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Title : Friday Open Thread
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Friday Open Thread
I wanted to note the passing of a long-time educator and public education champion, Mona Humphries Bailey. I served with Mona when she co-chaired the Board's Closure and Consolidation Committee to decided on school closures. She was a dignified and gracious co-chair. From the notice when Governor Inslee appointed her to the Board of Education:In her thirty-two year career in public education, Bailey has worked to promote equity and excellence for all students, especially for underachieving students. She has served as a science teacher, counselor, principal, personnel administrator, assistant and deputy superintendent in Seattle Public Schools, and Assistant State Superintendent for the Washington state Office of Public Instruction. She continues to serve in education as an educational consultant, as a volunteer with advocacy groups to reform education for K-12 students, and on several nonprofit boards of directors.I also want to call attention to the members of our Seattle School Board as it is Board Member Appreciation month. Thank you to Leslie Harris, Scott Pinkham, Rick Burke, Jill Geary, Betty Patu, Eden Mack and Zachary DeWolf for stepping up to do this hard work.
Longview SD is struggling with the explosion of high school students in Running Start. Their analysis is that it isn't about rigor but about taking college courses cheaply.
In a stark and blunt ruling, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that their state's public education funding is adequate.
It is not the function of the courts … to create educational policy or to attempt by judicial fiat to eliminate all of the societal deficiencies that continue to frustrate the state’s educational efforts,” Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers wrote for the majority. “Rather, the function of the courts is to determine whether the narrow and specific criteria for a minimally adequate educational system under our state constitution have been satisfied.”
Based on the evidence presented at trial, all the justices agreed that the state’s funding to rich suburbs and poor cities is substantially equal.
But the justices split on whether the state offers a minimally adequate education to every child.
The problem came down to definitions.
In the majority opinion, four justices argued that the state does enough by providing the inputs needed for a proper schooling, like teaching staff, buildings, textbooks and pencils. They concluded that the state can’t be blamed if absent parents, poverty, homelessness, hunger or trauma interfere with a child’s education. The majority argued that Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher had erred in his previous ruling in the case, which led him to order state officials to recalculate funding formulas, set strict graduation requirements, revamp teacher evaluations and overhaul special education programs. Judge Moukawsher improperly invented a new test for determining what constitutes a constitutionally adequate public education, the court said.
Chief Justice Rogers wrote the 53-page majority opinion. (Read it here.)
“Although the plaintiffs have convincingly demonstrated that in this state there is a gap in educational achievement between the poorest and neediest students and their more fortunate peers, disparities in educational achievement, standing alone, do not constitute proof that our state constitution’s equal protection provisions have been violated,” Rogers wrote. “The plaintiffs have not shown that this gap is the result of the state’s unlawful discrimination against poor and needy students in its provision of educational resources as opposed to the complex web of disadvantaging societal conditions over which the schools have no control.”In great news, the Washington State Legislature finally passed the Capital Budget yesterday. It had included funding for building new schools but was held up over a water use issue in Eastern Washington.
The capital budget contains more than $1 billion for school construction, money for mental health facilities and low-income housing projects. Last year was the first time in modern history lawmakers failed to pass a capital budget.I attended both the Charter Commission meeting and the Town Hall for the superintendent search and I'll have a write-up of each by the end of the weekend. Much to unpack and discuss.
What's on your mind?
thus Article Friday Open Thread
that is all articles Friday Open Thread This time, hopefully can provide benefits to all of you. Okay, see you in another article posting.
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