Brendan Williams, a parent in Washington State and former legislator, wrote an article to explain why initiative 1240 should be defeated.
Initiative 1240 would authorize charter schools in a state where voters have turned them down three times previously.
This initiative is generously funded by billionaires such as the Walton family, which donated $600,000. By contrast, his own county has contributed only $40 to the charter campaign.
He proudly included photographs of his own first grade class in public school, where there were six white children and fourteen black children.
On November 6, we will see whether the 1% can buy the election, which will not affect their own children.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Voters also need to realize that 1240 contains, in the words of Wayne Au, “the country’s most aggressive trigger law.” Parents OR teachers can convert ANY school, not just a “low performing” one, to a charter. Much more here: http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/the-weekly-update-more-on-initiative-1240-the-honorable-arne-and-do-we-really-want-wal-mart-schools-in-our-state/
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Right now the charter school polling in WA is showing 49% for, 30% against, and 21% undecided. Unfortunately our state union is focusing on the governor’s race rather than 1240, even though the outcome of 1240 will have more impact on public ed than the outcome of the governor’s race (legislature is a Dem majority and pretty likely to stay that way, so even if the gov is a GOP, he’s not going to get much done), so not much is being done against 1240 from a state union perspective. The group that has come out against charters is this one: http://peopleforourpublicschools.org/index.html
The charter school supporters try to play up the failing schools meme, even though WA continues to have among the highest SAT score rates in the country – and the percentage of minority populations taking the SAT is continually increasing – and too many people don’t check the facts. 1240 is particularly scary because it includes the parent trigger and unelected oversight boards. Here’s hoping the 21% undecided vote no and we can vote down charters for the 4th time – and maybe then Stand For Children, DFER and all those other fake education advocacy groups who really just want to make $$ off privatization will leave us alone and we can focus on solving the problems in our existing PUBLIC schools rather than adding publicly-funded private charters to the mix.
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K Quinn,
Just so you know, the WEA and NEA are giving some resources to people for our public schools. I don’t know if it will be enough considering the $4 million that has come in from the likes of Gates and others, but I do think I-1240 has landed on the radar of NEA for sure. For what it is worth…
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Good to know, since I’ve seen absolutely nothing from WEA on this.
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Actually there are TWO campaigns against 1240 (that many people are fighting it). The other campaign is No On 1240; Don’t Be Charter Fooled, http://www.no1240.org. Diane is right; just 10 families – all associated with Microsoft or Amazon are funding the Yes side. They have virtually NO community support except ed reform and business. Meanwhile, huge numbers of elected officials, groups, educators and, most of all, parents and community, are against 1240 but when you are fighting billionaires, it’s tough.
Folks, this is a line in the sand. If we win in Washington State, I hope it will inspire and encourage other states to ask the hard questions like:
“Where are these academic outcomes we were promised with charter schools?”
“Where is the accountability we were promised when the feds report that more than half their charter authorizers complain about not being able to close low-performing charters.”
As stated by another comment, this initiative contains the WORST trigger in the entire nation. We need to stop this now.
The No On 1240 campaign is having a one-day Money Blast THIS Thursday, Oct. 11th, and we ask for your help to send this message nationwide. Please donate at http://www.no1240.org to let Bill Gates&Company know that they don’t drive/own/create public education in the United States.
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I hope Washington voters use sense and vote down the fraudulent charter school scheme.
Oregon unfortunately has them, and while many of them are Waldorf-type schools, they need to be run as strictly private schools. If they are any good, let them charge tuition. Just don’t ask taxpayers to foot the bill.
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I don’t know if this will add to the conversation about the state’s charter schools ballot initiative but there’s also a big issue with funding pubic schools in Washington State, as a result of the McCleary case. Republican AG Rob McKenna has proposed a levy swap and Congressman Jay Inslee is against. I’m still trying to figure out the issue here…one local columnist tries to explain it but I’m still a bit confused. Disclosure: I’m an Inslee supporter and still befuddled about the implications of a levy swap. If anyone has a better grasp and can clarify I’d be grateful. Inslee’s opposition to levy-swap plan puzzling
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Hang on…I think I found something that explains it better and so I’m getting clear on the concept: education tax plan gets some political attention at gubernatorial debate
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