Beating the odds
Posted on 28. May, 2009 by Kelly.
It’s a tough economic climate-especially to achieve the supermajority vote needed to pass a school bond. And yet, that’s exactly what happened last week thanks to the tenacity and hard work of students, schools, and volunteers in Yakima.
For the first time in nearly 20 years, voters in the Yakima School District approved a $114 million school bond to build a new high school and modernize seven other schools.
The critical factor for this success story was the kids!
Two student coordinators from each high school worked together to organize their peers and community members to build support for the school bond. One of the culminating events was the BondFest rally, where students from each school marched from their campus to the park to hear speakers and performances. More than 1,000 students and community supporters attended the event.
In an election with nearly 12,000 votes cast, students and volunteers delivered a powerful message that reached more than 10,000 voters via door-to-door knocking, phone calls, and rallies.
These students truly gave their heart and soul. Their work will mean future high school classes will learn and walk the halls of modern and safer buildings.
Special thanks should go to Central Washington Progress and The Washington Bus for providing technical help and know-how around elections and organizing.
If you’re starting up a levy and/or bond campaign in November or next year-you’re not alone! Yakima is a success story that can work in any community in the state.
At LEV, I’m one of two field organizers who will travel anywhere in Washington State to help you setup and develop a solid plan to win a school levy or bond. We can also put you in touch with other resources that can provide voter analysis and assistance with K-12 finance and organizing. And, there’s LEV’s Levy Library for online access to collective knowledge from dozens of past levy and bond campaigns.
Hit ‘reply’ to contact me or Frank Ordway, our NW WA Regional Director, about getting involved in or running a levy or bond campaign.
Kelly Munn
Statewide Field Director
Continue Reading
Beating the odds
Posted on 28. May, 2009 by admin.
It’s a tough economic climate—especially to achieve the supermajority vote needed to pass a school bond. And yet, that’s exactly what happened last week thanks to the tenacity and hard work of students, schools, and volunteers in Yakima.
For the first time in nearly 20 years, voters in the Yakima School District approved a $114 million school bond to build a new high school and modernize seven other schools.
The critical factor for this success story was the kids!
Two student coordinators from each high school worked together to organize their peers and community members to build support for the school bond. One of the culminating events was the BondFest rally, where students from each school marched from their campus to the park to hear speakers and performances. More than 1,000 students and community supporters attended the event.
In an election with nearly 12,000 votes cast, students and volunteers delivered a powerful message that reached more than 10,000 voters via door-to-door knocking, phone calls, and rallies.
These students truly gave their heart and soul. Their work will mean future high school classes will learn and walk the halls of modern and safer buildings.
Special thanks should go to Central Washington Progress and The Washington Bus for providing technical help and know-how around elections and organizing.
If you’re starting up a levy and/or bond campaign in November or next year—you’re not alone! Yakima is a success story that can work in any community in the state.
At LEV, I’m one of two field organizers who will travel anywhere in Washington State to help you setup and develop a solid plan to win a school levy or bond. We can also put you in touch with other resources that can provide voter analysis and assistance with K-12 finance and organizing. And, there’s LEV’s Levy Library for online access to collective knowledge from dozens of past levy and bond campaigns.
Contact me or Frank Ordway, our NW WA Regional Director, about getting involved in or running a levy or bond campaign at info@educationvoters.org.
Continue Reading
Education news of the day
Posted on 28. May, 2009 by admin.
Thank you, thank you, thank you: For retiring superintendent Soria, mission accomplished
Temporary windfall: Wash. gets $672M in education stimulus
Sign of the times: Seattle school sign-up points to more students
Continue Reading
WA receives $672 million in stabilization funds
Posted on 27. May, 2009 by admin.
The U.S. Department of Education released Washington’s first wave of state fiscal stabilization fund dollars, to the order of $672 million.
In our application, we asked for $820 million:
Restore the level of state support for K-12 in FY2009: $362 million
Restore the level of state support for colleges in FY2009: $0
Restore the level of state support for K-12 in FY2010: $357.3 million
Restore the level of state support for colleges in FY2010: $100.7 million
Nothing in the U.S. Dept. of Ed. press release indicates why we received less than we applied for. However, the feds do note that we are eligible to apply for an additional $331 million in SFSF monies this fall. And prior to the SFSF payout, Washington received $194 million in stimulus funds (for Title I, IDEA, vocational rehabilitation and independent living grants).
Much of our 23-page application contains assurances Gov. Gregoire had to sign off on. Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn only needed to sign one page, and even then it was optional, go figure. (Most likely because most school chiefs are appointed, rather than elected). Attachment A of the application provides a summary of Washington policies and procedures that “address the assurances” and “illustrate means by which Washington will address them” (page 15-16 of the PDF).
Continue Reading
Education news of the day
Posted on 27. May, 2009 by admin.
So close, and yet: Bainbridge school bond could turn on ‘challenged’ ballots
Helping hands: B-E program has recipe for success
Good news in Issaquah: Teacher layoffs reduced
smART: Getting scientific about arts education
Continue Reading
TRUTH SQUAD: Early learning veto
Posted on 26. May, 2009 by admin.
