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.

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A historic–but bittersweet–day for kids

Posted on 19. May, 2009 by admin.

It’s a historic–but bittersweet–day for Washington’s children and schools. Gov. Chris Gregoire signed Engrossed Substitute House Bill 2261, which marks the beginning of the movement to redefine and fully fund “basic education” so all children receive the support they need to succeed in college, job training, work and life.

A broad-based coalition of parents, business leaders, community members and education stakeholders worked closely with legislators for months to pass the landmark education reform legislation. The reforms, which begin in 2011 and will be fully implemented by 2018, will:

• Expand the school day so high school students can take more math, science and world language courses to graduate with 24 credits;
• Redefine basic education to include all-day kindergarten, highly capable education, transportation and other academic programs and support services students need to succeed in school;
• Make school funding more transparent for school leaders, lawmakers and parents through the use of a “prototypical schools” model; and
• Direct the State Board of Education to develop an accountability system and intervention measures targeted at challenged schools and districts.

Two reasons make this a bittersweet occasion.

In a surprise veto, the governor removed the section that included early learning in the revised definition of basic education. The governor disagreed with the approach to provide early learning for only at-risk children. We are deeply disappointed. Including early learning was to be the foundation of a child-focused bill. Solid research demonstrates that children who are at-risk, who receive high-quality early learning, will do better in school and life. However, the governor pledged to work with policymakers to provide early learning opportunities for all children. This issue continues to be a top priority of ours and we will count on your support moving forward.

This afternoon, the governor also signed the 2009-2011 state budget into law, which cuts more than $1.5 billion from public education. Already, children, teachers, schools and colleges are feeling the impact.

Going forward, it’s crucial that we continue to remind our policymakers that these cuts are devastating to our state’s education system and the future prospects of our children.

As for ESHB 2261, the work has just begun. It’s up to all of us to ensure these reforms are implemented so our educators and schools receive the support they need to provide the high quality education that every child deserves.

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Join us tonight!

Posted on 18. May, 2009 by admin.

We hope you’ll join us tonight for a town hall meeting to hear Kati Haycock, president of The Education Trust, speak about the next steps for education advocates and participate in a robust conversation about the future of our public schools.

Tonight: Monday, May 18th, 7 – 9 PM
Seattle Public Library
Microsoft Auditorium
1000 Fourth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104
View your invitation to this event.

Please send your RSVP to katie@educationvoters.org.

Kati Haycock is one of the nation’s leading child advocates in the field of education.  As president of The Education Trust, Kati speaks up for what’s right for young people, especially those who are poor or members of communities of color.

We hope to see you tonight at this free public town hall for students, parents, and education advocates who are interested in building the movement for education reform.

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You won’t want to miss this event about the future of kids and schools in Washington on May 18th

Posted on 12. May, 2009 by admin.

Join parents and school advocates to find out what’s next for your kids and schools in Washington State.

You’re invited to a town hall meeting to hear Kati Haycock, president of The Education Trust, speak about the next steps for education advocates and join a robust conversation about the future of our public schools.

Monday, May 18th, 7 – 9 PM
Seattle Public Library
Microsoft Auditorium
1000 Fourth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104
View your invitation to this event.

Please send your RSVP to katie@educationvoters.org.

Kati Haycock is one of the nation’s leading child advocates in the field of education.  As president of The Education Trust, Kati speaks up for what’s right for young people, especially those who are poor or members of communities of color.

We hope to see you at this free public town hall for students, parents, and education advocates who are interested in building the movement for education reform.

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An historic victory for children and schools

Posted on 20. Apr, 2009 by admin.

This is an historic day for one million public school kids in our state. The state Legislature passed the education reform bill, ESHB 2261. For the first time in 30 years, we’ve re-defined basic education to include the tools our educators need to prepare our kids for college, work and life.

The passage of ESHB 2261 commits the state to fully implementing and funding early learning for at-risk kids, all-day kindergarten, stronger graduation requirements, a longer school day, and other reforms to improve outcomes for children by 2018. It’s up to all of us-parents, educators, and students-to work together to hold our lawmakers accountable to fulfilling that commitment.

Congratulations! Applaud yourselves for achieving an historic milestone for children and schools. Thank you for your passion and persistence. It’s clear that your personal phone calls, messages and visits made a tremendous difference. Now we need to thank our lawmakers.

Please send a thank you note to the legislators who made this possible.

• View the roll call vote on ESHB 2261.
• Call the legislative hotline at 1.800.562.6000. Staff will help you leave a message for your legislators.
• Thank your legislators for supporting ESHB 2261, and helping to build the world-class education system that our children deserve.

