Legislators Sold Out Our Kids and Teachers to Federal VAM Scam Blackmail for Ten Dollars Per Child

Legislators Sold Out Our Kids and Teachers to Federal VAM Scam Blackmail for Ten Dollars Per Child:

Legislators Sold Out Our Kids and Teachers to Federal VAM Scam Blackmail for Ten Dollars Per Child

On March 11, 2015, by a vote of 26 to 23, the Washington State Senate passed Senate Bill 5748, which requires student test scores to be used as a part of evaluating teachers.
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5748&year=2015

Numerous studies have shown that this crazy idea, known as the VAM Scam, is no more reliable than a coin toss. Teachers who are ranked as the best by the VAM scam one year are likely to be ranked as the worst teachers the next year. The VAM scam harms teachers by tying their jobs to unreliable test scores and it harms students by increasing pressure on them to pass meaningless drill and kill tests just to save the jobs of their teachers. The American Statistical Association has concluded that value-added metrics (the VAM scam) do not measure teacher effectiveness and that using test scores to fire teachers is unreliable. Using test scores in evaluations is unfair to teachers working with lower-income families. Student test scores on high stakes high failure rate tests such as SBAC are not an accurate measure of learning and can vary dramatically. 
http://www.amstat.org/policy/pdfs/ASA_VAM_Statement.pdf

For more on the drawbacks of the VAM scam, see this article:
http://weaponsofmassdeception.org/5-teach-for-awhile-fake-teachers/5-3-vam-scam-firing-teachers-based-on-student-test-scores

President of the Washington Education Association, Kim Mead said this about the vote: 
“Our kids deserve better. We deserve better. Frankly, I’m ashamed of the senators who voted for this misguided policy. They sold out our students”
http://ourvoicewashingtonea.org/senate-democrats-pass-bill-to-link-student-test-scores-to-teacher-evaluations/

Here is the vote count on SB 5748 (with the Democrats in Bold): Total: 26-23. 

Voting Yes were 19 Republicans and 7 Democrats: Senator Bailey, Baumgartner, