On Wednesday, February 24th, the Senate Ways & Means Committee held a public hearing on proposed legislation (Senate Bill 6875) to temporarily raise the sales tax by 0.3 percent to fund education programs. George Scarola, LEV’s legislative director, along with a representative from the Washington Education Association testified against the sales tax increase. While LEV [...]
2010 supplemental budget proposals
February 23, 2010 By
State lawmakers unveiled budget proposals today that will make deeper cuts in our public schools, colleges and universities. We expected bad news, like the elimination of I-728, but the budget cuts are worse than we expected. While many key programs were prioritized, others that are critical elements for a world-class education system that prepare kids [...]
Obama: college/career-ready standards linked to federal $
February 22, 2010 By
President Obama today shared with the nation’s governors his plan to include college- and career-ready standards in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (aka No Child Left Behind). Here are the bulleted policiesObama and his educrew would like to see integrated into ESEA: “Require all states to adopt and certify that they have college- [...]
Support reforms to put an effective educator in every classroom and school
February 18, 2010 By
You have an opportunity to make a difference for children by supporting strong Race to the Top* legislation that will put an effective teacher in every classroom and an effective leader in every school in Washington State. Here’s how you can take action: 1) Speak up at your town hall meeting. Attend your town hall [...]
Public invited to a CityClub event on education reform and funding
February 17, 2010 By
From local schools to Olympia to Washington, D.C., education reform and funding is a hot topic. Next Wednesday, February 24, CityClub is hosting a luncheon and panel discussion on education reform and funding. It’s a well-timed event considering recent news such as the McCleary vs. Washington State decision, discussions about the education budget in Olympia [...]
Simple majority continues to make a difference for kids and schools
February 12, 2010 By
In living rooms and makeshift campaign offices around the state, thousands of parents, educators and students eagerly awaited election results for critical school levies on Tuesday night. When the first results were released after 8 pm, cheers went up in a majority of communities. Despite these tough economic times, voters showed that they care deeply [...]
Senate approves Race to the Top bill
February 11, 2010 By
This afternoon, the Washington state Senate approved legislation (2SSB 6696) by a vote of 41 to 5 to help our state win a federal Race to the Top grant. Forty states have already applied to compete for its share of $4.3 billion in Race to the Top funds, which are designed to drive education reform [...]
School levy and bond elections
February 10, 2010 By
Across the state, a majority of communities are passing their levies thanks to the hard work of volunteers. Despite these tough economic times, voters showed that they care deeply about their public schools. And, simple majority for school levies made a difference in many elections. We are closely watching several school bond measures that are [...]
OLY SHORTS: Potato Day
February 10, 2010 By
McCleary v. State: Why You Should Read This
February 8, 2010 By
The following is a guest blog post by Buzz Porter, an attorney at Dionne & Rorick, about the recent decision in McCleary v. State. When a court issues a written opinion, most people (including their lawyers) immediately jump to the end of the decision to read the conclusion. Who won, who lost, and what’s the [...]
