Seattle Schools Community Forum

Some sad news on two fronts. One item is this from Ravenna Next Door on Sunday: My daughter and her friends were playing at Bryant this morning when they texted me with concern about glass and jewelry, and "gun powder" on the playground. I walked over to see for myself and sure enough there were empty beer cans, stolen jewelry and a pile of white powder with a razor blade, etc. I called the police who came surprisingly quickly and confirmed the white substance was Meth. Ugh. They took it to the station for evidence but left the jewelry and glass suggesting that I call the parks to come and clean it up. A very surprising site to say the least. Still researching who to call for clean up. The second item is about a beloved staff member at Cascadia: Allen Greenberg, beloved recess monitor at Cascadia Elementary in Seattle, passed away unexpectedly.  Allen spent his life giving to others - always looking out for the less fortunate.  He often stopped by Solid ...

Update 3 : partial from letter sent to families that has new information: Next Steps Between Dec. 5, 2016 and Jan. 4, 2017 we will continue to solicit feedback on budget priorities from staff, families, and community partners. I would like to thank the Seattle Council PTSA for hosting three regional meetings for families to provide feedback on budget priorities.  Community Budget Gap Meetings Tues., Dec. 13 , 6:30 - 8 p.m. Ballard High School 1418 NW 65th St. Thurs., Dec. 15 , 6:30 - 8 p.m. South Shore PreK-8 School 4800 S Henderson St. Tues., Jan. 3 , 6:30 - 8 p.m. Franklin High School 3013 S Mt Baker Blvd. Interpretation will be available. To request interpretation please contact publicaffairs@seattleshools.org with your requested needs.  Additional details regarding the budget deficit, budget development timeline, and actions you can take will be posted to the 2017-18 budget webpage by tomorrow, Dec. 2.  If you have specific question...

One statement that Superintendent Nyland likes to say is "We can do anything, we can't do everything."   This week Seattle Schools hosted  two community meetings (which, for some reason, they called "work sessions." Confusing.)  At the meeting I attended on Tuesday, the 25th, there were four community members including me. Here's what staff said in their announcement for the meetings(partial):

Washington's Paramount Duty is organizing a trip down to Olympia on Tuesday, September 6th to address the Education Funding Task Force that is working on McCleary funding issues. Yes, I know that's the first day of school but if you can't come, please DO weigh in anyway. E-mail Tali Rausch, who is the head of WPD, with your funding thoughts. She will be compiling these e-mails to present to the committee. A huge stack of statements from parents and communities really would send a message to these legislators. Her e-mail is: tali@paramountduty.org

This is my summary and I use only partial quotes from the State's response.  Its tone is respectful and I think that is because of our Attorney General Bob Ferguson.  I suspect if they had left it to some members of the legislature that I would not have the same tone.  What the State says.     

Yesterday, Rep Reuven Carlyle had an opinion piece at Publicola .  He says that Sound Transit and public education funding cannot be done at the same time.  In 2015, he says he supported the financing for the light rail system.  (partial) And yet, as I review the updated financing plan in more depth, I continue to grapple on a deeply personal level with the genuine burden the Sound Transit proposal places on public education . It is unsettling at best to serve as a state legislator while Olympia is under a contempt order by the Supreme Court for failing to meet the state’s paramount duty of fully funding public education. This is historic and unprecedented and we are recreating our educational finance plan for the next generation in real time. After putting an additional $2.5 billion into K-12 funding over the last three legislative sessions since the McCleary ruling, Democrats and Republicans are struggling to find a final path forward for the last $3.5 billi...

From Robert Cruickshank of Democracy for America this story from HistoryLink : History matters. This article tells the story of the so-called "Barefoot Schoolboy Act," passed in 1895. It was the first time the state of Washington attempted to fully fund our public schools, and it was thanks to the work of Populist progressive and future governor John Rogers. The article shows how the "paramount duty" language was created in the first place, and why it is so important that our state live up to that promise and fully fund our schools. This was one of the core promises made when Washington became a state. It is time the legislature followed in John Rogers' bold footsteps and once again ensured all public schools in this state, and every child in this state, gets a fully funded and equitable education.  From the article (some content will sound very of the minute to our current situation):

Via Soup for Teachers, a thought-provoking piece from NPR from a new book, Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children, on raising bright kids .

Given what they have asked for, I believe they want an actual outline of specifics, not just suggestions.

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.)

