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"I'm bad at math" versus "I can succeed if I study hard"

Partnership for Learning writes, The office of Superintendent of Public Instruction released results last week for the 2013 Annual Measurable Objectives (AMO) that showed little to no progress — and even some regression — for Washington state’s schools. The AMOs are part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) waiver that was reissued to […]

Time to take another look at "property tax swap" to boost school spending?

In my column today, I suggest lawmakers take another look at the property tax swap proposed last year. A couple of issues prompted the suggestion. A report by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities finding that most states have not returned to inflation-adjusted pre-recession per pupil spending. Comparatively, Washington looks pretty good. The legislature’s […]

Washington gets high marks for quality of education finance reporting

The Cata Institute gives Washington a ‘B’ in its new “Cracking the Books” study. They’re not grading on the curve, because that B ranks Washington third among the 50 states, just behind New Mexico and South Dakota. Cato says inadequate financial reporting leads most members of the public to significantly underestimate the “true cost of […]

Education reforms from the 2013 legislative sessions

To be sure, the main education headline from the legislative sessions this year was that about $1 billion extra will be spent on K-12 education in 2013-15. A number of reform bills were also enacted, though, including: E2SSB 5329 establishes a process “to assign responsibility to the superintendent of public instruction to intervene in persistently […]

Charter school lawsuit by WEA and others does disservice to students

My column yesterday called the lawsuit filed by the WEA, WASA a last-gasp effort, another instance of losers litigating after being defeated at the polls. I look at some recent data giving high marks to charter school performance across the country and a positive evaluation of Washington’s Charter School Law, adopted as Initiative 1240. I […]

Washington ranks 30th in total school spending per pupil in 2011

A new report from the U.S. Census provides a wealth of data on public school spending. (Links to all the data can be found here.) A look at state revenues and spending per pupil can be found in this spreadsheet, Table 11 from the report. It shows that Washington spent $9,483 per pupil, ranking the state […]

Competitiveness key to landing Boeing 777X: Inslee announces aerospace strategy

Gov. Jay Inslee has joined the competitiveness battle, a high stakes bid to assure that the Boeing 777X is built here. The Seattle Times writes: Gov. Jay Inslee proposes funding a new cargo facility at the Port of Everett, extending Boeing’s tax breaks and streamlining the local permitting process in Everett as part of a […]

STEM, bachelor's degrees and the value of education

A recent Wall Street Journal commentary examined the value of a bachelor’s degree, adding fuel to simmering discussions of the student debt crisis, young adult unemployment, rising tuition, and degrees without workplace relevance.The piece by Jeffrey J. Selingo should be read in its entirety, but here’s a sample. Think a community-college degree is worth less […]

Washington gets generally high marks in new U.S. Chamber report, lags in "talent pipeline"

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce released its annual report on states’ economic and policy performance, with a special focus on small business. The 2013 Enterprising States report provides a lot of good, well-documented information for business owners and policymakers. We’ve written about it before before. As the state did last year, Washington shows up well. […]

Prioritizing education spending

Last week, Brian Rosenthal of the Times wrote a story about the amount of education spending in the budget proposals. He writes, You may have heard that lawmakers are proposing to dramatically increase funding for public schools in response to a state Supreme Court order. You may not have heard that some of them plan […]