Core 24 – Education for the 21st Century

The State Board of Education will consider changes to the required number and distribution of credits required for high school graduation at their meeting tomorrow and Thursday. It is clear to the legislature, and pretty much to everyone who looks at the issue seriously, that it’s almost impossible to be prepared for college with fewer than 24 credits. Since I believe that every child should have the opportunity to go to college if that’s what they want to do it’s clear to me that high schools should be required to offer 24 credits. (This means at least a six period day.)

A bipartisan group of legislators sent a letter to the State Board of Education that expresses our opinion on this. You can read more about the issue at http://www.educationvoters.org/2010/09/10/core-24-23-23-21-19-18-17-16/ and send your comment directly to the State Board. They’ve heard a lot from me on this issue and hearing from you will help.

A New Library in Lakehills

I had the opportunity to say a few remarks at the opening of a new branch of the King County Library System in the Lakehills neighborhood of Bellevue on Saturday. It’s lovely. I’ve opened many new facilities, from skateboard parks to low-income housing and it’s always difficult to come up with something that’s relevant, interesting and brief.

In this case I resolved to not say anything about the 9/11 tragedy as I was sure other people would and we were opening a library – it didn’t seem relevant. I talked about how the KCLS had evolved way beyond being just a box of books. The Internet has changed how libraries function, and KCLS has done a great job of staying relevant.

One of the other speakers brought in a comment I though particularly valuable, and I wish I had thought of it. Libraries are symbolic – they represent the best of us. They are a place open to everyone (even, or perhaps especially the homeless person who came through looking for the snacks,) they don’t serve any single political ideology, and they are quiet. On the day the nutjob in Florida was going to burn Korans, we opened a new facility that holds information about everything and everyone, including copies of the great books for every major religion in the world. It’s the ultimate expression of what we believe to be important.

Go visit the new branch. It’s great. http://www.kcls.org/bond/lakehills/

Budget Thoughts

This email came to me early in the session in 2010 and was incredibly touching. It’s easy to get involved in the details of the budget in a very technical way and forget the human needs we try to address. As a policy geek I’m perhaps more subject to this than other people.

Dear Rep. Hunter,

I just got done listening to the Governor’s speech and I feel for the first time in my life I must write to someone. I hope you are that someone. I am 53 and my daughter is 19. She has just finished her 1st quarter of college at Western Wash. Unversity. I have worked hard all my life. I have rasied my daughter alone. We are fortunate enough to have health insurance thru Basic Health. Now I hear that it is in jeopardy of being shut down. Please do not let this happen. I am to old to be without insurance and I cannot afford any other. They raised our premiums last year so they didn’t have to let people off the plan. I was hoping that we were safe. Please you must try and find a way to save Basic Health without letting people go. They are alot of people that depend on this insurance. Otherwise most of us would have to go to the ER and end up costing the state more money in the long run.

I am also asking that you find the money to contiune with the state need grants for higher education. Without that money my daughter will have to quit school and end up working some dead end job. She worked very hard in High School so she could go to college. She is the first in our family to ever go to college. She goes full time to school and works part time to have extra money for books and anything else she needs. I know that once she finish college she will do something good for this world, but she depends on the state grants for help. Please find some way to keep those also.

Thank you for reading this and I know that this will be a very diffcult session with some hard choices but education and health care to me are the two most important issues.

Thank you,

<Name withheld by Ross>

Customizing education via the Internet

My friend Richard Brodie commented on my labor day post that he thought education could be delivered a lot lot faster and cheaper over the internet. This sparked a debate about the effectiveness of machines over real teachers, the value of daydreaming, etc. Both points of view are incredibly valid. Here’s what we’re looking at on the “using the Internet” front. Daydreaming seems to take care of itself in schools…

Tens of thousands of students in Washington are now attending online high schools, where all the material and the interaction is delivered over the Internet. Al Gore would be proud. These schools are serving many kids for whom a traditional school isn’t the most effective way to get education – people who are remote, have special needs, don’t like the social environment, are being home-schooled, etc.

We’re starting to do analysis of the results, but it looks like we have a big drop-out rate. We also have concerns about students needing special education and not being able to get it from remote districts. I have some concerns about how the financing system works, but all of these are unrelated to the fact that many, many families in Washington are being well-served by these schools.

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Labor Day – Where do we go from here?

