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…Washington state is one of only nine states that don’t have charter schools. But voters can change that in November if they approve Initiative 1240, which will allow up to 40 charters statewide over five years. Chris Eide, who heads a Seattle-based ed reform group called Teachers United, tells redefinED in this emailed Q&A that it’s the students who struggle the most who will benefit if voters say yes.
… A measure that would allow for the creation of charter schools in Washington will go before voters Nov. 6, after backers of the plan succeeded in collecting enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot. Secretary of State Sam Reed says his office has certified...
OLYMPIA, Wash. — The charter schools initiative is officially on the Washington state ballot for November.
Secretary of State Sam Reed announced Wednesday that supporters easily qualified by submitting more than enough signatures. …
… For the third year, the [New York City’s] charter schools outperformed traditional public schools in math and English, and the spread in results between the two groups has increased.
In math, 72 percent of charter school students passed the state tests this year, compared with 60 percent of traditional public school students. In English, 51.5 percent of charter school students passed this year’s tests compared with 46.9 percent of traditional public school students. (About 30,000 charter school students took the tests; 400,000 students took the tests in traditional public schools.)
“EVERYONE’S pencil should be on the apple in the tally-mark chart!” shouts a teacher to a class of pupils at Harvest Preparatory School in Minneapolis. Papers and feet are shuffled; a test is coming. Each class is examined every six or seven weeks. The teachers are monitored too. As a result, Harvest Prep outperformed every city school district in Minnesota in maths last year. It is also a “charter” school; and all the children are black.
I can think of two million reasons to support charter public schools. That’s the number of children whose parents have decided a charter school is the best educational choice for their child.
Today there are 5,600 charter schools in the 41 states that don’t ban them. Enrollment is growing at a rate of 7.5% a year. The number of students on a charter school waiting list has jumped to 600,000, enough to fill an additional two thousand schools.
OLYMPIA — Supporters of charter schools in Washington presented petitions to the secretary of state Friday morning, trying once again to qualify for the ballot.
In less than three weeks, paid and volunteer signature gatherers said they collected more than 350,000 Washington voter signatures, which if validated would be more than enough to secure a place on the November ballot for Initiative 1240. If voters approve it, the initiative will establish up to 40 public charter schools in the state. …
SEATTLE — A coalition of Washington education groups on Tuesday filed a citizen initiative asking voters to allow 40 public charter schools in the state over the next five years.
The coalition including the League of Education Voters, Stand for Children and Democrats for Education Reform has until July 6 to collect nearly 250,000 valid voter signatures.