This week Ember Reichgott Junge, the Democratic Minnesota state senator who wrote the nation's first charter school bill, visited Seattle to share her charter school knowledge and experience. TVW's Anita Kissee conducts an informative interview of the Senator, which I've posted below.

Senator Reichgott Junge said that charter schools will give Washington children new, exciting learning opportunities.  She also said charter schools will benefit teachers, too, because these schools give teachers new opportunities to try creative approaches with their students.    

Senator Reichgott Junge has also written a book about the pioneering charter school story, Zero Chance of Passage; The Pioneering Charter School Story. In her book, Reichgott Junge describes the history of the charter school idea---how it first appeared in a 1974 paper written by Ray Budde, a school of education professor and a former school principal. She writes: