Blog
WA Public Charter Schools Initiative Now State Law
Dear I-1240 supporters: The Washington Public Charter Schools Initiative (I-1240) became state law today after the November 2012 election was officially certified. We’d like to thank you for your help in passing this important initiative and...
I-1240 Represents ‘Tipping Point’ of Education Reform in Washington State
When it comes to education, there's much at stake Tuesday beyond the race for president. Voters in several states are being asked to approve significant changes to how public schools operate and are funded. … Let's start in Washington, which is one...
Charting an Escape Route for Washington’s 14,000 School Dropouts is in Voters’ Hands
Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Jose Banda is a thoughtful man with a personal narrative indicative of the ways educational inequalities challenge American dreams of careers and economic stability. I suspect Banda believed he was being...
Public Charter Schools Are One Way We Can Restore Full Confidence in Public Education
I-1240 (creating a public charter school system): Some 41 states already have such schools. They came into being a generation ago in response to complaints by minority parents, in particular, in big-city school systems that their kids were trapped...
I-1240 is a Real Step to Bring More Innovation Into Our Public Schools
The education reform movement has been gaining speed across the country, and a pair of important ballot initiatives next week in Washington and Idaho will either extend or retard that progress. Evergreen State voters will decide on Initiative 1240,...
Op-Ed: Why Teachers Will Love Charter Schools
By Liv Finne Washington Policy Center Bob Dean is a public school teacher and a supporter of Initiative 1240, the ballot measure to allow public charter schools in Washington. He is the head of his school's Math Department, teaches Advanced...
The Yakima Herald Endorses YES on 1240 – A Tool to Improve Our Public Schools
... A charter school is a public school that is open to all students but operates independently of district management and administrative rules. The rest of the nation doesn’t share this state’s aversion to the concept; about 5,600 charter schools...
I-1240 Draws Support from Former Charter School Opponent
Sixteen years ago, in another chilly October, parent and school-levy volunteer Lisa Macfarlane managed a phone bank for the anti-charter-school campaign. Back then, Macfarlane believed charters — the privately run, publicly funded schools that were...
Longview Daily News: YES on 1240 to Strengthen Teaching and Improve Student Performance
...[I-1240] would allow up to 40 charter schools to be instituted statewide over the next five years. Compared to the 2,325 public schools that exist now, it would be a small number of charter schools. The need for educational innovation is large,...