Here is a list of organizations that have spoken out for and against the referendum on the ballot to permit charter schools and a “parent trigger” to create even more charter schools in Washington State.
Look at the list and see if you can tell which one has grassroots support from parents and teachers.
Earlier posts have described how this ballot proposal was funded by some of the richest men in the state, not public school parents. The voters in Washington have turned down charters three times previously. Some people never take no for an answer. Let’s see what happens in November.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thank you for highlighting the battle that is going on in our state. For more information on the initiative that is being sponsored by Bill Gates and the Waltons, you can read the post The inconvenient truth about charter school Initiative 1240, http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/the-inconvenient-truth-about-initiative-1240/, at Seattle Education.
Dora
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Yes, thank you for sharing how the push for charters in Washington is an astro-turf effort. Dora’s analysis is well worth checking out to learn more. Please also consider supporting the No On 1240 campaign at http://www.no1240.org.
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From the NO On 1240 campaign (www.no1240.org), thanks for this.
We are fighting back hard and it is obvious that parents and community DON’T support this effort (if they did that Yes list would be different). The Yes side is ed reform/business. Just 10 families, all associated with Microsoft and Amazon, have raised 95% of the $4M+ for the Yes side. Those include a Walmart heiress in Arkansas and the head of Netflicks in LA.
What is interesting is that the Washington State PTA has been slowly leaning towards charters (just like the National PTA) but they took the time to read 1240 and had the integrity to stand up and say that the initiative has NOTHING for parent engagement and lacks local oversight.
The trigger? The HARSHEST in the country. It would allow a charter to take over ANY existing school, failing or not, by a majority of signatures from EITHER parents or teachers.
If you have an elementary school with 18 teachers, 10 people could sign a petition and upend an entire school community and the school district loses a school AND its building.
No private entity should be able to take a non-failing school away from a district and its community.
We can only fight this off with awareness and education to WA State voters who have proven themselves to be quite smart on this issue (given the 3 no votes in the past).
No On 1240.
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Posted this on Sept. 6th. This is what it’s really about, as I perceive the issues. It’s clear to me that the charter schools movement is not about improving America’s educational systems. It’s about creating a market for private entrepreneurial investment in charter schools.
Ken Mortland
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If you still have doubts about the unacknowledged agenda of charter school ed reform being the privatization of education, the comments of David Brain of Entertainment Properties Trust should help clear up your doubts. Brain company invests in charter school properties, among other things.
Brain states that charters are:
A very stable business
Recession resistant
A high demand product (400,000 kids on waiting lists)
A growing industry(about 12-14% a year)
A public payer
Very solid business
You can see the entire interview text on Valerie Strauss’s The Answer Sheet blog in the Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-big-business-of-charter-schools/2012/08/16/bdadfeca-e7ff-11e1-8487-64e4b2a79ba8_blog.html
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I am a Washingtonian and a Finn and I find myself supporting the charter movement here in WA state purely from a perspective that allows teachers more freedom to teach wider curriculum and allows freedom from standardized testing. I am hoping that the charter discussion will open up more discussions about the narrowing curriculum and how student success is possible without the heavy management by the state and district. If only the public school teachers here enjoyed the similar autonomy enjoyed by the teachers in Finland, we would not need to have these charter fights and divert even more resources from education.
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Two points:
1. Finland has no charter schools.
2. Unlike Finland, many charters have teachers who have only five weeks of training.
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Curious as to why you don’t mention support for removing testing in public schools and allowing public schools more freedom with curriculum. Wouldn’t it be better to help all children and not just those in charter schools?
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Dear Ken,
I would support any initiative that would remove reliance on standardized testing and add teacher freedom in public schools. Unfortunately, that is a huge monster to tackle and seems like nobody is willing to take on it besides perhaps Diane Ravitch with her blog mission.
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In interesting article in the Seattle Times about the low rate at which students in Washington go to college. It can be found here: http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2019235084_collegegoing23m.html?prmid=head_main
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The highest graduation rate is in Wisconsin.
But that didn’t stop Scott Walker from pushing for more charters and vouchers.
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I happened to see this article today and thought it might explain why some in Washington thought there were problems with education in that state. I don’t think it mentioned anything about the graduation rate in Wisconson though.
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Why do you think that Bill Gates and the owners of Amazon should reorganize education in Washington State?
They do not have children in public school.
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I don’t think that. I was just trying to give the discussion some context. Parents and public officials are not crazy to think that the current situation is not working particularly well.
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Comparing, competing, and measuring – a disease of American Education! You claim to support public education but you all fall into the trap of competition. Of course the employers hire the best for their open jobs – from China and India. Why wont we improve the public education and the kids who feel so inclined, will pursue higher education. The current trend of tuition increases by double digits every year makes higher education unattainable for many. We also should address the greediness and unrestrained spending on sports programs at universities. The non-athletic kids end up paying for the fancy facilities of the athletic programs. In Finland, this kind of sport focused college education is unheard of.
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The employers hire the cheapest, not necessarily the best.
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Most employers are concerned with the quality of their employees. If they do not hire well, they will be out of business. It is interesting to look at a list of the companies that have made up the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The most important firms of their day, most of them are long out of business.
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“seems like nobody is willing to take it on “. I most heartily beg to differ.
Thousands of teachers across America are taking it on. The clamor of their voices can’t be going unheard.
Thousands of hours, millions of dollars, and piloted models of new evaluation protocols in Washington state and other states.
Thousands of letters to editors across the country, articles on blogs, books about research that disproves the claims of success by charter schools, and on and on.
Surely you’re not deaf to those voices. Yet you can say “nobody is willing to take it on?”
What will it take to get your attention? Does a teacher have to burn himself or herself to death in an intersection of down town Washington, D. C.?
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Ken,
Trust me, I am on your side! As a substitute teacher, I have no voice, no credibility. I have an M.Ed., B.A. In economics, and Finnish education and no school wants to hire me because of my “weird” background. I am all for changing this system here and I am willing to help. That is why I’m here (reading Diane’s blog) because I am tired of seeing my own kids getting a mediocre education in public schools.
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Either I’ve missed something or you’ve just opened a window into yourself that I’ve not seen. B.A. in econ/Finnish Education and an M.Ed. Could it be that your too expensive for most school districts, with all that education? Where do your kids attend school and why do you think it’s so mediocre?
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Ken,
I live in a pretty wealthy community in the south Puget Sound. The test scores here are at the higher end compared to the rest of the state. That does not make me satisfied about what my kids get in their schools and how they the schools are structured. Fortunately, my kids (4 of 5) have been lucky enough to have been accepted in the so called highly capable programs in our district. What bothers me that these kids get more hands on activites, more field trips, more fun in learning, and teachers who have more freedom than the other teachers. It is a good thing for my family. I wish all teachers had the same freedom. If I ever last as long as to get my own classroom, I would love to have that plus much more.
From my substitute experiences from two districts wide, overall, I am not impressed what the kids get (compared to the Finnish kids) in form of education. The other district especially, a contrast to my home district, is a large urban district with many urban, inner city challenges. There, the kids get even less in form of education and it bothers me every day when I go and substitute there how narrow the curriculum is. The kids hardly even go outside for recess.
Therefore, my point is that i am for equality in access to good education and I do not wish separation of “highly capable” students. I think the same education access should be available to all students and there should be the same freedom to teach for all teachers.
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Kirsi: This is fascinating. I taught freshman highly capable social studies in the Northshore School District for 15 years. I added one unit on the philosophy of history (Will Durant’s “Lessons of History”) to the curriculum of my highly capable class. Otherwise, it was the same stuff and the parents found it very challenging.
I never experienced what you call a “lack of freedom” to structure the class as I see fit. Granted, there’s no budget for field trips any more and hasn’t been for more than a decade. That’s the result of the atrophying of education allocations from the state, primarily. Charter schools are likely to make that worse. I planned out my own year’s units and had access to audio visuals most other districts no longer have. So, I’m not sure what you mean by lack of freedom. What do you mean by the “narrow curriculum”? Perhaps you could clarify those issues for me?
There’s a great deal of concern about equity in what you wrote. Yet, I see creation of charter schools as promoting inequity, in that some get better “charter” resources and are exempt from rules and regs. So, I’m puzzled by what appears to be a contradiction in your thinking. Perhaps there’s something there I don’t see or grasp. Again, perhaps you could clarify?
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This article irresponsibly links the emotionally charged issues of segregation and rich white people, throwing gas on irrelated issues like a red herring. If you read through the nonsense, you will see the author admits to why charter schools are needed and should be valued. There is a clear admission that there are behavioral issues. There are a lot of kids out there whose parents don’t care. There are a lot of parents who care enough to seek the best for their kids and want to do better. You can not responsibly link this to socioeconomic or race. And, to suggest this is skimming the talent pool? I would agree that the kids in the charter school have more drive and determination. This is a natural result of choice. However, because there is a lottery to get in, the schools are stuck with an equal system to get in. Our charter school has several classes full of kids with special needs and does a remarkable job with them. Our school has a lot of very bright kids who are not “being left behind.” The author thinks a unitary system that effectively deals with behavioral issues will magically appear without pressure. Until public schools can figure out what to do with the behaviorally challenged kids and quit leaving the bright kids behind, I want nothing to do with a system that continues to fail the basic needs of so many and support a system that works better…one that can effectively remove the individuals that bring others down. A unitary monopoly on education that is poorly run by a huge bureaucracy is what is discriminatory. A system that leaves kids in failing schools with no choice is discriminatory. Without options, more kids are being left behind and the necessary pressure for the standard bureaucratic public school system to change is absent. I found it funny that the author suggested that the charters might create something like the USSR. In fact the public system like we have it without charters and the monopolistic consolidation of powered to the teachers unions and government is very socialistic and Soviet. The threat of losing control and power in the system is what is driving the opposition to charters, NOT the kids…
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Jeff, the link is there between 1240 and wealthy people. No one said anything about segregation so I’m confused why you did.
