The Seattle Times editorial board is attempting to use the endorsement season to send a message to legislators on education. And that message is clear: “We hate teachers!”
5th LD House: Incumbent Rep. Chad Magendanz (R)
Magendanz’s campaign focuses on ways for the state to fulfill the state Supreme Court’s McCleary education-funding order… He is a clear choice over his two Democratic opponents, education activist David Spring and Colin Alexander, who lack Magendanz’s experience.
31st LD Senate: Cathy Dahlquist (R) over incumbent Senator Pam Roach (R)
Roach says she voted against a critically important teacher-evaluation bill this year because she was angered by her leadership’s push for the Dream Act. She refused in an editorial board meeting to say whether she supports the Washington Education Association’s costly Initiative 1351, which would require the hiring of thousands of additional teachers, even in upper grades where benefits of lower class size are unclear. Dahlquist takes the responsible position on these issues: yes for reform, no on the WEA’s unfunded mandate.
31st LD House: Drew Stokesbary (R) over Mike Sando (D)
Stokesbary’s consistent positions offer a contrast with Democrat Mike Sando, who appears conflicted. A schoolteacher and a member of the Enumclaw City Council, Sando draws inspiration and financial support from the Legislature’s moderate-Democrat faction. Yet as a local teachers’ union president, he supports the Washington Education Association’s budget-busting Initiative 1351, and he cannot suggest where to find the necessary billions. In contrast, Stokesbary deplores the measure and embraces education-reform measures.
33rd LD Senate: Incumbent Senator Karen Keiser (D)
In 2012, [Keiser] supported a bill that would have streamlined health-insurance offerings for teachers and might have saved them money — despite opposition from the Washington Education Association, which benefits from the current system. … While Keiser disappointingly opposed including student test scores in teacher evaluations , neither challenger has the civic résumé or the knowledge required to take on a lawmaker of her stature.
33rd LD House: Incumbent Rep. Mia Gregerson (D)
For instance, she told The Times’ editorial board she would have voted for a controversial bill mandating the use of test scores in teacher evaluations — if Democratic-party leaders had allowed it to come to the floor of the House — despite opposition from the state teachers’ union.
37th LD House: Daniel Bretzke (R) over incumbent Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos (D)
While Santos should be focused on the Legislature meeting its court-mandated obligations to fully fund education, she wants to make the challenge worse. She supports Initiative 1351, the teachers union-backed measure that requires class sizes across all grades to be reduced, the hiring of thousands more teachers and building of more classrooms. Yet, there is no funding mechanism in sight.
37th LD Senate: Pramila Jayapal (D)
Jayapal should strive for independence on issues that might not always appease the many liberal and labor groups that have endorsed her, including Fuse Washington, four separate SEIU unions and the Washington Education Association. On education, she must remember the Legislature’s top priority is to fix a broken system, not to prop up unfunded mandates.
1st LD House: Edward Barton (R) over incumbent Rep. Luis Moscoso (D)
On the critical issue of education, Barton is rightly skeptical of the state Supreme Court’s heavy-handed education-funding mandate, but advocates for additional funding through the so-called levy swap proposal, which has been advanced by some key House Democrats. But his independence contrasts with Moscoso, a two-term Democrat, who indicated he defers to House Democratic leadership on key education funding — the most fundamental issue facing the Legislature. Every elected official needs to be en pointe.
32nd LD Senate: Chris Eggen (D) over incumbent Senator Maralyn Chase (D)
[Eggen] is skeptical of the expense and mechanics of Initiative 1351, which would reduce classroom size with no revenue attached. He also understands the need for a workable role for student test scores in teacher evaluations and eligibility for federal funding.
And no, I’m not cherry-picking. Those are all nine legislative endorsements published so far, and the only one that doesn’t implicitly attack teachers, their union, and their interests is the Magendanz endorsement. But in case you’re wondering, yes, Magendanz opposes the WEA-backed class-size reducing I-1351, which is the litmus test of all litmus tests for the Seattle Times: “This seems like it is serving the adults in our education system,” said Magendanz on TVW. And by “adults,” he means “teachers.”
It is also worth noting that the editors have urged voters to toss out three of the five Democratic incumbents as punishment for supporting teachers—endorsing one Democratic and two Republican challengers. The only Republican incumbent they haven’t endorsed is bat-shit-crazy Senator Pam Roach—who refused to state a position on I-1351—and they endorsed another Republican in her stead.
So yes, legislative hopefuls, that was the editorial board’s secret phrase: “No on I-1351.” Congratulations to those of you who passed the test.
Re the 32nd District endorsement: Another reason for the Republican Times’ choice of Eggan over Chase is that Chase, throughout her legislative career, has generally run education-centric campaigns. Also, she’s a union member — OPEIU Local 8 — according to her legislative website biography, which apparently is a cardinal no-no in Frank Blethen’s mind.
