Strengthening Washington's Public Schools

Many republican legislators are complaining about lack of action so far this session. They want to "get to work" around finding solutions to the $1 billion budget deficit. They are more interested in cyphoning money from public schools to start charter schools in a state where voters have said no three separate times. Here’s an idea: Don’t spend extra time and tons of extra money trying to take away collective bargaining rights over health care benefits for educators.

We ought to stand for something instead of against, right? But wait. Sometimes it pays to have the courage and the knowledge to NOT jump on the bandwagon . . . especially when it is headed off a cliff. Maybe we ought to send this New York Times article to some of  our legislators who are cooking up yet another charter school bill. Oh. Look. Many of the charter schools now operating in 40 states are in trouble. A recent study shows that only 27 percent of the charter schools currently operating are meeting adequate yearly progress. Why does this feel like what happened to all of the rest of the states that copied California’s Prop 13 so many decades ago?

“Mr. Fitz” creator David Lee FInkle says he can’t always fit his ideas into his comic strip. The ideas he blogs about resonate with many WEA educators. He is a middle school teacher as well as an author and illustrator. Like most educators, he moonlights. Check out what he said in an open letter to President Barak Obama.