We know schools and educators are doing the best job possible in the midst of budget cuts. ESHB 2261 is an acknowledgement that our state is not living up to its paramount duty, and that our teachers deserve the support and resources they need to provide a high quality education for every child. The legislation provides a roadmap for the future to build a stronger and more amply funded education system that will be protected from devastating budget cuts. And, it positions our state to compete for $5 billion in federal funds dedicated to innovation in our public schools.

ESHB 2261 now goes to the governor’s desk, where it is expected to be signed into law. Stay tuned for more information about the bill signing ceremony.

Again, thank you for making a difference!

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Final Push: Urge your state representatives to send the education reform bill to the governor’s desk

Posted on 17. Apr, 2009 by admin.

We’re one step closer to re-defining basic education for the first time in 30 years for Washington’s one million public school children.

The State Senate passed the education reform bill, ESHB 2261, by a vote of 26 to 23 yesterday. The bill now goes to the House for approval before reaching the governor’s desk.

Your personal call will make a difference in the outcome of this vote.

TAKE ACTION: Please call your state representatives by Monday morning and urge them to vote YES to send ESHB 2261 to the governor’s desk.

• Call the legislative hotline at 1.800.562.6000. The hotline is open from 8 AM to 8 PM M-F and 9 AM to 1 PM on Saturday.
• Urge your state representatives to vote YES on ESHB 2261.

View the vote count on HB 2261 to see how your state representatives previously voted.

For the first time in a generation, we’re poised to re-define our state’s definition of basic education based on today’s expectations. ESHB 2261, which incorporates improvements from the Senate, would:

• Strengthen Washington’s high school diploma and expand the school day to prepare students for college, job training and the workforce;
• Re-define basic education to include transportation to and from school, all-day kindergarten, highly capable funding, and early learning for children considered at-risk; and
• Fully implement these reforms with full funding by the 2018-19 school year.

Click here for a full summary of the bill passed by the Senate.

Thank you for your support.

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Budget cuts would devastate education

Posted on 01. Apr, 2009 by admin.

Washington’s schools, like families, have been tightening their budgets, while doing everything they can to ensure kids continue to grow and thrive.

This week, the Senate and House released their 2009-2011 budget proposals, which close a $9 billion shortfall with cuts and federal stimulus dollars. Although legislators prioritized children and education, both budgets would cut early learning, public schools and higher education by more than $1.3 billion.

The Senate and House make tough choices in their education budgets. Here’s our overall view of how the budgets would impact the future of our state’s children, schools and colleges.

Early Learning

Access to high quality early learning is the key to dramatically improving outcomes for young children and families. We appreciate that the Senate and House prioritized and protected early learning in their budgets. Despite modest cuts, both budgets would largely maintain access to preschool programs for children from low-income families through our state’s Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) by preventing 1,000 cuts to enrollment slots. Although, we prefer budget writers had make cuts elsewhere and fully funded this essential program.

K-12 Public Education

Although public education is the state’s paramount duty, the budget only protects a narrow, legalistic definition of “basic education.” Education programs that are essential, but are not technically part of basic education, have either been eliminated or deeply cut such as Initiative 728, levy equalization and funding to lower K-4 class sizes. The loss of I-728 alone could mean between 3,000 and 5,000 teachers would lose their jobs.

If we had a robust definition of basic education, children would not be faced with the prospect of losing their new teacher and not getting the help that they need to be successful in school and life.

We applaud the House budget for including funding to implement education reform legislation. We are concerned that the Senate relied heavily on federal stimulus dollars, which are one-time funds, to pay for basic education.

Higher Education

Our children are counting on being able to afford and enroll at one of our state’s colleges or universities to learn the skills necessary to earn a living wage. Unfortunately, both budgets make devastating cuts to our state’s higher education system. Up to 10,000 students may be denied access under the Senate budget. The House attempts to maintain current enrollments by implementing greater tuition hikes and deeper cuts in faculty and courses.

Click here to view the Senate and House operating budget summaries.

Help ensure a bright future for children in our state

The education budget represents our investment in our children’s future. We have a responsibility to our children to take care of them first because they are counting on us to help them achieve their dreams in life. Unfortunately, the proposed cuts will mean the future prospects of children across Washington State will be dimmed.

We have the ability to break this cycle of cutting school budgets during downturns and filling in the holes when our economy improves by taking bold action now. Now is the time to redefine basic education and adopt systemic reforms and accountability measures and tie them to a responsible implementation schedule. If we do so, we will be able to hold our state lawmakers and ourselves accountable for providing our children the kind of education they need to succeed in good economic times and in bad times. We would also better position Washington State to receive federal stimulus dollars and other funds tied to President Obama’s call for innovation in our public schools.