Eggan, otoh, is a product of Shoreline’s slimy municipal politics. Maybe he’s okay, but I don’t trust anyone in Shoreline City Hall, including him. And while the Republican Times labels him a “Democrat,” and brushes off the official GOP candidate, I’m not sure just how much of a Democrat Eggan actually is. You can’t really tell from his involvement in municipal politics. Thre’s a risk he might be another Trojan horse.
All-in-all, this looks like another anti-teacher and anti-union endorsement from the old crank sitting behind the publisher’s desk at the Republican Times.
I’m surprised that the ST did not “…mention the degrading attacks on education in the name of “reform’ by the rich foundations (Broad, Gates, Walton, etc.). Their mode of bombarding schools with disruptive tactics all to gain the $$$$ involved in public education is flat ludicrous. What are rich folks with no knowledge of education doing is forcing the hand of schools in the U.S. Clue: follow the $$$$! And how can anyone explain the idiotic relationship between Arne Duncan and Jeb Bush?” –
See more at:
http://www.learningfirst.org/u.....i72QP.dpuf
In general, I do not relish the death of traditional journalism. However, when The Seattle Times finally bites the dust, it’s hard to see how Seattle won’t be better off for it.
I thought one of the major benefits touted of charter schools was more teachers?
Yep, here it is…
“Typically, charter schools have a smaller class size than traditional schools. Children perform better when classes are smaller. A classroom with forty children may be unmanageable, but a class with twenty children can get much more accomplished. There is more opportunity for learning in a smaller class than just for keeping order. ”
(via wingscharterschool.org)
“Jayapal should strive for independence on issues that might not always appease the many liberal and labor groups that have endorsed her”
Translation: She should immediately fuck over all the people who supported her election.
@3 i fear we’ve already seen it. it’s now little more than a zombie page or two of news copied off of KingTV plus some depressing editorial written from a ALEC-astroturfed/1%er point of view. even the Ad space is showing signs of deserting the ship.
Soon there will be nothing at all for local web progressives to react to beyond a Joel Connelly column (apologist for the Catholic church) or occasional Erica C Barnett when her vitriol out-distances her better nature. Of course there will always be local government … but that often gets a bit tedious to the usual reader.
o tempora o mores – if only Goldy and a few other stalwart souls could be handed the financial means for a weekly broadsheet to contemplate over on our iPadery-n-Kindles (advertise your shiny new marijuana spa/bar on horsesass.org early and often!)
Frank Blethen can always use his $150 million printing plant to publish Sears catalogs and phone books. Oops, er …
@6 Is it possible ST has more editorial writers than reporters? There doesn’t seem to be much news content anymore.
The Kochs are buying up ailing newspapers. If we really want madcap editorials to ponder, that’s always a possibility.
@8 Lately there hasn’t seemed to be much distinction between one and the other. Blethen’s even shuffled those few employees he has with any social conscience and the ability to write above a third-grade level into positions where their talents are wasted. Case in point: Nicole Brodeur, who’s previously written some pretty decent stuff about social inequities, has now been assigned to write a latter-day “society” column about which of our local swells are showing up to stuff Benjamins in the basket at which black-tie fundraisers.
I’ve wondered about the whole “names in bold” nonsense. Is it wishful thinking that Seattle has reached a New York level of rich people who only give to charity if they get their names in the paper?
Like others, I’m an old fart who likes newspapers and journalism but the Seattle Times really is pushing me to cancel my subscription. The local news coverage (real news, not house fires and traffic accidents) is so limited it’s only utility is to alert me to look elsewhere for detail. The Stranger does a better job and that’s not meant as high praise.
I thought that Nicole Brodeur was hired on to the ST as a scab. Is it really time, now, to praise her “talents”?
I dropped in on a 32 LD candidates’ forum and listened to Sen. Maralyn Chase and challengers Chris Eggen (D) and Robert Reedy (R).
I really don’t know why Eggen is running. His campaign pitch is that Sen. Chase doesn’t do anything in the legislature. I didn’t get a chance to ask him if he’d join the so-called “majority coalition” and vote with the Republicans, if elected. But I don’t trust him, partly because he’s a product of Shoreline’s seedy municipal politics.
Reedy is against a state income tax, so I asked him how he would reform the state tax system. He said let’s get rid of the B&O tax. Okay, I agree B&O is a bad tax, but what would he replace it with? His reply: A growing state economy would bring in more sales tax revenue. That’s not an original idea, it’s standard GOP talking points: Less taxes = more revenue. Mathematically, it doesn’t work. Maybe he realizes that, because he also would cut state spending. On what? The state has too many employees, he said. He didn’t specify which ones are superfluous. I don’t think he knows. From my brief discussion with him, I got the impression he doesn’t know much about state government. Nor does he seem interested in learning, because when I tried to explain the state budget to him, he walked away. He’s appears to be another clueless Republican locked into the preconceived idea that we have too much government, without knowing anything about the government we have. He’d never heard of the Gates Commission until I told him what it was. Even the Seattle Times couldn’t take him seriously.
I don’t think either of these challengers poses much of a threat to Sen. Chase, but she has to take them seriously, and she told me she does. That’s always a good idea. I expect her to cruise to re-election, though.