Seattle Schools Community Forum

As promised, I did attend the Washington Policy Center's "gala" fundraiser that featured Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos as well as Neil Cavuto from FOX News.  Here's my account as published in The Stranger today. This is a longer version that I wrote for this blog:

 Update: What's the torque that the Republicans are going to use to try to do this? The levy cliff that districts face. So let's threaten to throw 1M+ traditional school students over a levy cliff to save 1,000 former charter students. I urge you to write your legislator or Governor Insee (his Twitter handle is @GovInslee) Again, I know the Supreme Court is watching.  end of update There's a great commentary over at the Washington Policy Center over what is going on in the legislature.  I'm not the biggest fans of WPC; I don't have a problem with them taking a stand but sometimes their education voice is not factually correct and overwrought. But boy, do they get it right in their commentary on some in the legislature trying to weasel in a charter school bill that will likely be many things, among them: unconstitutional, not vetted properly by either legal experts and lacking any public discourse or input. Now I'm sure those legislators would ...

Today's Seattle Times features this guest column:  Education reforms for state students blocked by WEA  by Liv Finne of the Washington Policy Center. In this one, brief guest column she manages to squeeze in nearly every single lie about public schools. It is a remarkable achievement.

Honestly, they have some of the most entertaining posts over at the WPC.  Omit details, pump up (to the point of near explosion) any point they feel they must - it's all good fun. So they have one post about how a Highline School Board director, Susan Goding,  wrote - on her education blog how she thinks charter schools will hurt districts.  I can only say that she is entitled to her own professional opinion (indeed the state directors association came out against 1240).   She also explains how Highline has many of the programs that Spokane addresses in their application (and so does Seattle).  Almost seems like Spokane is too lazy to do any of this development of programs on their own. But the WPC?  Not buying it. This article is a clear attempt to discourage implementation of the new charter school law. This statement shows an elected school board director actively campaigning to influence school districts to deny their students access to char...

Over at the Washington Policy Center, Liv Finne's latest "analysis" is about the Success Academies in NYC, a small charter chain that has big plans to expand throughout NYC.  They do have higher than average test scores but, like other charters, don't serve as many Special Ed students.  And, their operator, Eva Moskowitz, rakes in a big salary and parent voices are not high on her list of priorities.   This analysis would be okay -it's one in a long string of ancedotal stories about good charters.  They exist  but not in numbers that would support the idea that charters can and do make a big difference in any district where they are located.  She then goes on to rail about principals in Washington State: In Seattle, for example, the superintendent of the district bureaucracy selects and oversees the performance of 92 school principals, an unworkable set-up for many reasons.  It doesn’t help that, once in a position, school principals in Wa...

Liv Finne has written a blog piece about the WSPTA's vote in opposition to I-1240. The article appears on the W ashington Policy Center blog and also on Crosscut . Her premise is that the PTA Legislative Assembly voted to support charter schools, but the WSPTA Board, in a fit of anti-democratic elitism, negated that vote by deciding to voice opposition to I-1240, thereby going against the will of their constituents. It's an effective bit of rhetoric that will be convincing - for folks who don't know anything about the issue other than what Ms Finne has told them. It is also, of course, completely false.

Liv Finne of the Washington Policy Center wrote an article for Crosscut, A failing grade for the state's new teacher-evaluation bill . Ms Finne writes "The federal government has no business telling us how to evaluate our teachers,". I suspect the same could be said of the state legislature. What other state employees have their evaluations dictated by statute? What do state legislators know about evaluating teachers? Whether you agree or disagree with Ms Finne or the Washington Policy Center, they are thoughtful and provide rationale for their conclusions. I find nothing more illuminating to read than a well-written and thoughtful article by someone who disagrees with me. I like to be challenged in my thinking.

Looks like the School Board's manager, Erinn Bennett, is leaving as her job is being advertised.   Rumor has it she might be the next in line for Holly Ferguson's job in Governance. I haven't read it but the Washington Policy Center has put out a "Guide to Major Charter School Studies".  The brief is not inspiring.  Nowhere does it mention "peer-reviewed studies" which are the gold standard for any study.  They also, right from the top, try to discredit the widely-used CREDO study.   And they continue with the use of "ban" to say that Washington State "bans" charters.  Show me that law.  We don't allow them and that's because voters (remember us) have said - three times and we will a fourth - no . Let's read it and we can discuss it further. What's on your mind?

Melissa wrote a piece for the Washington Post about how Washington State has resisted a number of the more conventional elements of Education Reform, including charter schools. Liv Finne wrote a response for the Washington Policy Center blog and Melissa has responded in turn. My thinking on this continues to evolve. Right now I'm at a place where I have no interest in the question. The discussion follows predictable patterns: I argue against charter schools saying: "There nothing that a charter school can do for students that a public school cannot do. Whatever wonderful thing that a charter school does could also be done in a public school." The charter school advocate responds: "Perhaps. But the public schools don't do those things." And I come right back with: "And neither do most charters. The vast majority of them operate no differently from traditional public schools." Instead of looking for disagreement, we could look for common g...

I mentioned previously that at the last School Board meeting, Liv Finne of the right-wing Washington Policy Center, got up to support TFA and used a lot of hyperbole to make her point (for example, the district was "banning" TFA).   Her latest epistle is off the charts.  Some excerpts with comments: TFA educators set high goals for their students: a clear focus on math and science, 40 minutes of reading every night, and a desire to graduate and go on to college. In Seattle and other cities TFA is helping children raise their sights and reach for the stars. Whenever I read this kind of uplift for one group, I wonder what they think about the other group.  Meaning, if TFA is this great, what do they think regular teachers (read: real teachers) are doing every day and expect to do in the future in their chosen profession? Not everyone is happy, however. The teachers’ union sees opening schools to TFA graduates as a threat to their power within t...