(Updated) "Quick fixes from education “reformers” will fail our students"

UPDATE: Here's the money quote...

Since 1991, per-pupil funding for K-12 education has slipped from 17th to 31st in the nation. In terms of state personal income, we’ve dropped from 24th to 45th in spending. We’ve gotten wealthier, but we’ve also become stingier.

John Burbank (Real Change):

There's an easier way to improve Washington schools: Fund them--“Reform” is usually considered a good thing, but some education advocates talk as if a handful of charter schools and firing teachers based on their students’ test scores are the magic bullets that will “fix” our schools.

Their efforts may be well intentioned, but they don’t actually address the real problems. MORE...

WA: "State Democratic Party chairman enters ed reform debate"

Photo by dinazina.

Andrew Garber (Seattle Times):

Pelz's letter comes after a back and forth battle being waged on the blogs by venture capitalist Nick Hanauer, a prominent Democrat donor, and Mary Lindquist, president of the Washington Education Association, the state's largest teachers union.

Hanauer argues the state is dragging its feet on education reforms and says the WEA is standing in the way. Lindquist disagrees, writing in one letter: "We do not have the luxury of theorizing from behind locked doors of high rise office buildings in downtown Seattle. We work with students every day."

Pelz said his views on the matter are largely driven by watching what his wife, a school teacher, goes through. MORE...