Seattle Schools Community Forum

From the Times . Apparently this WILL prevent a shutdown of the state government on July 1.   No details have yet been provided.  The Governor's office has apparently been instrumental in getting both sides to the table.  "They're definitely forcing closure, which is a great thing, (Ross) Hunger said, referring to the Governor's office.  I would be willing to bet that the teachers don't get much of a raise that that I-1351 is mostly on-hold (something like I-728).  From the Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk blog , Class Size: The Common Sense Bus doesn't stop on School Reform Blvd.

Update:   hadn't realized but the national parks are free this weekend so if you are thinking of getting out there, you're in luck. Tomorrow there is a community meeting with Director Carr starting at 8:30 am at Bethany Community Church. The Special Session of the Legislature is probably working thru the weekend towards its June 11th cut-off date.  What they passed has huge ramifications for our district and every other one in the state. Interestingly, on the Times' blog , there is this opinion from three of the editorial writers at the Times on the special session: Consider what’s in the best interest of the children who will make up Washington’s future work force. This means the Legislature should take a good look at its current budget breakdown and make full funding of education a top priority — 45 percent of general funds should be dedicated to K-12 public schools; 9 percent for higher education; and additional investments in early learning. Lawmakers...

The Seattle Times is reporting that Governor Gregoire is considering cutting K-12 bus transportation.  But any squeamishness over student-transportation cuts isn't enough to keep that $220 million idea off her list of ways to potentially deal with budget shortfalls, the latest a $2 billion one. Washington would be the first to completely eliminate state dollars for bus service because of the recent recession, said Bob Riley, executive director of the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services. He noted that a few other states, including California and Colorado, have cut school-transportation dollars in previous years. Debra Carnes, who was waiting for the bus with her fourth-grader, called the idea horrible — but better than cutting money going to the classroom. She wondered what impact it would have on the attendance of low-income students and those new to the U.S.   "Our family, we'll figure it out. But there's a lot...

The Seattle Times has a couple of interesting stories this morning. The first one is - big surprise - about state budget cuts. No new news here but they do have a poll going about what to cut. Currently, K-4 class size reduction money (14.8% of the vote), Initiative 728 (19.88%) and Initiative 732 (15.2%) are leading the cuts poll. The other story is great news for Bailey-Gatzert Elementary . Seattle University, which has provided tutoring for the last 20 years, is creating a project for $1M a year to help provide: more tutoring and after-school help, free legal aid to recent immigrants provided by the university's law school and free health assistance from the nursing school. The project aims to touch all aspects of the neighborhood's social, health and educational development, and will include assistance to Washington Middle School and Garfield High School. They are trying to model the services after the Harlem's Children's Zone in NYC. By working with the...