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Washington students are making steady progress on state tests, but too many – especially minority kids – are still failing to reach the big goal of graduating from high school on time, state education officials said Wednesday. … [State Superintendent of Public...
When it comes to educating our children, most Washington parents agree that more options are a good thing. That’s why it’s surprising that Washington is not already one of the 41 states that allows parents to choose whether our children can attend a public charter school. It’s especially odd given the high premium our state puts on education and innovation.
Initiative 1240, Washington’s experimental toe dip into charter schools, promises to be serious heavy lifting. Opponents are not going to concede and agree to even a limited, publicly accountable experiment in an education system still structured and governed as it was 100 years ago. …
The official Voters’ Guide Pro and Con statements on Initiative 1240 just came out. I-1240 seeks to lift the state ban on charter schools. I was surprised to read in the Con statement the claim that, “Research conducted by Stanford University and others shows that,...
…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.
State Rep. Eric Pettigrew represents a southeast Seattle legislative district with five of the lowest-performing schools in the state. He’s unsuccessfully tried to get charter schools passed in Olympia and he’s pushed for stronger teacher evaluations. …
Pettigrew represents a small but growing number of legislators who are part of a group called Democrats for Education Reform.
During the eight years I served as chancellor of New York City’s public schools, the naysayers and the apologists for the status quo kept telling me “we’ll never fix education in America until we fix poverty.”
I always thought they had it backward, that “we’ll never fix poverty until we fix education.” Let me be clear. Poverty matters: Its debilitating psychological and physical effects often make it much harder to successfully educate kids who grow up in challenged environments. And we should do everything we can to ameliorate the effects of poverty by giving kids and families the support they need. But that said, I remain convinced that the best cure for poverty is a good education.
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. …
I’ve been a strong advocate for public education throughout my career, and I have consistently supported our public school teachers and advocated for increased funding for our public schools. That’s why I support a YES vote on Initiative 1240, the Washington Public Charter Schools Initiative, slated for the November ballot.
Parents and students in 41 other states have the option of public charter schools as part of the public education system, and Initiative 1240 will finally bring the option of high quality public charter schools to families here in Washington, too.