Poor Form, Liv

No, I'm not talking about the wonderful planted article in the Washington State Wire where they didn't note that you had applied for the Charter Commission and not been selected, which seems like it would have been a relevant fact to know about someone who was then slagging on people who had been selected.

Nor am I talking about this one where you yourself failed to mention that, like me, you weren't selected for the Charter School Commission.

I'm just rather surprised that someone who dislikes teacher unionism wouldn't have picked up on the fact that Springdale/Mary Walker is one of the largest unorganized locals in all of Eastern Washington.  There is no WEA presence there.  Hasn't been in quite some time.  Springdale also has this beautifully incestuous relationship with Valley through their Padeia High School co-op, and Valley has been exploiting every fucking loophole in the book one of the leaders in on-line education for years now.  They're also mostly unorganized.

I think you're raging against your own people.

Read more here, if any.

Personal and Confidential to Shannon Campion: When You Can't Even Bring Yourself to Say "F Schools", the Bill Stinks

Post update:  You can watch the video here.  King5, your embedding stinks.

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I still miss Up Front with Robert Mak, but these segments that King5 has been putting out are pretty good so far.

This week the lead interview is with Shannon Campion, the executive director of Stand for Children, who doesn't do a good job.  First, when talking about Litzow's school grading bill she talks about "getting extra support to C and D schools", but can't bring herself to go all the way to the bottom of the scale, which proves to my satisfaction that even though Stand has been bleating on their Facebook page all weekend about how this is a bi-partisan proposal, they know that those grades are stigmatizing.  She also gets noticeably flustered when she gets asked about the oversight role that OSPI could have when it comes to Charter Schools, which makes one think that Superintendent Dorn just might have a point.

In the second half Austin Jenkins did a nice job with the differences between the House and Senate right now.  It's good video.

Read more here, if any.

Accountability for Thee, But Not for Me! Charter School Edition.

First, let's review:

• "Charter schools are public schools." -- The Washington Policy Center
• "Charter schools are public schools." -- The Yes on 1240 Fact Sheet
• "Charter schools are public schools." -- Lisa McFarlane in a Ballard News Editorial
• "Charter schools are public schools." -- Mary Lou Evans in the Everett Herald
• "Charter schools are public schools." -- Liv Finne
• "Charter schools are public schools." -- The Bellingham Herald
• "Charter schools are public schools." -- Partnership for Learning
• "Charter schools are public schools." -- The Olympian

....and numerous other editorials, letters, Facebook posts, and pretty much everywhere else you looked.

Contrast that with this language from Senate Bill 5328, prime sponsored by Steve Litzow and co-sponsored by 7 others.  The effect of the bill would be to give every school a letter grade from A to F, of course based off of test scores.  Actually, not every school:

(3) Each school that has students who are tested using the assessments administered statewide in reading, writing, mathematics, and science required under RCW 28A.655.061, 28A.655.066, and 28A.655.070 shall earn a school grade, except as follows:
(a) To protect the privacy of students, schools, and district testing fewer than ten students in a grade level;
(b) An alternative school may choose to receive a school or a school improvement rating;
(c) Charter schools, unless the charter school governing board chooses to earn a school grade;

 There is absolutely no legitimate excuse for this.

"They're new, it's not fair to grade them!"  High turnover schools are practically new every year.
"They work with high-need populations!"  So do all of our alternative high schools.
"They have their own accountability!"  So does my public school, through the State Board of Education's Achievement Index.

This is what those who were against I1240 were talking about when they worried that the initiative would create a two track system of public schools that were accountable and charter schools that are not.  In the coming years, when the test scores tank because of the switch to the Common Core State Standards, this bill would create a reality where most every real public school had a scarlet F attached to them while the "public" charter schools could opt out and avoid the consequences.

There are other problem with the bill--the incentive piece is simply insulting, and this would be another layer of accountability bureaucracy on top of what the Board of Education is already doing--and I can't imagine it would pass the House.  It's simply sad to see just how little Senator Litzow and the rest of the Majority Coalition Caucus think of public schools.

Read more here, if any.

I Agree, They Certainly Are!

From a ridiculous puff-piece that was linked to off of the League of Education Voter's Facebook page:

But that's changing. Why? First, leaders from both parties, including Senators Litzow and Tom, and Representative Pettigrew, are demonstrating the steal it takes to move reform in a state that has long resisted it.

I agree--Senator Tom does have what it takes to steal.

Read more here, if any.

Kelly Munn, Casual Stereotyper

From an email that I received a bit ago from the League of Education Voters, signed by their field director Kelly Munn:

We have to use every resource possible to give all of our kids the education and opportunities they deserve. High-performing public charter schools are helping these kids in 41 other states. Only Washington, Kentucky, Alabama and a handful of others don't give parents this valuable education option.

