Local News

A bipartisan group of legislators today introduced a bill aimed at raising the quality of early-learning programs in Washington state.   For details, see the entry on our Education Lab blog.

Olu Thomas, in third place in the three-way race for the District 5 seat on the Seattle School Board,  has endorsed the frontrunner, Stephan Blanford. In a prepared release, Thomas said Blanford has the best potential to represent the interest of the students in District 5, which includes the Central Area, Capitol Hill and parts of downtown Seattle. Blanford thanked Thomas, saying that…

The results in the two contested races for Seattle School Board didn’t change much after Wednesday’s vote tally. After Tuesday night’s count, it was clear that Suzanne Dale Estey and Sue Peters would advance to the general election in District 4, which covers Queen Anne, Magnolia and part of Ballard.  Dale Estey still has about 48 percent…

In this year’s closest race for Seattle School Board, Suzanne Dale Estey and Sue Peters were leading in Tuesday’s returns, setting up what likely will continue to be a spirited campaign between the two candidates. Dale Estey, a government-relations and public-affairs consultant, had nearly 48 percent of the votes counted Tuesday.  Peters, a freelance writer and education activist, was…

In the races for Seattle School board, an independent group that’s raised $32,750 has sent out a negative advertisement targeting candidate Sue Peters and promoting one of her two opponents, Suzanne Dale Estey. The group, which calls itself Great Seattle Schools, declared that Dale Estey is the “candidate for change” while Peters would offer “more of…

A candidate’s views on homosexuality have surfaced in her race for the Seattle School Board, based on a letter she wrote last year to the late Cheryl Chow, a longtime educator who served on the board and the Seattle City Council. The candidate, LaCrese Green, is running for the open seat in District…

Randy Dorn, Washington State’s top schools official,  is asking state legislative leaders to amend the state’s new charter school law so that his office supervises the new schools. Dorn has repeatedly said he thinks the law, which voters passed in November, violates Washington’s constitution because it calls for the creation of a new, appointed charter school commission that would authorize and…

The state’s largest teachers union is exploring how it might help challenge the charter-school law that narrowly passed last November.  The union’s board of directors has committed to help fund a lawsuit, although it is not yet clear who would file it, when it would be filed, or exactly what form the challenge would take. Rich Wood, the union’s spokesman, said…

As the election nears, the campaign to bring charter schools to Washington state reported another $1.5 million in donations from Paul Allen, founder of Vulcan, Inc. and co-founder of Microsoft.  Allen has been a major supporter of past charter-school campaigns, too, along with his fellow Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. With $1.6 million in total in donations,…

The campaign to bring charter schools to Washington state received two big donations last week — $2 million from Bill Gates and $1.1 million from Alice Walton, daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. Another $500,000 came from two New York residents, one of whom is the managing director of De Shaw and Co., a global investment and…