Seattle Schools Community Forum: Scare Tactics

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Scare Tactics:

Scare Tactics

by Melissa Westbrook

It's funny but that's what the Yes to 1240 side says constantly.  That people who point out the obvious outcomes of 1240 are using scare tactics.  Or "what are you scared of? It's just 40 schools."

Okay, so in real time, in real experience, here's what's happening in other states:

• number one on the hit parade is the state of Georgia where their charter ballot measure is about enshrining their charter commission into their constitution.  You'd think a state's constitution would be about questions for the ages but apparently not.  

What happened is they DID have a charter commission which then got ruled unconstitutional by their Supreme Court and so now there are some who feel, in order to keep charters going, they have to put it into their constitution.  The story here via Salon:

In March, the Georgia Department of Education released an in-depth report showing that students in the state’s charter schools perform worse than those in traditional schools. You might have thought such a conclusion would prompt lawmakers to at least pause on a constitutional amendment creating a new state agency