Tag: School Funding

Posted inAnnouncements, Education, Events, Legislative Advocacy, Policy Topics

Join us tomorrow at the Rally for Student Civil Rights and Amply Funded Schools!

by Andrew Villeneuve

It is the para­mount duty of the state to make ample pro­vi­sion for the edu­ca­tion of all chil­dren resid­ing with­in its bor­ders, with­out dis­tinc­tion or pref­er­ence on account of race, col­or, caste, or sex. – Wash­ing­ton State Con­sti­tu­tion, Arti­cle IX, Sec­tion 1 Read­ers! Do you believe in the Con­sti­tu­tion of Wash­ing­ton State? Do you believe that all of […]

Posted inEducation, Policy Topics

Why isn’t Stuart Elway asking about revenue fairness when he polls on funding education?

by Andrew Villeneuve

Yes­ter­day, just in time for the 2017 leg­isla­tive ses­sion, poll­ster Stu­art Elway released new results from a recent sur­vey in which his firm asked Wash­ing­ton vot­ers about how and whether we should invest in Wash­ing­ton’s K‑12 schools, which have been bad­ly under­fund­ed for years in defi­ance of the Wash­ing­ton State Con­sti­tu­tion. The Supreme Court has […]

Posted inEducation, Policy Topics

Go Jay Inslee! Governor proposes $3.9 billion in new revenue for our K‑12 public schools

by Andrew Villeneuve

Declar­ing that we have a duty to fol­low our Con­sti­tu­tion and pro­vide a qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion to every child in our state, Gov­er­nor Inslee today unveiled a bold plan to ful­ly fund our state’s K‑12 pub­lic schools and end the McCleary lit­i­ga­tion. “We face an oppor­tu­ni­ty — and an oblig­a­tion — in this upcom­ing ses­sion to […]

Posted inEducation, Policy Topics

Tim Eyman pal Michael Baumgartner prefiles amendment to repeal “paramount duty” language in Washington State Constitution

by Andrew Villeneuve

In a fair­ly bla­tant attempt to get some atten­tion for him­self and steer pub­lic dis­course away from ful­ly fund­ing our pub­lic schools, extrem­ist right wing Sen­a­tor Michael Baum­gart­ner of Spokane has pre­filed a con­sti­tu­tion­al amend­ment that would repeal the mem­o­rable open­ing words of Arti­cle IX of the Wash­ing­ton State Con­sti­tu­tion (“It is the para­mount duty […]

Posted inEducation, Elections

Chris Reykdal set to become Washington’s next Superintendent of Public Instruction

by Andrew Villeneuve

State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Chris Reyk­dal (D‑22nd Dis­trict: Olympia, Tumwa­ter) is set to become Wash­ing­ton State’s next Super­in­ten­dent of Pub­lic Instruc­tion after fresh results show it’s become math­e­mat­i­cal­ly impos­si­ble for him to lose. “We are up over 28,000 votes with less than 18,000 to count in our race. We have achieved a math­e­mat­i­cal vic­to­ry,” Reyk­dal not­ed in a […]

Posted inEducation, Litigation, Media & Culture, Policy Topics

Tim Eyman continues attack on state Supreme Court, misquotes Orwell’s “Animal Farm”

by Andrew Villeneuve

With no ini­tia­tive on the bal­lot to sell this year, scan­­dal-plagued ini­tia­tive pro­mot­er Tim Eyman has turned his atten­tion to launch­ing attacks on indi­vid­u­als and insti­tu­tions he does­n’t like, name­ly the Wash­ing­ton State Supreme Court, Demo­c­ra­t­ic can­di­dates for office at all lev­els, and Sound Tran­sit. This after­noon, Eyman sent out yet anoth­er mis­sive exco­ri­at­ing the […]

Posted inEducation, Legislative Advocacy, Policy Topics

NPI calls on Governor Jay Inslee to uphold our Constitution by vetoing charters bailout

by Andrew Villeneuve

Editor’s Note: Two weeks ago, Repub­­li­­can-dom­i­­nat­ed majori­ties in the Wash­ing­ton State House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives and Sen­ate passed a bill restor­ing fund­ing for char­ter schools and allow­ing new char­ters to be autho­rized, in defi­ance of the Supreme Court’s rul­ing in League of Women Vot­ers v. State of Wash­ing­ton. NPI is ask­ing Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee to veto […]

