The following is taking from the Washington State School Directors Association (WSSDA) Legislative Update for today. By the way, this is a great resource for information on what’s happening in education in the state of Washington and daily updates are provided.
The comments in italics are mine.
Dora
2SHB 1593 – would create an alternative route to principal certification. Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos (who seems to be pushing corporate reform big-time) offered several amendments, including making mentoring required for at least one full school year (rather than six months) and that provisional certificate holders would demonstrate some progress toward completing an alternative route program to maintain their certificate. (Weak at best but Santos seems to be willing to do anything to see this bill pass. Hmmm, I wonder who will be financially backing her next campaign?) Committee chair Kathy Haigh, D-Shelton, voiced concerns but indicated she was willing to keep the bill moving (Why?)– although she would be a no vote. The bill passed 15-3, with Rep. Sells and Rep. Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor, also voting no. (At least some folks saw this as a wacky way to hire principals. Don’t we have enough qualified staff and teachers to fill principal positions now?)
A similar bill, SB 5667, had a public hearing today in the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee. The bill had a mix of support and opposition, with school administrators, teachers and others speaking against the bill, and the (Broad and Gates backed) League of Education Voters , (ditto) Stand for Children and the Partnership for Learning (An organization made up of business folks who know sooo much about education with Norm Rice, President and CEO of the Seattle Foundation, on the Board of Directors) endorsing the concept. Since the bill failed to pass the policy committee by today’s deadline, it is considered “dead.” (Logic and common sense ruled the day at least with this committee). However, please remember that nothing is ever truly over until the gavels finally fall on the last day of session. (It would be a good idea to contact these representatives and thank them for using their critical thinking skills to save our schools from another reform-of-the-day wacky idea.)
hello i’m new to here
glad to see you all
Chris,
I am willing to speak to anyone about Seattle and the connection to Bill Gates and Eli Broad and will contact you personally.
Dora
Dora –
There doesn’t seem to be another way to get in touch with you, so I’ll leave this comment here in the hopes that you’ll see it. I’m a UW graduate student in Geography working on the connections between philanthropy and education reform in the Seattle area, and I would love to talk to you further in person or over the phone about what you’ve seen here in the past several years.
My e-mail: clizotte@uw.edu
Let me know if you have the time and inclination to chat.
-Chris Lizotte
Sharon Tamiko Santos is from the 37th which has the worst test scores in Seattle. She is Chair of house education committee what has she done foe SE schools?
She refused to schedule a hearing for HB 1891 to delay the adoption of the Common Core Standards. That is about as PRO-REFORM as one could get.
Blocking a hearing. Also Randy Dorn was in violation of a law written to have him provide info to the Legislature by Jan 1 .. he provided it on Feb 1 ….
Yet Santos had no problem with this legal violation by Mr. Dorn.
RCW 28A.655.071