Serving Franklin County, WA
Serving Franklin County, WA
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Is Critical Race Theory being taught in Washington public schools or not? In 2021, the Legislature passed, and on May 5th that year Gov. Jay Inslee signed, Senate Bill 5044 to require the teaching of “...equity, cultural competency, and dismantling institutional racism in the public school system.” This is the academic description for Critical Race Theory. The bill was implemented through the Washington state learning standards using the “Ethnic Studies Framework.” Academi...
Recently state schools superintendent Chris Reykdal announced that he plans to ask the legislature for another $2.9 billion for public education. This would be on top of the current $20.1 billion education budget. Like the changing leaves of Fall, every year around this time Reykdal asks for more money. Let’s ask ourselves, Will pouring in more money make a difference to children? The data shows the answer is “No.” For years the state has increased education spending, and t...
School choice programs give families between $4,000 and $8,000 per student to cover the cost of private education. These programs provide families public assistance to select a private school if their zip-code assigned public school is not a good fit for their child. In the last two years, school choice has exploded across the United States. In 2019, private school choice programs in the U.S. served only 500,000 students, less than 1% of the nation’s school children. Today, 2...
School choice is on the rise across the nation. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, just announced his support for Lifeline scholarships, a state voucher program that will allow students to use public funds to attend a private school of their choice. If enacted, his bill will help families assigned by local officials to the lowest-performing public schools because these families will be able to choose a better alternative for their children. Shapiro's bold initiative...
As we conclude National School Choice Week 2022, people around Washington state are about to hear a familiar refrain: Public schools need more money. Official reports, however, show that isn’t true. In a world of online misinformation and fact-checking, it’s more important than ever for the public to get an accurate picture. Official figures show public schools in Washington state now receive record levels of funding, even as the system has fewer students. Citations to the...
Widespread and irresponsible claims you may have heard that Critical Race Theory (CRT) and race discrimination are not taught in public schools are false. Last month voters elected many new members to local school boards based, at least in part, on those candidates’ announced opposition to teaching CRT in local schools. On what basis then do CRT-deniers say the race-based ideology is not being taught in schools? They argue CRT is an academic theory only taught in college a...
Most schools in Washington state will remain closed this fall. Some school districts are tightening their belts in anticipation of the COVID-19 budget cuts that are coming. But last week Gov. Jay Inslee bypassed the Legislature and the decisions of local school districts to protect the jobs of unionized school bus drivers. He's made sure money will keep flowing for school buses that are not carrying school children. His next step may be to keep the money flowing to school...