This is a comment by a reader in Seattle who read the post about the State Senate’s 27-20 vote to offer public funding to charter schools, after the state’s highest court ruled that charters are not public schools. This is Bill Gates’ highest priority, ignoring a court decision to fund the schools equitably, which the legislature has not done.

 

 

“Before anyone decides it’s time to jump off Galloping Gertie, (which is really a lovely bridge here in my town) we can take heart that: 1) Republicans may have the state Senate but they don’t have the House. Won’t pass there and I suspect Chairman of the House, Frank Chopp, won’t let any similar legislation see the light of day on the floor. 2) Our Guv. ain’t gonna sign any charter legislation. No. Way. So the whole thing is an optics play going nowhere. Billy will throw more money, perhaps big, big, money at future Supreme Court races but right now Billy doesn’t have the votes there either. King County Superior Court Judge William Downing just ruled that Initiative 1366, another Tim Eyeman anti-tax measure, was unconstitutional and void. Schadenfreude Alert! Congratulations, Tim, on winning the quadfecta of unconstitutionality! Whee! Love ya Judge Downing!

 

 

“We’ve got some firewalls. We can be assured that all future district legislative seats will be big $$ races. I’m working with a small funding group building the bench on the hyperlocal level…county, city and school board races. This is happening in several places in Western Washington. Doing what we can..working the refs when we can. Some stealth, some bigger efforts. Lots of different players playing to keep the charter gazillionaires on the outside. It’s been self-evident we wouldn’t get the McCleary decision funded when our Guv. didn’t call legislators back to a special session last summer. As they say in the south, “Oh honey, bless your heart!” November’s election might shift things a bit…we’ll have to see.

 

 

“Gov. Jay Inslee will take the Guv’s mansion in the re-election. His opponent…who? Some guy named Bill Bryant, who has *no* name recognition outside of King County, home of the City of Seattle. Me to future doorbeller, “What did you say your name was? Aaand..who are you with? Wait, who is your candidate again? Hmmm…let me Bing that.” Bwaahahaha! Yeah, zilch. Not enough Republicans statewide to counter three counties that dominate elections west of the Cascade range.

 

 

“The bottom line is our State Constitution tells us funding K-12 public education is a paramount duty and the Supremes ruled against Billy’s charter initiative. They still don’t have a foothold anywhere in the state to steal a dime of public money and the opt-out movement is gonna show how much it’s grown in a couple of weeks. We’re ready to expose any OSPI candidate that’s a charter shill. Anyhoo…we’re ground zero and we hope you’ll follow our little state funding drama. Defense is strong….parents and families are fighting. Think rebel alliance. Washington State progressives and many conservatives who support public schools have some serious juice out here. We’re chipping away at it. Stay tuned. Hey Billy! I hope you like reading Diane’s comment section! We love ya Diane. Thank you for helping us keep at it. Dog. Bone. etc.”