Political Buzz » Education

Washington roads, transit earn D+ from engineers

Jordan Schrader — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:03:03 +0000

Engineers give Washington state a grade of D-plus for the condition of its roads and another D-plus for its mass transit.

Those are the lowest grades in a report card released today that give Washington infrastructure an overall mediocre grade of C. It’s the first attempt by the Seattle section of the American Society of Civil Engineers to grade the state, and engineers told reporters today the grades try to capture the direction the state is moving as well as the current state of infrastructure.

Washington measures up better than the nation as a whole, which received a D-plus in a …

UPDATE: Senate Education leader confirms Senate will concur in new version of bill to let state order improvements at failing schools

Peter Callaghan — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 22:05:17 +0000

Once called the Superintendent Schools bill, Senate Bill 5329 has been rewritten and could be sent to the desk of Gov. Jay Inlsee sometime after Wednesday’s bill cutoff.

The bill seeks to deal with schools and school districts that continue to perform poorly and are resistant to attempts to improve.

Initially the bill, which was a centerpiece of the Senate Majority Coalition Caucus education reform package, would have directed the state Superintendent of Public Instruction to take over and run persistently failing schools. It was seen as the final hammer to get struggling schools to implement restructuring and reform to …

Inslee now questioning A-F grades for schools but here’s what he said during the campaign

Peter Callaghan — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:04:52 +0000

First, check out Brian Rosenthal’s story today in the Seattle Times about Gov. Jay Inslee pulling the rug out from under Senate Republicans who are pushing a series of education reforms including assigning letter grades to the state’s public schools.

Then watch what Inslee told Stand for Children about the issue during the campaign. The segment on use of teacher evaluations for personnel decisions like layoffs, assignments and rehires appears at 8:55. The segment on using his concern for dropouts, students he calls the forgotten children, begins at 9:50. Part of his platform would include assigning letter grades …

UPDATE – Inslee’s tax plan pays for education add-on of $1.2 billion by hitting businesses, beer and bottled-water drinkers, car buyers

Jordan Schrader — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:00:28 +0000

By Jordan Schrader and Brad Shannon:

A budget plan Gov. Jay Inslee unveiled today would add $1.2 billion to Washington’s two-year spending on basic education to meet a court order demanding more funding for schools. (Details here.)

School districts would finally receive full funding for busing costs. Half of kindergartners would be in school for full days. Poorer districts would get more money to hire more kindergarten and first-grade teachers. Newer teachers would receive stipends.

A big chunk of new money – $466 million – would cover school materials, supplies and costs such as utilities. But Initiative 732 would be suspended again, …

House Republican plan would devote $817 million to McCleary, expand Medicaid

Jordan Schrader — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 22:31:24 +0000

Minority Republicans in the state House today called for devoting $817 million over the next two years to meet a state Supreme Court mandate to fund K-12 schools.

They released the first spending plan the public has seen since the legislative session began two months ago, combining a detailed budget for K-12 education with only broad sketches of how other obligations would be met — notably, without general tax increases and by taking federal money offered by President Barack Obama’s health-care law to expand Medicaid insurance.

“The affordable health care act is here. It’s already been passed. We already …

Sally Jewell appointment to Interior Department will leave a vacancy on University of Washington board of regents

Peter Callaghan — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 22:23:18 +0000

That is, if the head of REI is confirmed by the Senate (her first hearing was today).

But Sally Jewell, one of 10 appointed regents who govern the state’s largest university, has let Gov. Jay Inslee know that she will resign from the board once she take over the Department of Interior.

“We expect her to resign once she is confirmed,” said Inslee press secretary David Postman. “It is her plan and desire to do so.”

That will give the governor his first chance to make an appointment to what is one of the plum posts for those who …

Here is the TVW video of the Sept. 25 oral arguments on League of Education Voters v. State of Washington

Peter Callaghan — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:39:31 +0000

Washington State Supreme Court rules unconstitutional initiatives that require two-thirds majority for tax hikes

Peter Callaghan — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:41:56 +0000

In a landmark ruling 20 years in the making, the Washington State Supreme Court this morning struck down Initiative 1053 as unconstitutional. The court majority said the constitution controls the majority needed for tax hikes and the constitution requires only a majority of the members of the House and Senate.

That means the only way for backers of the so-called super-majority for tax hikes can achieve that goal is to go through the more-burdensome method of amending the constitution which itself requires a two-thirds vote of both houses and then a majority vote of the people.

“The language and …

Washington Supreme Court expected to release ruling on challenge to two-thirds tax initiatives

Peter Callaghan — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 22:30:38 +0000

The Supreme Court often releases a list of rulings it expects to post. While it says “may” and there have been a few times when an expected case was not released, it usually means “will.”

So here is the list for Thursday:

It is anticipated that the following opinions may be filed this week.

· 87105-1 Klem v. WA Mutual Bank, et al.

· 87425-5 League of Education Voters, et al. v. State, et al.

· 86433-1Schroeder v. Excelsior Mgmt. Group, LLC, et al.

League of Education Voters v. State is the challenge to the constitutionality of …

Poll: Voters split on more taxes for schools

Jordan Schrader — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 22:06:54 +0000

A poll released today finds voters split on whether Washington state should raise taxes to fully fund schools.

The poll was done by a Portland firm, DHM Research, and commissioned by advocates of school funding and accountability in the Excellent Schools Now coalition. Pollsters talked to 500 voters in January and found 45 percent of voters backing higher funding for K-12 schools even if it requires a tax increase.

The poll also surveyed 500 teachers in December and found 70 percent of them agreed with the same question.

It has been more than a year since the state Supreme …