Seattle Schools Community Forum

 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...

I attended the 43rd Dems meeting last night; it's my district.  As you may be aware, the election of Ed Murray as mayor means he leaves the State Legislature as senator.  So his post needs to be filled and, so far, the only person to step forward is the one of the 43rd's representatives, Jamie Pedersen .  (The other is Frank Chopp, the Speaker of the House.)  Senator Murray is to resign on December 31st and the seat must be filled within 60 days of that date. Naturally, that means Pedersen's seat will be open and there are - so far - three candidates vying for the appointed position.  (It seems a complicated process who gets the appointment.  It was explained that the PCOs for the 43rd will vote, their rank order votes for all three are then sent to the King County Council who will make the final decision. Pedersen and Chopp spoke to the crowd about coming legislative issues.  Their overriding message was that the Dems need to regain control of t...

I attended the Executive Committee meeting last week. The minutes from the previous meeting on June 12th were somewhat telling.  They reflect some discussion of the new Seattle Teacher Residency program.  Michael Tolley noted that it had been assigned to the Audit and Finance Committee and not the Curriculum and Instruction Committee.  That's interesting because I would think training teachers would be C&I but there was not an explanation in the minutes. As well, Duggan Harman said that "costs have not been finalized."  Remember that for the future because the STR program may well cost much more than we suspect and the money has to come from somewhere.  As well, this item WAS to be on the August 21st Board agenda and the Superintendent pulled it.  I suspect it is because the Board was not going to vote for a program with no budget attached.  Rightly so. I note that Directors were updated on conditional certifications for TFA teachers and ...

A couple of NW education stories of interest. First up, look who is leaving after one whole year as head of Oregon's public education system - Rudy Crew.  No real surprise there.  From Ed Week : So, how have things turned out? There are a few answers to that, and good variety among them. First, there's Rudy Crew. He's no longer on the job, having resigned July 1 to take over as president of Medgar Evers College in New York City. One of his biggest legacies seems to be a sour one : the expenses he racked up while serving as the state's K-12 czar, including a $1,118 taxpayer-funded trip to California to honor a former colleague, and a four-hour course he taught at the University of Southern California that resulted in a $552 bill to the Oregon public. On the policy front, Crew sought $150 million for four key initiatives, including preschool reading and regional centers for teacher professional development, Betsy Hammond at The Oregonian notes, but lawma...

WAPTA will no longer have a lobbyist at the Legislature.   Expect to be asked to send someone from your school/region to the Legislature to testify; it will become more important than ever. Dear WSPTA Members: As you may have heard, WSPTA took action this week to align our staffing and expenditures with our mission. In particular, WSPTA eliminated three positions on our staff , and made other spending plan changes to align our actions with our mission. We acknowledge these changes will be difficult for the three employees who have left us and for those of you who had meaningful relationships with them. We wish those affected the very best in the future. I want to explain why we took the staffing and cost realignment actions and what we can expect in the future as a result of these changes. As the WSPTA Executive Director, I understand that “everything we do is for kids.” Every dollar we receive from a member must be spent on our mission. Members must be support...

Remember that thinking, after the mass killings at an elementary school earlier this year, that we should arm teachers and staff at our schools ?  Well, Kansas passed a law allowing teachers and others to be armed.  Guess what the problem is ? Via TPM: An insurance company based in Iowa has refused to renew coverage for Kansas schools that permit teachers and staff to carry concealed firearms on campus, the Des Moines Register reported  on Sunday. EMC Insurance Cos. made the decision after Kansas enacted a new law to allow the concealed guns on campus. The company told the newspaper the decision was based on financial policy, not politics. The company reportedly covers 85 to 90 percent of Kansas school districts. "We’ve been writing school business for almost 40 years, and one of the underwriting guidelines we follow for schools is that any on-site armed security should be provided by uniformed, qualified law enforcement officers,” Mick Lovell, EMC’s vice ...