Last week The Seattle Times published an editorial in support of Gov. Gregoire’s veto of the early learning section in HB 2261. We, like so many others across the state, were saddened to lose that part of the bill, and see some things a bit differently than The Times.
|
The Seattle Times |
|
| Gregoire vetoed language in the bill that focused narrowly on low-income preschoolers. State efforts around early learning must be broader. | Governor Chris Gregoire today vetoed the section of the Basic Education Bill (House Bill 2261) that stated the intent to provide a program of early learning for at-risk children as part of the state’s definition of basic education. As part of basic education, funding for this program would have been under the protection of the Washington State Constitution in the same way much of K-12 funding is protected. The program would have been developed by a work group led by OSPI and the Department of Early Learning (DEL). Much like the state’s phase-in of all-day kindergarten, this program of early learning would have initially targeted those children most at-risk of falling behind, with the option to expand the program to all children in Washington if deemed appropriate. |
| Nothing will be lost. Gregoire established the state Department of Early Learning and promises it will retain a focus on early learning, including broadening access and improving academic quality. | The Governor established DEL in 2005. Recently Dr. Bette Hyde, former superintendent of the Bremerton School District, became the head of the department. Dr. Hyde will provide strong leadership for DEL, however it isn’t true to say that ”nothing will be lost.” The 2009-2011 budget included $12 million in budget cuts, a 10% reduction from the maintenance budget. DEL will have to lay off an estimated 30 FTEs during this time period. |
| At both the federal and state level, spending and efforts on early learning are unprecedented. About $1 billion is targeted to the federal preschool program, Head Start, for the next two years. | The ARRA federal stimulus package included $1.1 billion for Early Head Start expansion, awarded by competitive grants. We do not know how much money, if any, Washington State will receive. Preference is given to centers with Early Head Start programs. Washington State serves 14% of eligible children through Early Head Start. In Seattle, Washington’s largest urban area, only 243 Early Head Start slots are available.
The remaining $1.235 billion will be used for Head Start programs serving 3- and 4-year-old children. Since Head Start has been vastly underfunded in the past eight years, much of the funding will be used to raise the level of quality with the children who are currently being served. Only 18% of Head Start funding will be used to expand programs and serve new children. Source The state budgets allocates $121 million to DEL, a much smaller allocation than to K-12 or higher education (K-12 is $13 billion, higher education is $3 billion). |
| Gregoire boosted funding and enrollment for the state equivalent (to Head Start) in 2007. | Gov. Gregoire added funding to the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) in the 2007-2009 biennium. She increased funding to $6,500 per child (compared to Head Start’s $9,500 per slot) and added funding for 2,250 additional slots.
In Washington, ECEAP serves 23% of low-income preschoolers, while Head Start serves 35%. This means that 42% of eligible low-income preschools are unserved due to lack of funding. |
| This budget year, she made only incremental cuts despite one of the most challenging budgets in state history. | Early learning programs were cut by $12 million, or 10% of total funding. This figure includes federal stimulus funds. |
| Other federal funds can be used for early-childhood education, including hundreds of millions in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act for programs that served disabled children from infancy to kindergarten age. | Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Title I funding can be used for early learning programs, however this is unlikely due to funding strains on K-12 programs. With the K-12 system looking at cuts upwards of $1 billion for the 2009-11 biennium, including layoffs of at least 4,000 educators, districts will most likely use additional IDEA and Title I funds to preserve teaching and support staff positions. |
| The recent economic-stimulus package included $13 billion for schools with large populations of children from low-income families. The money can be used to pay for early-childhood programs. | Ditto above. |
Continue Reading
Kati Haycock Town Hall on Seattle Channel
Posted on 26. May, 2009 by admin.
If you missed last week’s Kati Haycock presentation, you can view it online via the Seattle Channel.
We’ve also posted the presenation files online and you can read Peter Callaghan’s blog about the key findings.
Continue Reading
Education news of the day
Posted on 26. May, 2009 by admin.
Wake up: Schools have much to do to meet standards of achievement
Simple majority success: North Mason school levy gains support in latest count
Build on: Yakima schools bond issue still winning
Sharing the (lack of) wealth: Teachers give back during recession
Continue Reading
Wonky words: Report on education equity
Posted on 22. May, 2009 by admin.
The Schott Foundation for Public Education just released Lost Opportunity: A 50 State Report on the Opportunity to Learn in America. In this report, the states are ranked on the opportunity to learn provided to all students. What I find really interesting is where the report calls out the economic consequences of each state’s education system.
This report puts Washington’s annual economic burden to taxpayers because of inequity at $507 million. Yep, that’s $507 million each year, or $1.1 billion each biennium. To give some perspective, the annual economic burden in Virginia is $1.5 billion, in Massachusetts, $852 million, and in Oregon, $16 million.
Here are some more numbers for Washington:
Potential Return on School Improvement Investment: 250%
(Differences attributable to high school graduation per annual cohort)
State Annual Total Lifetime Health Loss $100 million
State Annual Crime-Related Loss $65 million
State Tax Losses (Lifetime) $342 million
Annual Lost Lifetime Earnings $704 million
(Difference attributable to high school graduation per annual cohort)
Net Annual Potential Revenue Increase from Equity $313 million
(After deducting estimated cost of improving schools)
Just some food for thought for the holiday weekend.
Continue Reading
Education news of the day
Posted on 21. May, 2009 by admin.
Hallelujah! 158 Issaquah teachers may get to keep jobs after all
Huge win in Yakima!! Editorial: Taking stock of the bond
Heartbreak: Editorial: Don’t buy the claims for universal preschool