It's no accident that Ms. Munn chose those two states to compare Washington to, because she wants you to get a very specific image in your mind when she brings up Kentucky and Alabama:

Other states that don't have charter laws? North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Montana, Nebraska, and Maine. The two examples that Kelly went with are the only two states in the south that don't have charter school laws, and we can either attribute that to a 2-in-56 chance that she picked those two at random, or she picked those two purposefully to move a part of the LEV agenda forward because Lord knows we wouldn't want to be like those folks.

Read more here, if any.

I'm Sure It's Just a Coincidence

A particular line from the charter schools bill that was introduced to the Washington State legislature yesterday, related to an extension of the time that it would take a charter to start serving students:

"The authorizer may grant or deny the extension depending on the school's circumstances."

From the charter school law in Maine:

The authorizer may grant or deny the extension depending on the particular public charter school's circumstances.

How about Montana?

The authorizer may grant or deny the extension depending on the particular school's circumstances.

Heading down south, to Alabama:

The authorizer may grant or deny the extension, depending on the particular circumstances of the charter school.

...and Mississippi:

The authorizer may grant or deny the extension depending on the school's circumstances.

When you hear folks like Rep. Anderson complaining about the powerful teacher's union just remember that it isn't a plucky group of passionate advocates that came out of nowhere on the other side; the movement in support of charters is quite well funded and organized nationally, and this fight in Washington is just another battle that they've already fought before.

Read more here, if any.

Freedom (Funded with Tax Dollars) Isn't Free

We need charter schools, the thought goes, to allow experimentation. To get rid of silly, onerous regulations. To provide choice. How's that working in practice down in Utah?

The State Charter School Board needs to polish its practices to more effectively regulate Utah’s growing number of charter schools, according to a legislative audit released Thursday.

The report highlights the board’s handling last year of financial struggles at Beehive Science and Technology Academy in Holladay. The board voted to revoke Beehive’s charter but later reversed that decision because of its own “ambiguous standards” for charter finances, the audit states.

The report recommends the board establish and apply clear financial standards for all charter schools. The board also needs to clarify procedures for disciplinary actions and school closures.

“We agree with the legislative auditor that it is important to have clear policies for financial management and oversight in place so that all charter schools are held to consistent standards,” Beehive principal Yavuz Durmus said via e-mail. “With [the charter board’s] cooperation, we have decreased overhead expenses and increased our enrollment this school year, placing us in a sound financial position.”

This is my concern with charter schools: that we'll set up a two-tiered system with state schools that have to follow legislative whims and chartered schools that don't. If the goal is deregulation, the legislature can do that. Snide remark, start by defunding the PESB.

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.

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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.

Because of A, B

Because it is raining, there's an article in the newspaper about the figure skating championships.

Because I'm losing my hair, Cheap Trick is popular in Japan.

Because a study is casting doubt on Head Start, we need more vouchers and charter schools.

It's simple cause and effect.

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Also on charters:

So this makes being a parent much easier. If my kid flunks out, there's clearly something wrong with the school and it must be closed or replaced by a charter. At the very least, we need to fire all the staff.

That seems to be where the Washington State Board of Education is going with their reform proposal, which is a state takeover even if Board Executive Director Edie Harding wants to run away from the term. And why wouldn't she? It's a much easier sell when you go to the public and present it as the benign, benevolent State Board doing "what's best for kids" instead of them shoveling hundreds of thousands of dollars to Pete Bylsma and other highly paid contractors in the OSPI/SBE/PESB circle of friends.

There is nothing good in education right now.

Read more here, if any.

Where the Charters Are

Interesting map from US News. There are 11 states with no charter schools, and we're one of them.

Read more here, if any.

Charter Schools will DEPORT YOU TO MEXICO or Canada or (if you're a Uighar) Barbados. Maybe.

Watch this, then make a firm resolution to yourself that we won't allow the coming debate in Washington State to go that direction.

Read more here, if any.

Anyone Who Cares About Education and Doesn't Vote for Mitt Romney is an Idiot

Third Rail~!

One more interesting tidbit from this week's Education Gadfly is their look at how the new Governor of Massachusetts is planning to change with the state academic standards, which have been highly rated in the past. In fact, nearly every report you read will have Massachusetts up near the top in every education metric.

That being true, should teachers support Mitt Romney for president? I mean, sure, he supports charter schools, wants to give home schoolers a tax credit, and is a big proponent of merit pay, but he's also gotten results. Or is giving him credit for success in Massachusetts more than he deserves, because of how the state operates as a whole?

As far as I can see there's no one left in the contest who has the education record that Romney does; does that matter?

Read more here, if any.