Results in key education races
Here are the results of some of the important races around the country that matter to public education:1) Florida voters rejected a bid to allow the use of state funds to go to religious institutions, including religious schools. Had it passed, a statewide voucher program would have been likely.
2) In Georgia and Washington, it appears that voters approved measures to permit charter schools to open. In both races, outside money was important. In Washington, Bill Gates gave more than $3 million and billionaires who don’t live in the state (Gates does) donated big money too. Washington voters had rejected such a measure three times earlier but appears to have approved it by just a few percentage points.
3) Idaho voters appear to have overturned the “Luna laws,” three school reform laws named for state schools Superintendent Tom Luna who made them the centerpiece of his agenda. Voters rejected his plan to require high school students to take two online courses and for the state to spend $180 million to lease laptops to make this happen. They also rejected merit pay for teachers that is linked to student standardized test scores and they opposed limits on the collective bargaining rights for teachers.
4) In Indiana, voters ousted Superintendent Tony Bennett, who has pushed an aggressiveagenda of privatization of public education, including charters and vouchers. They