Seattle is becoming well known for strikes that deny children access to public education.  District officials are telling families to prepare for a possible school bus drivers strike, which would prevent 12,000 children from getting to school.

Federal data show a child’s public education is more likely to be disrupted by a strike in Washington than in any other state.  Recent disruptions in Seattle include:

  -  May  2017 – the SEA teacher union votes to strike on same day students are scheduled to take AP testing.

-  September 2015 – executives at the teacher union stage the nation’s largest illegal strike, closing Seattle’s 98 public schools to 53,000 children.

-  May 2015 – union executives launch a series of rolling one-day strikes that close schools across the state.

-  September 2013 – Seattle teacher union executives threaten strike action near Labor Day weekend, before the scheduled first day of school.

Meanwhile, many teachers and other school District employees send their children to private schools, so their access to education remains uninterrupted.  Repeated union controversies may explain why Seattle has more private schools (119) than public ones (98), and why District officials say they are seeing lower than expected enrollment.

District officials are being much tougher on the school bus drivers union, threatening fines and legal action, than they are on the WEA teachers union.  That is because executives at the WEA union are vastly more powerful, resulting in kid-glove treatment from the District.

WEA union officials take $36.5 million a year in mandatory dues, and make it clear that any teacher who does not pay will be fired.  Each teacher must pay about $1,000 a year.  The WEA union is a major player in political campaigns and runs one of the largest lobby operations in the state capitol.  No wonder school officials are intimidated.

Many parents avoid conflict by choosing alternatives, like private school, online education or a public charter school.  Non-controversial alternatives are so popular that Seattle has one of the highest private school attendance rates (30%) in the country, and two new charter schools are opening in the city.

Why should choice only be available to the wealthy or families that win a charter school lottery?  Why can’t all children have a chance to attend school without politics, strikes or contention among the adults?

Parents in 30 states and the District of Columbia can access programs that provide public funding for school choice.  If families in Washington had school choice, the grown-ups could fight as much as they like, while the peaceful education of children continued without disruption.