Talking to the people
In a very positive sign, Democratic elected officials are soliciting input from educators and parents. As The Daily News (of Longview) reports:
It's easy to criticize schools, but the rest of us need to focus on how best to educate our children to meet the demands of this century.
People can honestly differ about the wisdom of having the WASL. There are people whose opinions I value that think it's a good thing, but needs some changes, and there are those who like to see it just go away.
One legitimate concern is the extent to which teachers are forced to "teach the test." WASL has come to so dominate classrooms that other activities suffer. There needs to be a balance.
As for eliminating the super-majority requirement, hopefully the Legislature will quickly see fit to allow us to vote on that. There's no logical reason for the super-majority any more, and it's absurd to have districts struggle with bond measures when receiving 58% of the vote.
In return, school districts should accept that there will likely be even more intense scrutiny of their money measures. But that scrutiny needs to be above board and intellectually honest. You can't just run around claiming there is "wasteful spending" unless you can cite specific examples and back them up.
And no, paying teachers competitive wages is not "wasteful;" it's not only the right thing to do, it is a necessary thing to do.
Conservatives who constantly demand "high education standards" cannot then turn around and refuse to invest in education.
Throughout Tuesday, district officials grappled with hot education topics alongside 19th District Sen. Brian Hatfield and Rep. Brian Blake, as well as representatives for Gov. Chris Gregoire, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell and 3rd District Congressman Brian Baird.These ideas sound very sensible to me. In the comments section of The Daily News article, one can see that conservative haters of public education will still spout their nonsense, but luckily for Washingtonians public education stands to benefit from Democratic control of the government.
The two districts --- in cooperation with the Washington State School Directors' Association --- urged legislators this session to:Legislators said they would attempt to meet educators' needs but must balance education issues with health care and crime issues.
- Provide enough money for basic education requirements. Local schools use most of their bond and levy dollars to pay for basic requirements, such as special education.
- Phase in WASL graduation requirements. The districts recommend the class of 2008 pass the writing and reading portions of the test to graduate, the class of 2011 to pass the math portion and the class of 2014 to pass the science portion.
- Avoid "unfunded mandates." In other words, provide enough money for new education requirements and programs.
- Keep school board seats elected positions, not appointed positions.
- Take steps to change the 60 percent (super majority) requirement for passing levies and bonds to a simple majority (more than 50 percent voter approval).
- Provide more money for school construction projects.
"We're going in with a lot of folks on the same page," Hatfield said. "Everybody is ready to move forward."
It's easy to criticize schools, but the rest of us need to focus on how best to educate our children to meet the demands of this century.
People can honestly differ about the wisdom of having the WASL. There are people whose opinions I value that think it's a good thing, but needs some changes, and there are those who like to see it just go away.
One legitimate concern is the extent to which teachers are forced to "teach the test." WASL has come to so dominate classrooms that other activities suffer. There needs to be a balance.
As for eliminating the super-majority requirement, hopefully the Legislature will quickly see fit to allow us to vote on that. There's no logical reason for the super-majority any more, and it's absurd to have districts struggle with bond measures when receiving 58% of the vote.
In return, school districts should accept that there will likely be even more intense scrutiny of their money measures. But that scrutiny needs to be above board and intellectually honest. You can't just run around claiming there is "wasteful spending" unless you can cite specific examples and back them up.
And no, paying teachers competitive wages is not "wasteful;" it's not only the right thing to do, it is a necessary thing to do.
Conservatives who constantly demand "high education standards" cannot then turn around and refuse to invest in education.