You can take action to make a difference for children and education by:

• Urging your legislators to support revising the definition of basic education to include what our children need to succeed in school, college, job training and the workforce.

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Help us present 10,000 signatures to the governor

Posted on 30. Mar, 2009 by admin.

More than 5,400 parents, educators and students have signed the Washington Kids Can’t Wait petition. We need your help to present the petition to Gov. Chris Gregoire with 10,000 signatures.

Please ask two people to sign the Washington Kids Can’t Wait Petition to help us pass 10,000 signatures by Friday, April 3rd.

And, tell them to take a moment to ADD A COMMENT when they sign about why this is important-our voice matters!

Reaching our goal will send a loud and clear message that:

• We want our lawmakers to protect funding for Washington’s children and schools; and
• We want our lawmakers to redefine basic education to pay for what our children need to succeed in college, job training, work and life.

Next week, state lawmakers will release a budget proposal that will make cuts in our public education system in order to close a historic budget shortfall. Kids in our public schools will feel the real impacts of these cuts.

Our lawmakers need to know that we are paying attention and will hold them responsible for investing in our children’s future.

Please ask two of your family, friends and colleagues to sign the Washington Kids Can’t Wait Petition so we can reach our goal of 10,000 signatures by Friday, April 3rd.

Thank you for supporting children and schools!

Lisa Layera Brunkan and Susan McBurney, Fund Our Future Washington
Kelly Munn, League of Education Voters
Shannon Campion, Stand for Children
Laura Bay, Washington State PTA

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Cuts to ECEAP would hurt Washington’s neediest kids.

Posted on 20. Mar, 2009 by admin.

This is the face of an ECEAP graduate succeeding in kindergarten. Every morning 8,226 children attend preschool statewide thanks to the state’s Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP).

ECEAP gives them the educational, nutritional, health and social/emotional support they need to start kindergarten ready to succeed. The program also serves as a safety net for many families. The program, for example, helps parents locate emergency food and shelter services, find affordable housing, access health services, and find employment within their communities.
Due to Washington’s $9 billion budget deficit, funding for ECEAP is in jeopardy.

The House and Senate budgets will be released next week. We need you to contact Speaker Chopp and Majority Leader Brown today to urge them to protect funding for ECEAP. You can also call them via the legislative hotline at 1.800.562.6000.

Tell them that cuts to ECEAP would hurt Washington’s neediest kids. With more than 2,600 children on the ECEAP waiting list, the need is already too high. Also, ECEAP programs often serve families that Head Start programs can’t reach. This is especially true in some rural areas of the state where Head Start programs are not located.

Legislators are believers in early learning. However, they are gambling on the other Washington to provide federal funding for early learning programs. Cuts in ECEAP funding cannot be replaced with federal Head Start stimulus funds. The federal Head Start funding is temporary and the majority of the funding will not be used for expansion.

Please contact Speaker Chopp and Majority Leader Brown today and tell them to protect our children’s future by funding ECEAP.

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All eyes are on the Senate

Posted on 19. Mar, 2009 by admin.

With only 39 days left in the legislative session, we can’t let up.

Two education reform proposals, Senate Bill 6048 and House Bill 2261, are moving through the legislative process. Both chambers passed their respective bills, so now the Senate will consider HB 2261, and vice versa.

HB 2261 will receive a public hearing in the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee next Wednesday, March 25th at 8 AM.

TAKE ACTION: Email us if you would like to testify on HB 2261 in Olympia. Or, send us your testimony and we’ll pass it along to the committee members.

We believe the success of education reform efforts this year depends on the Senate. Nine freshman lawmakers, led by Rep. Marcie Maxwell, sent a timely letter to Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, chair of the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee, urging them to pass HB 2261.

Of the two education reform bills, we believe the House proposal, HB 2261, is the stronger measure because it would:

• Redefine basic education to include what our children need to succeed in school, college, job training, and life;
• Improve academic achievement by including early learning for at-risk children, all-day kindergarten, and support for struggling students in the program of basic education; and
• Add more instructional time to give students the opportunity to take additional courses so they graduate ready for college, job training and the workforce.

Click here to view a side-by-side comparison of HB 2261 and SB 6048.

Also this week, Gov. Chris Gregoire said she would not sign an “education bill that puts in a new definition of education without the funds to pay for it.”

In fact, HB 2261 would not impose new burdens on our schools now. It would phase in reforms over time beginning in 2011. The bill would fund the changes by dedicating a portion of the state’s growth in revenue to basic education.

Take a minute to help public school children

You can send our lawmakers in Olympia a loud and clear message that now is the time to update the definition of basic education this legislative session. Please take one minute to sign this petition in support of children and schools.

Thank you for your support.

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