What Are They Saying About Levy Equalization This Week?

Further cuts for this year's budget must be made as well as the cuts for the next biennium 2011-13. When asked where this year's $385 million in near-term cuts will come from, director of the office of Financial Management, Marty Brown, said, "We're going to be talking about Basic Health soon, Disability Lifeline soon, levy equalization. School districts are going to get nailed."

State Sen. Brian Hatfield, D- Raymond, acknowledged that schools could get hit hard. "Levy equalization is another large ticket item that could be on the chopping block," he said.

--The Chinook-Observer, November 24th

Among the possible additional measures outlined in a memo to lawmakers:

Using $208 million in federal “edujobs” money to backfill the budget.
Reducing levy equalization to property-tax poor districts by $18 million.
Eliminating extra school funding for kindergarten through fourth grade to save $81.5 million.

The Olympian, November 25th

And, to wrap up, a great story from the Spokesman-Review on a small school district doing good.

Read more here, if any.

Mythbusting: We Didn't Win Race to the Top Because We Don't Have Charter Schools

It's everyone's favorite theory of the day!

Randy Dorn:

Dorn said in a telephone interview that he believed Washington was not chosen as a finalist because its application did not include a plan for allowing charter schools in the state.

Josh Feit:

While the education reform bill that passed in Olympia this session did gesture toward some of the Race to the Top goals like giving the state authority to intervene in failing schools; approving of alternative paths to teacher certification; extending teacher tenure from two years to three; and creating a new teacher and principal evaluation systems (like a four-tiered rating system instead of simply good or bad—and lowering the legal standard for getting rid of delinquent principles), it did not radically alter the teacher evaluation system—as Obama wants—by tracking evaluations to student data. Nor did it embrace charter schools, another Obama standard.

The Association of Washington Business:

Washington was not included as a Round 2 Finalist. One of the key reasons is Washington does not allow charter Schools.

The Seattle Times:

The fact that Washington wasn't a finalist didn't come as a surprise. From the beginning, many voiced concerns that Washington wasn't making the kinds of changes that would earn a high score in the competition, given the federal government's criteria.

Washington lost about 40 points off the bat, for example, because it doesn't allow the creation of charter schools.

The Politics Northwest Blog at the Seattle Times:

Washington state on Tuesday failed to advance in the competition for $3.4 billion in education grants under Race to the Top, a performance that could not been helped by voters' rejection of charter schools that are a key -- albeit not mandatory -- part of the Obama administration's reform agenda.

And first out of the gate to lay this at Governor's feet, Liv Finne of the Washington Policy Center. She brings up the charters thing, too.

---

This is all well and good, but how about we ask someone who really knows: The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Finds Eight Race to the Top Finalists Supportive of Charter Schools

Well, that's interesting, since there's 19 finalists. Let's skip ahead in their press release, but I'd encourage you to read the whole thing:

Unfortunately, three finalists fail to meet at least one Race to the Top guideline because they continue to block charter school growth. They are: Kentucky, North Carolina and Ohio. Despite education reform efforts that may exist in these states, they are keeping high-quality charter schools from bringing parents another public school option. Kentucky, in particular, has yet to pass a charter school law.

Three more states with no charter schools, and yet they made it through to round 2. If it killed us, how come it didn't kill them?

Maryland, also a finalist, was shown to have the worst charter school law in the country according to our rankings.

The worst charter school law in the country. The absolute worst. They're a finalist, too.

For more evidence, go look at the detailed scores from the first round of the Race to the Top grants. Remember there that 41 states had applied and only two (Delaware and Tennessee) were awareded the grants. Given that, you'd think from all the sturm und drang above that it must have been the charter school points that set them apart, right?

Not really. Out of 40 points, Delaware scored 31, Tennessee scored 30. 14 states scored higher than both of them. The two places that got perfect scores for charters, Colorado and DC, were only in the middle of the pack for overall score.

We won't really know what impact our lack-of charter schools law had until they release the scores at the beginning of September. I'd suspect it'll probably be a lower score than most, but we don't know what the overall impact of our "innovation schools" gambit will be until then (innovation schools like Aviation High, which Secretary Duncan visited two weeks ago. Given that, and based on the available evidence so far, it's intellectually dishonest to say that charter schools killed Washington State's application.

Read more here, if any.

The Randy Dorn Love Train...

....is steaming full-bore through the comments section of this article at the Seattle Times.

