Christine Gregoire proposes turning elected Wa State Ed bureaucracy into Governor-appointed fief

[Hannah Bell]

The following is an explanation provided by WSSDA, the Washington State School Directors’ Association, of what Governor Gregoire proposes to do to restructure our education administration for the state.

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It is proposed by the governor that OSPI, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction be abolished. Randy Dorn, who is the State Superintendent, an elected position, and head of OSPI, would no longer be a part of the administration. Governor Gregoire is proposing that the governor select an individual to head the newly formed Department of Education for the state as well as the board members.

In two words “bad idea”.

Mr. Dorn has been at odds with many of the reformist ideas including the privatization of our public schools and in my book has represented the children of this state far better than the Governor or our PTA in that regard.

In California, during Governor Schwarzenegger’s two terms, he had an appointed school board of directors on the State Board of Education that had individuals on it who represented charter schools and included Ben Austin, the Parent Trigger guy who was paid for by Greendot charter schools to be the spokesperson for closing schools and turning them into charter schools.

And as with any restructuring in government, the cost would be exorbitant.

Below is a description of the proposal.

http://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/the-governor%e2%80%99s-education-restructuring-bill-bad-idea-2/


At the end of this post are the names of our state representatives to call. Please let them know what you think of this bill. They want to hear from you.

Please call or e-mail your representatives and tell them what you think about this proposal:

Senator Rosemary McAuliffe, Chair of the Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee [phone] [e-mail]

Senator Lisa Brown [phone] [e-mail]

Senator Nick Harper [phone] [e-mail]

Senator Bob Hasegawa [phone] [e-mail]

Senator Adam Kline [phone] [e-mail]

Senator Sharon Nelson [phone] [e-mail]

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. We had that in MD at the state level. The teachers preferred it

Elected school boards were pretty much hamstrung by the "professionals" at the state level