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Superintendent Dorn to Policy Center: “You’re Wrong”
Stop Confusing “Education Reform” With “Funding Reform” The Legislature defined basic education. The Court said, Fund it. OLYMPIA (March 28, 2014) — Unfortunately, it is once again necessary to respond to Ms. Liv Finne of the Washington Policy Center about the meaning of the Supreme Court’s McCleary v. State of Washington decision. Ms. Finne continues…
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Peter Callaghan: Education bill’s unheralded details will need attention | Peter Callaghan | The News Tribune
Peter Callaghan: Education bill’s unheralded details will need attention | Peter Callaghan | The News Tribune. Peter does a good job here exposing some of the hard work remaining in figuring out school funding details for 2015. He drills into a number of key issues: Local school levies being used for compensation. This is an…
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Lawmakers pass 24-credit HS diploma; NCLB waiver bill dies
Lawmakers pass 24-credit HS diploma; NCLB waiver bill dies. The first in a series of notes on this year’s session. I can no longer write a summary of what happens during the actual session, particularly in short sessions where the budget negotiations take until the last !@#$%^&* minute. (I will be less testy about this…
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Use of “economic models” to mislead the public
The Washington Policy Center, a right-leaning think tank, published a report today with a terrifying title: “Economic model shows Superintendent Dorn’s proposed tax increases would cost 18,500 jobs“. This is “truthy”, AN economic model did show this. Of course, THIS economic model ALWAYS shows job losses from proposed public policy proposals. Economic model shows Superintendent…
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Improving Quality of Early Learning
OLYMPIA – The state House of Representatives approved HB 2377 today by a vote of 64-33, which will substantially improve the quality of early learning for kids in Washington State.
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How much do dropouts cost us? The real numbers behind ‘pay now or pay later’ | Education Lab Blog | Seattle Times
How much do dropouts cost us? The real numbers behind ‘pay now or pay later’ | Education Lab Blog | Seattle Times. Good piece about quantizing future costs of kids dropping out of school. Makes me want to read the study they reference. So many studies, so little time… It’s worth subscribing to the…
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Suing schools when kids can’t read?
Interesting piece in the Seattle Times that questions if suing schools when students can’t read will work. My guess is no, it will not. Suing schools when kids can’t read?. The law that defines basic education requires that schools provide a reasonable opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed, but does not…
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Pay It Forward
Recently a number of people have written to me about the “Pay it Forward” concept for funding higher education in Washington. The basic idea as described on the Economic Opportunity Institute website: (www.eoionline.org) Pay It Forward: A Debt-Free Degree Students attend college with no upfront tuition or fees. Instead, students contribute a small, fixed-percentage of their…
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Early Learning
I visited a family child care provider in Bellevue last week. I’ve been working with Representative Ruth Kagi on trying to figure out how to improve both the reach and quality of our early learning system for at risk kids, and seeing how stuff works in person is pretty valuable. This wasn’t a facility for…
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Champion For Early Learning!
I’m pleased to report that the Children’s Alliance named me a “Champion for Early Learning” this year and presented me with this nice box of stale Wheaties. We made significant moves in early learning for low-income this year and I’m glad to be recognized for it. We expanded the state’s program for low-income 3 and…