By Mark In my near-decade as a building union representative, I have worked with several staff members in need of support. They were struggling in one way or another, and their supervisor was recognizing that this was impacting student learning. Some of these teachers were "tenured" (though that's the wrong term, the real term is […]
By Tom By now you’ve probably heard that there’s a campaign afoot to gather signatures for Initiative 1351, which, if passed, would significantly lower class sizes in Washington State. The campaign to get the initiative on the ballot is sponsored by Class Size Counts, an organization whose name pretty much sums up their mission. But […]
By Kristin Mr. Ungritch, my tenth grade geometry teacher, was a superstar. He gave each of us nicknames, made us do push ups for goofing off, and allowed us to throw the whole year's work out the window in exchange for whatever score we earned on one final proof, drawn out of a hat and […]
by Maren Johnson When the state Supreme Court ruled on the McCleary case, we all cheered. The state has a constitutional duty to fully fund public education–all right! So how is this going actually going to happen? One budgeting strategy that has been widely floated is to "Fund Education First." That means to actually […]
By Tom If there was any doubt about what education funding in Washington will look like when the legislature finally gets around to complying with the McCleary Decision, that matter has been put to rest. Steve Litzow, the new chair of the Senate Education Committee, published an op-ed in the Seattle Times this week outlining […]
The McCleary ruling, which established that the Washington legislature was not adequately funding public education, is popping up in the news again. When the ruling was first issued at the Washington State Supreme Court ordered the legislature to remedy the ed funding debacle, I worried that it was just lip service with no teeth. Recent […]
By Mark You've probably read about it: The Washington State Supreme court stated in an 85-page opinion that the State of Washington has not met it's constitutional obligation to fully fund its public schools. (Here's the actual majority ruling in the case, officially McCleary v. State.) So now what? The court intends to "keep a […]