Seattle Schools Community Forum

I normally don't agree with a lot of the thought process over at LEV.  But here's something I agree with: Which of these makes more sense to you? A) Keeping questionable industry tax breaks on the books? OR B) Amply funding our schools? If you picked "B," it's time to voice your choice. Please take two minutes of your time sending a message to your legislators.  We need to get a tsunami of e-mails to these legislators.  We need them to hear our voices. I know, it's Spring Break, there's a fugitive on the loose in Boston, it's Friday and so on. Please do this. Don't listen to me.  Listen to the words of Blair Butterworth, a well-known political consultant, who died recently.  This is from an op-ed posted at Crosscut .  I have no idea what type of ed reform he is speaking about but it seems to come from the heart.  This is partial:

In case you didn't hear, last Wednesday the economic forecast was released for Washington State.  It showed flat growth which was actually good news as it means the Legislature doesn't have to find more cuts (in theory). Here's what was stated by Duggan Harman who is the Assistant Superintendent of Business & Finance (aka the budget guy) for SPS at last week's Board meeting. He stated the following: SPS has an $18M shortfall.  Staff has found cuts that would make up for two-thirds of the shortfall but they are one-time cuts.  A couple of thoughts to close the gap - increasing kindergarten tuition (again) and transportation reductions. SPS, along with several other districts including Tacoma, Spokane, Bellevue and Highline, have sent a letter to the Legislature urging them to pass ESB2261 (which is the full-funding measure for Washington State K-12 schools).  It would include fully funding transportation, K-3 high-poverty students would be in classes no l...

As most of you know, public education, both K-12 and higher ed, are central focuses of the current Legislative Session.  Here are some issues/bills up for discussion: - from the Times, an article about a bill to "grade" schools (except for charters, of course).   - as previously mentioned, Senator Rodney Tom (F-Medina), wants to get rid of GET (Guaranteed Education Tuition), the program that helps people save for their children's college educations.  Guess what?  The astoundingly popular College -Bound program that low-income middle school students sign up for to encourage them to finish high school and go to college?  He wants to end THAT one as well.  (Even the Times says they should continue the College Bound program.) Senator Tom has said the State shouldn't be in this "business."  Confusing because our Constitution says that educating the populace IS the paramount duty of the state.  (Also, understand that people who crunched the numbe...

Okay, those kids over at The Stranger found many gullible people including me.  It was all faked (although the education thread did sound plausible.  What is below is wrong (except for Washington State's SAT scores - that is true). ## Over at The Stranger Slog, they gave over several threads to the McKenna campaign to discuss various issues.  (This is incredibly generous of The Stranger and I give them full credit.) Here's his education thread entitled " A New Direction for Washington's Public Schools " wherein he recites tired ed reform phrases and yet says absolutely nothing specific about what he would do. He says this: At the same time, we cannot spend more money on existing public school programs that are underperforming without first reforming them . Washington is regarded nationally as an education reform backwater, coming in near the bottom in the President's Race to the Top competition, and only one of handful that does not...

After Reuven Carlyle's pro-charter blog post over at his blog , Charlie posted to it, asking why Reuven wasn't engaging since it was he who opened the conversation and from his thread, a lively conversation ensued. Here was his answer: Charlie: I’ve been reflecting on the issues and ideas. I’d like to ask you and everyone for genuine and sincere suggestions: What legislation would you like to see introduced and supported in Olympia? Seriously, if you could introduce a real piece of legislation–in addition to all of the McClearly work we have going–what would it be that would unite folks? I value your insight, judgement(sic) and counsel. So there you have it.  What would you like to see the Legislature do?  I'll throw out some ideas (not necessarily mine nor do they have my endorsement): 1) income tax just for K-12 education (iron-clad) to fund at least to the level of the national average 2) legislation to support counselors/career specialists in all hig...

So this thread is a bit of mind-wandering on my part but maybe you can tease out something to comment on.  It came from a couple of places.  One was this that a friend wrote on his Facebook page: "Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR and PBS crashed the stock market, wiped out half of our 401Ks, took trillions in TARP money, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, gave themselves billions in bonuses, and paid no taxes? Yeah, me neither."

Here's the story from the Seattle Times: Senate's school cuts get low grades from Gregoire, educators . I like the way that the Governor thinks she can save her reputation by acting upset, pouting, and stamping her little feet - but without actually taking any meaningful action to prevent the cuts to education. She's not fooling anyone. I don't mind that she's ineffectual, but I'm insulted that she thinks we will confuse this act with actual opposition. Who are the legislators who are looking to make cuts to education while preserving special tax breaks for favored industries and businesses? Oh, right, all of them.

( NOTE: I updated this thread a couple of hours later to reflect other info I saw in the news release.) It was announced today that the district has won a $12.5M Teacher Incentive Grant. This is money to be used for staffing at 34 high-need schools over 5 years. There are a lot of interesting things in both the feds' press release and the district's. Let's start with the district's PR. The five- year TIF program seeks to strengthen the education profession by rewarding excellence, attracting teachers and principals to high-need and hard to staff areas, and providing all teachers and principals with the feedback and support they need to succeed. “I want to thank our teachers and leaders for their work to reach this historic agreement, which was a key factor that evaluators considered when they awarded this grant to our district.” (Dr. Goodloe-Johnson) Glenn Bafia, Seattle Education Association’s (SEA) Executive Director, said that “SEA is excited that portions o...

Joni Balter of the Times had a column about how we fund services in our city. Here's how she puts it: "It is an increasing tradition in our region to offer government a la carte." And before I go any further, I'm not against taxes. Compared to other countries (and even other states), we aren't taxed that much. But we do have a struggling economy and many people who are stretched to their limit (read: seniors and low-income folks). She goes on to talk about how many levies/bonds may come before voters in all of 2010. We just had our first one with the school levies. Next up is likely to be a seawall levy. "To that end, the Seattle City Council recently asked McGinn to review all the voter "asks" on the horizon to have a more holistic sense of what is coming up. Councilmember Tom Rasmussen says the council is not on board for the mayor's requested May election for the sea wall and may pursue other funding options, including use of the city...

( Update: Couldn't find a direct link to the actual ruling. Here's a link to the KOMO story with a link at the bottom of the story.) In what is sure to be a huge story (and possible battle royale with the Governor and the state versus the school districts), the Times reports that King County judge John Erlick has ruled that the state is not " providing ample funding for public schools ." The judge expressed that he had no doubt this was the case. From the article: "He ordered the state Legislature to establish the actual cost of funding an ample education, and then to fund it with stable and dependable sources. One question mark is the timeline determining the cost and how to pay for it. Attorneys for both sides said they would have to first read the full decision to see if the judge set a deadline. If the judge decided on 2018, the year that the Legislature has said it planned to increase education spending by an estimated $1 billion a year, the state woul...