My beef with the national core standards is the loss of local control--these might compare to or even be better than we have now, but will they always?--and the constant changing of the standards dictates a constant changing of the test, which means that you lose the ability to really compare kids, schools, and teachers from year to year.

If we don't get through the Race to the Top first round tomorrow, we will have adopted these standards for *nothing*.

Read more here, if any.

The Greatest Comment Ever In the History of the Seattle Times

I love this, from a recent Seattle Times article on using seniority in layoffs:

Yes - God forbid that you clear out the 'dead wood' and keep the best producers... Only a union mentality would make such an inane statement.

These insane results would not happen if we had a VOUTURE system. Students would take their vouture to the schools that retained the very best teachers - not the schools with the oldest teachers. Let the union-mentality public schools compete for the vouture funding as well. Watch how many kids flock to schools with old dead wood teachers that are there only because of their 'seniority'....

VOUTURES NOW!

I think he was probably trying for "vouchers", but who am I to argue? WE NEED VOUTURES NOW!!!!!!!

Read more here, if any.

Working in Concert

Exhibit 1: An op-ed piece from the Seattle Times written by Mary Alice Heuschel, formerly of OSPI and now the Superintendent of the Renton School District. The last paragraph:

As a state, Washington must support educators who help our children learn, grow and succeed. It is the key to our future.

Exhibit 2: A letter in the Kent Reporter, placed there by one Dan Morris of Stand for Children and signed on to by the Kent School Board. The sign off?

As a state, Washington must support educators who help our children learn, grow and succeed. It is the key to our future.

Organization--it's everywhere you look.

Read more here, if any.

No on I-1033 Week: The Seattle Times Editorial

The Times lays out the case for voting no on I-1033; additional commentary by David Goldstein here.

Read more here, if any.

In the Spirit of Bipartisanship

Via the Seattle Times:

Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, the House majority leader, said she thinks the balanced budget bill is a good idea, but members of her caucus will likely view it with suspicion because Republicans did not approach her party to push the bill in a bi-partisan fashion. She noted that all the bill's sponsors are Republicans so "there must be something devious going on."

My guess is that she probably said this as a joke, maybe one with a grain of truth to it in her mind, but a joke nonetheless. The trouble with telling jokes to the print media is that the humour doesn't always come through.

Read more here, if any.

Every Teacher's Nightmare, Part II

There was an extremely important article in the Seattle Times over the weekend. Their excellent series from 2003, Coaches Who Prey, blew the lid off the old system where perverts could shuffle under the radar, from school to school, abusing kids the same way every time before making secret agreements to move on and do it again.

It was very Chris Hansen. It was also compelling and brought about needed changes to the system. The Times has continued to press the issue, to their credit, but where they're going now should concern us all:

The state Public Records Act makes clear that all public records and documents are available to the public unless specifically exempted in the act itself. One exemption concerns the private information of public employees when the information is not of legitimate concern to the public.

The WEA argued that unsubstantiated allegations of sexual misconduct are exempt from disclosure, and that the public has no legitimate interest in allegations of misconduct unless the government agency takes a formal action beyond what is called a "letter of direction," which the union contended isn't discipline.

The Times argued that the on-the-job conduct of a public employee is not a private matter. It also argued that investigations of sexual misconduct involving teachers and children are of legitimate public interest, and that what the school knows about allegations of misconduct should be disclosed.

On the surface, the WEA argument seems reasonable. There is a question of fairness in releasing the name of someone who is accused if the accusation isn't substantiated. But there is more to the story that turns the argument on its head.

This is the paradox of being a union advocate.

We shouldn't be in the business of protecting people who shouldn't be around children, but in their zeal to keep personnel files private that's exactly the impression the WEA gives. On the other hand, look at the Linda Cawley case, where a false allegation got a teacher thrown out of the classroom and investigated by the police. The goal of transparency is laudable, but what would your reaction be if a false allegation of sexual misconduct was made, quickly disproven, and ended up on the front page of the local paper anyways?

The Times is after the story; they're journalists, and that's what they do, but this reeks of the tabloids. Even if the story says:

Mr. Grant was accused of sexual abuse, but later exonerated.

What most people are going to read is this:

Mr. Grant was accused of sexual abuse,

but later exonerated.

....and that's unfair, no matter what the prinicples of journalism say.

It's a case to keep an eye on.

Read more here, if any.