Charters take fewer Special Ed, ELL and homeless students. It’s a fact and even the feds admit there’s an issue and are investigating. Do you want to deny that as well.
It’s not about the “talent pool” but the motivation pool. Traditional schools have to take all comers and charters exit those they don’t want. The students charters don’t want have to go somewhere.
Dividing our public school system into haves and have nots, good behavior and “bad” behavior and leaving the high-need, high-cost students to just one group of schools is wrong.
Also, the USSR? Doesn’t exist anymore and hasn’t for decades. But then Mitt Romney gets this wrong all the time so you are in good company.
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Nicely stated, Melissa.
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Diane: Now that the Charter Schools initiative in Washington state has passed (by.7%), I have begun a series of postings about the implications. Would appreciate your help. If you deem it appropriate, please repost on your blog. Here’s WA Charter Schools #1
WA Charter Schools #1
Prediction Is Now Fact
In June of 1992, I wrote this letter to the editor.
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Try to picture this. A large national corporation, until recently grazing contentedly on federal contracts, finds its annual earnings reflecting a shocking drop. It is decided that new access to federal dollars must be found, or the corporation may go out of business. Someone suggests a product which could tap into ever increasing federal education dollars. Another suggestion leads to looking into the possibility of crafting the product so that state and local education dollars can also be tapped.
The marketing department points out that the product will not sell, unless the buyers, the American public, can be convinced that the current product is substandard. Marketing is assigned the task of creating the need for these new products by convincing the American public that its public education institutions are utter failures. Once that had been accomplished, a program will be undertaken to separate public education dollars from public education institutions. Those dollars would become the mainstay of corporation earnings. The product is private education.
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Twenty years later, the product is charter schools education; supposedly a public schools that are privately run. The marketing dept has been successful beyond imagination. The marketers version prevails. Old and new corporations all over the country are being started or expandied annually to meet the demand. Never mind that 1) the Sandia Laboratory’s reported to Pres. George H. W. Bush stated that its research had found no evidence of system-wide failure; 2) that Stanford University’s CREDO Report said that only 17% of charter schools are better than traditional public schools, that 46% are no better or worse after all those additional dollars, and that 37% are worse; 3) that a recent report stated that 25% of charter schools should be closed, immediately, as they are in the bottom 15% of schools nationally.
Thanks to millions of dollars from a small group of private citizens, Washington will now begin authorizing charter schools, They funded a petition drive and supported a campaign that eeked out a .7% win. After all that, not exactly a mandate.
We must now determine:
•What is constitutional and what is not.
•What to authorize and what not to authorize.
•What to permit and what to prohibit.
•What to require and what to encourage.
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Ken Mortland is a retired teacher from Kirkland, WAm, with 37 years of classroom experience. He is VP of WEA-Retired and a Board Member of Mainstream Republicans of Washington.
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Diane: Here’s installment #2 on WA Charter Schools.
Washington State’s Superintendent of Public Instruction
vs
I-1240 Charter Schools Commission
Constitutional or Unconstitutional?
During the campaign for and against the Washington state charter schools initiative, I-1240, each side made conflicting claims. The pro-charter folks said the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) maintained authority over all schools, including charter schools. The anti-charter side said the OSPI was barred from controlling the authorization of charter schools or the Charter School Commission. It would seem one or the other had to be wrong. And that’s why I researched both the Washington State Constitution and the full text of I-1240.
Article III, Section 22 of the constitution states, “The superintendent of public instruction shall have supervision over all matters pertaining to public schools, and shall perform such specific duties as may be prescribed by law… “ and four sections of I-1240 reinforce the authority of the OSPI in oversight of charter schools. So, where’s the conflict?
It comes in Section 208, paragraph 8 of the Initiative. “ Sections 209 and 212 of this act do not apply to the commission.” This exempts from the authority of the OSPI the Authorization Approval and Commission Oversight paragraphs. This creates a unique and strange scenario. The Charter Schools Commission gets to approve charters, but is not responsible for oversight of functioning charters and the OSPI has no oversight authority over the Commission. The Commission can approve any charter application it wishes and then hand over supervision of that charter to OSPI. And the Commission can dodge any effort by the OSPI to influence the charter apps they approve. Power with no responsibility; a bureaucrat’s dream!
I can see why SPI Randy Dorn may want to challenge that distribution of power as unconstitutional. At the very least, it should be put before the Washington State Supreme Court for an opinion.
And, while we’re at it; what ethical person makes campaign claims that the OSPI’s authority is not diminished by I-1240, when it turns out to be a carefully crafted and an out-and–out lie. The Pro-Charter Schools Campaign lied.
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