ThinkTank
Is It Time for Charters?
This November, voters statewide, for the fourth time since 1996, will take up a charter school initiative, I-1240. Voters rejected charter schools for the third time in 2004 in a public referendum on a charter bill the legislature passed earlier that year.
This year's initiative is also a hot-button issue in the governor's race—as education funding and "education reform" have taken center stage. Groups such as Democrats for Education Reform and traditional Democratic donors like Nick Hanauer are complaining that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Inslee—who opposes the measure—isn't moving fast enough on the national ed reform agenda backed by President Obama, which includes charters. Indeed, the ed reform issue has fractured the Democratic Party.
The pro-charter measure is backed by (among many others, of course): Bill Gates ($1,000,000); Hanauer ($450,000); Bruce McCaw ($100,000), Jeff Bezos' parents ($500,000); Paul Allen ($100,000), Dick's Drive-In owner Jim Spady ($100) and Democrats for Education Reform ($50,000). Overall, the pro-camp has raised $3.3 million. The anti-1240 campaign has yet to report any donors, though presumably the Washington Education Association, the teachers' union, will put big money into that effort.
Seattle Rep. Eric Pettigrew (D-37) proposed a charter bill in January and Eastside Seattle suburban Sen. Rodney Tom (D-48, Bellevue) tried to make a charter bill part of the tortured budget negotiations. Both efforts failed.
For today's ThinkTank, two Democratic state reps square off—Rep. Pettigrew and Rep. Marcie Maxwell (D-41, Renton).
This year's initiative is also a hot-button issue in the governor's race—as education funding and "education reform" have taken center stage. Groups such as Democrats for Education Reform and traditional Democratic donors like Nick Hanauer are complaining that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Inslee—who opposes the measure—isn't moving fast enough on the national ed reform agenda backed by President Obama, which includes charters. Indeed, the ed reform issue has fractured the Democratic Party.
The pro-charter measure is backed by (among many others, of course): Bill Gates ($1,000,000); Hanauer ($450,000); Bruce McCaw ($100,000), Jeff Bezos' parents ($500,000); Paul Allen ($100,000), Dick's Drive-In owner Jim Spady ($100) and Democrats for Education Reform ($50,000). Overall, the pro-camp has raised $3.3 million. The anti-1240 campaign has yet to report any donors, though presumably the Washington Education Association, the teachers' union, will put big money into that effort.
Seattle Rep. Eric Pettigrew (D-37) proposed a charter bill in January and Eastside Seattle suburban Sen. Rodney Tom (D-48, Bellevue) tried to make a charter bill part of the tortured budget negotiations. Both efforts failed.
For today's ThinkTank, two Democratic state reps square off—Rep. Pettigrew and Rep. Marcie Maxwell (D-41, Renton).
