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Last week, I wrote that on July 6, the federal government told Washington State to rewrite its teacher evaluation bill, SB 5895, as a condition of extending a one-year waiver from No Child Left Behind rules.

On July 6, 2012, the federal Department of Education wrote Superintendent Randy Dorn granting Washington state a one-year waiver from No Child Left Behind requirements, renewable only if Washington amends the teacher evaluation bill passed last session, SB 5895. They have a lot of nerve.  

A June 7 Education Week article reports that 23 states have passed laws to ease or eliminate state caps on charter schools, create new, independent entities to authorize them, and help charters secure more funding or better facilities. 

The Education Week reporter calls this a flurry of new laws.  I’d say it is more like a blizzard.

Today Thurston County Superior Court Judge Lisa Sutton gave final approval to the ballot title and short summary for the proposed charter public school initiative.  The language is reported by The Olympian here.  After getting a late start, supporters have just three weeks to collect 241,153 signatures necessary to place it on the November ballot.   

Yesterday the Washington state auditor’s office released its performance audit of K-12 school spending by all 295 school districts across Washington state. The audit examined investment in classroom instruction and in non-instructional activities, such as food, transportation, facility management and other support functions.  

This morning a friend sent me an

Melissa Westbrook, a Seattle school blogger, is spreading disinformation about Washington state’s education reform environment.  In a May 3rd article on a Washington Post blog with a bias against charter public schools, Ms. Westbrook pronounced that Washington State has deliberately said “no” to charter public schools and other reforms.  Ms.