 Update from Duggan Harmon, Assistant Superintendent, Business and Finance, and his budget update (partial): "While the level of increased K-12 funding is relatively similar in both the proposed House and Senate budgets, the two bodies differ significantly on strategies to fund these increases. In simple terms, the House wants to close tax loopholes to fund K-12 enhancements while the Senate proposes to do so through cuts in other areas of State spending. Failure to adopt a budget by July 1 would result in at least a partial shutdown of State government. Given that this has never happened before, it is difficult to say exactly what such a shutdown would mean, but it is likely that government offices would close, apportionment payments to school districts would not be made, State bond ratings would suffer and other obligations, such as capital program construction match, would not be paid as scheduled. I’m confident a state budget will eventually be passed and it will have in...

Unbelievable.  Much those I wanted ALL our state legislators to get the budget done before the end of the Special Session next week, I did NOT want the Dems to give to the Reps and sure enough, they did.  And guess who is going to suffer?  Public schools. From Publicola : "At some point we had to make a move," state house finance chair Rep. Reuven Carlyle (D-36, Queen Anne) said today, explaining the compromise budget offer the state Democrats made to the Republican-controlled senate. Carlyle concluded: "Because that's how you govern. I hope there's a deal now. We'll see if they continue to be intransigent, but this is what you do to create movement."  So instead of asking for $1.3B for K-12, the Dems have scaled back to $700M.  That's $700M than is currently received so it falls in the "better than nothing" category but when you cut back to half of what you start with?  Not so much of a victory.  I have no idea how the Suprem...

That's the basic message from the Washington State PTA and they - are - right. Special Session?  Why?  It is now costing money to have the session AND costing time. And just like our school districts have discovered, the Legislature knows that parents are ponying up money and time because they won't let their school communities down. E-mail your legislator today. I note that many Legislative watchers are seeing that the roadblocks seem to be around certain ed "reforms" like grading schools.  To hold the entire budget hostage for something that practically already exists (the info on every single school in the state is at OSPI for the reading and certainly is more comprehensive than a single letter grade) is wrong. The bottom line (highlights mine): The studies have gone on for years. The discussion, the indecision, the inaction. Families deserve to know when the money will come. If you spend a billion or less on the program of basic education this ye...

 Update: the Times has a good piece on this issue but says that if lawmakers were giving themselves a grade for education, it would be "incomplete."  C'mon legislators, you didn't get your work done in a timely manner.  I'm thinking the teachers out there would not simply say, "okay, an incomplete it is." Yes, the "we can get it done" coalition didn't get it done in our state legislature.  The Governor has ordered a Special Session to start on May 13th. I think the message here is that it takes more than being large and in charge to get things done.  Legislators HAVE to work together. Frankly, I don't envy them as they have to worry over the mixed messages they get from voters.  Over and over, voters have said fund education.  Even the Supreme Court says that.  BUT, via Tim Eyman, we also vote "no new taxes."  That leaves legislators with,  all things being equal, continuing to slash social services and health care pri...

Getting down to the waning days of this Legislative Session so things are happening quickly. One bill that has died was the DREAM Act which would have allowed children of undocumented workers access to higher education in the state.  I supported this bill simply because it is common sense.  These kids had no choice about where they were brought to grow up.  If they have the smarts to get through high school and be ready for college, we should let them in.  Because they are not going back to their country of their parents and we are constantly being told we need an educated populace.  Well, with higher ed costs soaring, something has to give.  What really annoys me is the hypocrisy.  You might recall that when the charter school bill was in committee last year, that the committee head, Sharon Tomiko-Santos, refused to allow a vote.  (I thought that was wrong then and I said it.)  The Republicans could not have been more scathing in their r...

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...

Over at the Times there's this article reporting that Republicans in the State Senate are sponsoring a bill to assign a letter grade - A-F - to every public school based on outcomes from standardized testing and "other measures." High schools also would be graded by graduation rate, SAT scores and AP course participation. Details: Schools that earn “A” grades would be eligible for teacher bonuses and get more control over the money the state allocates to them. The bill is sponsored by Senate education Chairman Steve Litzow, R-Mercer Island. I'll have to go over this bill to get more details but, as we all know, SPS does have a scorecard for every school with a host of measures. The kicker (and the number one objection voiced in the Comments section): Charter schools and alternative schools would be exempted from the grading, unless they opt in. And why is that?  I thought these were "public" schools and yet they don't have their result...

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...