Posted inEducation, Legislative Advocacy, Policy Topics

Washington State Legislature adjourns 2016 session Sine Die; special session needed

by Andrew Villeneuve

Not long ago, the Wash­ing­ton State Leg­is­la­ture adjourned its 2016 reg­u­lar ses­sion Sine Die, fol­low­ing the adop­tion of HCR 4417 by the House and Sen­ate. Though the reg­u­lar ses­sion is now offi­cial­ly over, law­mak­ers can­not head home just yet, as their work is unfin­ished (sur­prise, sur­prise). Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee plans to call a spe­cial session […]

Posted inEducation, Legislative Advocacy, Policy Topics

Senate concurs with House’s amendments to charters bailout, sending it to Governor Inslee

by Andrew Villeneuve

By a vote of twen­­ty-six to twen­­ty-three, the Wash­ing­ton State Sen­ate has con­curred in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tive’s amend­ments to E2SSB 6194, Steve Lit­zow’s bill to bail out char­ter schools, which were declared uncon­sti­tu­tion­al by the Wash­ing­ton State Supreme Court in League of Women Vot­ers last autumn. The vote was most­ly along par­ty lines, though […]

Posted inEducation, Policy Topics

NPI to legislators: Support Washington’s kids by funding our public schools — not charters

by Robert Cruickshank

Edi­tor’s Note: This evening, the Wash­ing­ton State House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives is expect­ed to take up a bill that would restore pub­lic fund­ing for pri­vate char­ter schools, in defi­ance of the Wash­ing­ton State Supreme Court’s clear rul­ing in League of Women Vot­ers v. State of Wash­ing­ton. NPI is ask­ing mem­bers of the House and Sen­ate to […]

Posted inEconomic Security, Education, Policy Topics

Emerald City teachers overwhelmingly ratify new contract with Seattle Public Schools

by Andrew Villeneuve

Teach­ers in Seat­tle have vot­ed over­whelm­ing­ly to approve a new con­tract with Seat­tle Pub­lic Schools, which means class­es will be held as sched­uled tomor­row and in the months beyond, the Seat­tle Edu­ca­tion Asso­ci­a­tion announced tonight. The agree­ment had three com­po­nents. All were rat­i­fied with large mar­gins. “Today was a great day for uni­ty in Seattle […]

Posted inBreaking News, Education, Elections, Litigation, Policy Topics

Washington’s Supreme Court strikes down I‑1240 (charter schools) in its entirety

by Andrew Villeneuve

Once again, the Wash­ing­ton State Supreme Court has rid­den to the res­cue of Wash­ing­ton’s belea­guered pub­lic schools sys­tem. In a mon­u­men­tal­ly impor­tant 6–3 deci­sion released late this after­noon, the Court struck down Ini­tia­tive 1240, a char­ter schools mea­sure vot­ers nar­row­ly passed in 2012, as uncon­sti­tu­tion­al in its entire­ty. The deci­sion means that Wash­ing­ton’s exper­i­ment with […]

Posted inEducation, Policy Topics

Governor Inslee rebukes Senate Republicans: Let’s do our jobs, not fight the Supreme Court

by Andrew Villeneuve

Wash­ing­ton Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee had strong words for Sen­ate Repub­li­cans this after­noon after a major­i­ty (but not all) of the cau­cus pub­lished an open let­ter urg­ing the Leg­is­la­ture’s oth­er cau­cus­es to join them in insti­gat­ing a con­sti­tu­tion­al cri­sis by retal­i­at­ing against the state Supreme Court for its recent McCleary order. “Today I con­vened a call […]

Posted inEducation, Policy Topics

Supreme Court fines state $100,000 a day for failure to comply with McCleary orders

by Andrew Villeneuve

This morn­ing, the Wash­ing­ton State Supreme Court, in a land­mark order that will turn heads and shoul­ders across the Ever­green State, ordered the state to begin pay­ing a $100,000 fine for each day that it fails to adopt a plan for ful­ly com­ply­ing with Arti­cle IX, Sec­tion 1 of the state Con­sti­tu­tion (“It is the […]