Good morning on the start of this Memorial Day weekend.  Please consider taking a little time to explain to your children why they have Monday off from school and the sacrifices that have been made for all of us by service members in our armed forces. Interesting article on the growth of Montessori-based public schools (both traditional and charter.) As a complete opposite to the Washington State Supreme Court, the Texas Supreme Court is taking a decidedly hands-off approach to school funding in that state.  From NPR:

Section by section, little corners of hell are freezing over as I find myself agreeing with the Times on issues of public education.  (Although, sometimes it's like following a bouncing ball - I never know how I think they will come out on various education issues.) Case in point - their Sunday editorial , Election time, so get serious on education funding.  Candidates filed to run for the jobs of lawmaker and governor last week. When they show up on your doorstep in coming months, be ready to grill them about the state’s failure on its most important issue: What are you going to do to fully fund education?

People doing the hard work to get our schools fully funded; let's support Washington's Paramount Duty . Come out for their Campaign Kickoff.   Thursday, May 26 Sarajevo Lounge 2332 First Avenue (Belltown) 5:30-7:30 pm Kids welcome!

At Seattle Channel's Seattle Speaks event a couple of weeks back, Senator Michael Baumgartner, in passing, mentioned "the McCleary wars."  I was taken aback but I shouldn't have been. I mean you'd have to be blind not to see that the conservatives in this state don't want to have to find the money.  I think they purposefully have dragged this out so that they can make it as hard as possible for the liberals to get this done.  In other words, make it a bloody fight where everyone gets a little something but, in the end, there will be those who lose.

This NPR story is aptly titled, Can More Money Fix America's Schools ? The bottom line to that question is yes BUT no one seems quite sure what is the best bang for the buck and many legislators are loathe to give out extra dollars if there is uncertainty about what to do.  (But more on that in a minute.) That's a super broad question.  Does it mean:

Seems this topic is all the rage.  This story is a three-parter with the other part coming next week.  I haven't had time to read it thoroughly but it has a very good interactive map that shows you who spends what.  We began with the question: "How do we pay for our schools?"  From a leaky ceiling in rural Alabama to a four-day school week in Arizona. From $9,794 to $28,639. Next week, we'll wade into the debate over the difference money can make in a classroom. And yes, it's a debate. National average for school spending - $11,841 Seattle: $10,610 Bellevue: $9,192 Issaquah: $8,096 Highline: $9684 Spokane: $11,610 The center of the state and the far NW of the state spend a lot more. 

Update : good overview of funding from the Times . From KUOW : Washington Governor Jay Inslee must sign the supplemental budget next week. When he does sign it, that action touches off a series of deadlines in the McCleary case. KUOW is reporting that the Court told the legislature they must, within 30 days of Inslee signing the supplemental budget, give them a report on their McCleary plans.  Then the plaintiffs in the case can respond (within 20 days) and then the state has 10 days to reply to that response. Now we all know what the "plan" is - there was a bill passed on it.  They "plan" to kick the can down the road for another year.  I'm not sure what else the legislature could say they are actually doing. So I did a calendar check.  The end of next week is April 22nd and that would be the last day the Governor can take to sign the budget. The legislature has until June 6th to respond (Memorial Day moves it one more day further on.) The plainti...

Massachusetts-is-a-lot-like-us-so-why-are-its-schools-so-much-better?  This was a good article in the Times this morning (although the only local quote is a business person and not an educator?) Naturally, I had some comments about it as did other readers.  One comment that came up was the comparison of states purely by some demographic measures.  One reader said it should have been Colorado which is also, by geography, as big as Washington state with agriculture AND they spend less.  (I will also point out that Colorado has had some success with their public education reform but also a hotbed of problems with charter schools, takeovers of districts and big spending on school board races by out-of-state donors.) The article points out that Washington students don’t take the international exams but doesn’t say why. Could that be cost?  I'll have to call OSPI and ask.  “The education of all children (in Massachusetts) was seen as a matter, not onl...

From Cascadia Weekly : YOU HAD ONE JOB: With fewer than 20 days left in their short legislative session, a nearly paralyzed state House and Senate in Olympia passed watered-down education funding plans on razor-thin margins divided along extremely partisan lines hours before a cutoff deadline that would have stalled the bills in their houses of origin.

From the great West Seattle Blog , a comprehensive wrap-up of the discussion at Director Harris' community meeting.  I was in Olympia yesterday to work with Washington's Paramount Duty, visiting legislators.  Boy, that place was hopping.  You'll be glad to know that nearly all the legislators we visited are just flummoxed by trying to figure out how to fund McCleary.  But no one particularly wants to worry about it this session.