Public education IS education and I learned some new things today.  (If you already know this, power to you but I'm still learning.) So technically, while the charter bill is in the budget, the bill itself has to be passed.  Also, if the Governor doesn't sign the bill, it won't pass and the money embedded in the budget for it lapses (and goes elsewhere).  Frankly, I can think of many other education needs for nearly $800k. So job one is to write your legislators. Super job one is to write the Governor.   I plan on writing or calling every single day.  FYI, they tend to get thousands of e-mails and phone calls; snail mail is a good option. Her e-message page Governor Chris Gregoire Office of the Governor PO Box 40002 Olympia, WA 98504-0002 Call Governor Gregoire's Office: 360-902-4111 Fax Governor Gregoire: 360-753-4110

Thank goodness for The Olympian ; they really keep up-to-date on the Legislature.   Here's the latest on education measures: Passed and gone to the Governor for her signature: Collaborative schools: A proposal for universities to work with school districts to assist low-performing schools cleared the Legislature. The pilot project would implement instruction models and other strategies in chosen elementary schools. This is a bill I supported - HB2799 - in place of the charter school bill.  I think it's a great start to helping low-performing schools find better academic outcomes with the help and support of our universities.  Failed: All day kindergarten funding: Legislation to fund all-day kindergarten by removing the sales tax exemption for out-of-state residents failed to get the necessary two-thirds vote to pass, which is required to raise taxes. Signed into law by the Governor: Teacher evaluations: Gregoire also signed an overhaul of the teacher e...

Here's what Kastama, Tom and Sheldon (allegedly Dems but who walked to the other side of the aisle last Friday) say in their op-ed in the Times: While adhering to important tenets of responsible budgeting, it is now the job of the Legislature to negotiate the most sensible use of the limited tax dollars we have. Here's what Joe Zarelli, the Senate Republicans' chair of the Ways and Means committee said to Danny Westneat at the Times : But Joe Zarelli, the Senate Republicans' budget chief, said all the education-spending ideas, including those from his own party, simply must wait for better times. "I'll take the bullets for it, but I try to operate in reality," he said. "I don't know how you manage a $1.2 billion deficit problem without everyone taking some kind of cut."

This was in Publicola today (bold mine): More names are circulating as contenders for two open seats in the state house: The 36th District position 2 seat, currently occupied by Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, and the 46th District position 2 seat, held by Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney. Both Dickerson and Gutierrez Kenney announced earlier this year that they plan to retire at the end of their current terms. In the 36th, which covers parts of Ballard, Queen Anne, Magnolia, Phinney Ridge, Fremont, and Belltown, several folks are rumored to be considering a run. They include John Burbank, head of the progressive Economic Opportunity Institute (and father of the infamous “latte tax”); Progressive Majority’s Washington State director, Noel Frame; Seattle School Board member Michael DeBell; Brett Phillips, son of King County Council member Larry Phillips and the director of sustainability at Unico Properties; and Jeff Manson, chair of the 36th District Democrats. It is unclear to m...

I leave town for a week and all hell breaks loose.   More violence, more burglaries, a Friday night sneaky maneuver by Senate Republicans and now, Luna the soccer dog has gone missing?  In the immortal words of Betty Draper, "What is going on!?!" First, be sure to lock your doors and windows.   It seems weird to say that but this is not Mayberry, RFD.  Let's be safe in our own homes.  Ditto on locking the car if you have valuables inside. Update:   Tuesday, March 6th - Luna was found and returned to her owner. Second, I normally wouldn't put up something about a missing dog but this dog has special talents that can be easily spotted.  So I am putting out a plea for anyone who sees Luna the Soccer Dog . Luna was taken from outside a University area home on Saturday.  She has a tag with her address and phone.  She responds to her name and soccer commands.  She is a female Kelpie mix (border collie with dingo ears), black coa...

There must be a teacher evaluation bill in the legislature because there is a guest column about something similar in the Seattle Times. " It's hard to overestimate the value of a good teacher " by Nicholas Kristof is all about the false concept of "teacher quality". It is based on the most ridiculously and obviously flawed analysis possible, the circular logic that great teachers can be identified by how their students' test scores rise and the proof of their greatness can be found in the rise of their students' test scores. We might as well identify great teachers by how much taller their students grow and then use the increase in their students' height as the proof of their great teaching. The truth is that "teacher quality" has only an incremental influence on student test scores and therefore student test scores are an extraordinarily poor measure of teacher quality.