. Opponents insist it would be punitive and often unfair. (SB 5328) Third-grade reading: The Senate has advanced a measure to require third-graders with inadequate reading skills to repeat a grade, attend summer school or otherwise improve their reading before enrolling in fourth grade. The measure also would authorize K-3 teacher training to help improve students’ reading. (SB 5237) Dream Act: House Democrats and Republicans approved a measure that makes young illegal immigrants eligibl...

News from OSPI: More Washington students are taking and passing Advanced Placement exams, according to a national report released today.  The College Board’s ninth annual “AP Report to the Nation” shows that 20,581 Washington students (or 32.8 percent) in the class of 2012 took at least one AP exam. That number represents an increase of 1,276 (6.6 percent) from 2011 and 12,068 (62.5 percent) from 2002.  Not only did participation increase again this year, so did scores. In 2012, 20.0 percent of Washington’s 12th graders scored a three or greater – a score that generally qualifies for college credit – on an AP test. In 2011, 18.4 percent of students scored a three or greater; in 2002, 9.6 percent. The 10.4 percentage-point increase in the past 10 years ranks Washington eighth among all states. The national average for the same period was 7.9 percent.  “We’re seeing great results all over the state,” said Randy Dorn, state superintendent. “More stud...

Via SPS, I see that there is an OSPI document on the McCleary decision.  It's a fairly basic overview but it may be helpful to those getting up to speed on the issue. One key issue that I have been reading is that the Court based its decision on HR2261 about what full funding looks like.  What I have heard some legislators say is that they DON'T like what is in HR2261 and if they redid it, then we would be fully funding schools. In other words, rewrite the rules of what full funding means so that you don't have to fully fund schools.  Here (via Publicola ) is what Senator Steve Litzow (R-41) had to say: PubliCola: The McCleary decision compels the Legislature to fully fund education. This week, you heard more about that in your committee– as well as a presentation on increasing education quality in times of budget cuts . Do you have any plans for additional reforms that could reduce the McCleary funding burden this session?   Litzow: No. McCleary basicall...

Monday,  January 14th Opening day for the Washington State Legislature.   Here's where the rubber meets the road on education. For those legislators who don't want to raise taxes, tell us what you would cut elsewhere.  For those legislators who say we don't need more money for public education, tell us how you would spend the current dollars better.  What would you cut and/or what would you add?   (I'm pretty sure the "private sector could do it better and cheaper" will come into play at some point.) Curriculum&Instruction Meeting from 4-5:30 p.m. Agenda includes Creative Approach Schools update, professional development waivers and parent-teacher conferences and alternative learning experience schools or program revisions. Wednesday, January 16th Committee of the Whole: Strategic Plan from 4-5:30 p.m. College Goal Sunday from 6-8 p.m. at Roosevelt High School Thursday, January 17th Operations Committee meeting of the Whole from 3:30-...