The Seattle Times today is filled with stories about the future of the American worker, and how workers of tomorrow will have to have more education and skills than many of today’s workers.

Labor Day 2010: Few jobs for low-skilled workers

There is a certain irony this Labor Day at a time of record unemployment, writes Evelyn Ganzglass. Fixing the problem requires more than creating an environment in which the private sector can create new jobs. Too many of today’s workers lack the skills necessary to compete in the 21st-century

Future jobs: More skills or less pay

Whenever companies start hiring freely again, job-seekers with specialized skills and education will have plenty of good opportunities. Others will face a choice: Take a job with low pay — or none at all. That’s the sobering message American workers face as they mark Labor Day at a time of high unemployment, scant hiring and a widespread loss of job security

I recently finished Richard Florida’s book “The Great Reset” which makes a similar case. You can read a short(er) article on by Florida in March issue of The Atlantic magazine on the same topic. Click here for the article. I recommend the book.

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520 Bridge Progress Update

I received an update this week from WSDOT on the progress of the 520 project. The project is a big deal for the entire region – it will significantly improve the congestion situation and will make transit function vastly more effectively. For example, we expect the project to take 45 minutes out of the transit trip from Redmond to Seattle in the afternoon commute. 45 minutes.

520 Project map

For more info on the project and the timeslines you should check out the info they sent – it’s actually reasonably succinct. We expect construction to start in early 2011. Click here for the WSDOT page describing the project. You can subscribe to their updates if you want, but why would you when I forward the interesting ones to you anyway?

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KJ Does a Crossover Dribble on Ed Reform

Kevin Johnson headshotThe League of Education Voters is sponsoring a speaker series on public education. The first event features Kevin Johnson, former NBA star and currently mayor of Sacramento, talking about ed reform. He’s the chair of a task force of big city mayors appointed by Arne Duncan to improve education in the inner city.

The event is October 7 in Seattle:

Preparing Students for Success
Kevin Johnson
Mayor of Sacramento & Founder of St. HOPE
Thursday, October 7 at 7 p.m.
Mount Zion Baptist Church
1634 19th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122 (map)
Register for this free event

For more info check out the LEV site www.educationvoters.org. Click on the “Speakers Series” tab for details.

Tracking the Economy…

On Thursday of last week, Governor Gregoire asked all her agencies to prepare for budget cuts of between $300 and $500 million. She is planning to take action on October 1st, immediately following the revenue forecast that will be released in late September. In her address she suggests that she and the legislature work together on a plan to make cuts of around $500 million in a supplemental budget. In this budget we might make more targeted cuts, or leave some areas untouched.

The Seattle Times writes about it here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012605452_budgetcuts13m.html

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Wondering about the square signs over 520?

WSDOT sent me an interesting email this morning. “Smarter Highways” is a federal program that the feds are actually paying for. It’s supposed to make the system work more smoothly. I understand the State Patrol will actually enforce the speed limit on the signs, so it’s worth figuring out how they work.

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WSDOT will activate Smarter Highways on northbound I-5 between Boeing Access Road and I-90 on Tuesday, August 10.

 The overhead, electronic signs will automatically alert drivers to change lanes when an incident blocks traffic ahead or to adjust their speed before they reach slower-moving traffic. It will help reduce rear-end collisions, allow for earlier escape to alternate routes and smooth lane shifting caused by incidents like stalls or collisions.

WSDOT is working with Washington State Patrol to ensure that drivers are prepared to follow the signs that will appear over each lane of traffic on sign bridges spaced about a half mile apart:

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Good News on the Budget

This morning the US Senate approved legislation extending the “enhanced” federal match for Medicaid for another 6 months, starting in January. This is good news for Washington state. The Senate paid for this change with other adjustments in the federal budget, so it doesn’t have an impact on the federal budget deficit, also a good thing. The House has been called back next week and is expected to pass the bill as-is.

The Seattle Times writes about it here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012535921_senatevote05m.html

We had expected about $480 million from the federal government in this extension. It will deliver about $320 million.

This change keeps the Washington State budget in the black for the time being. The budget and policy act does not allow the governor to do acros-the-board cuts unless there is an official predication of a cash flow problem, so she is unlikely to make any immediate cuts in this situation. We are not yet out of the woods and are watching the current tax collections carefully.

I expect you’ll hear more about this as we move through the fall. The economy is quite unsettled and very difficult to predict at this time. I’m spending more of my time on this than I would like.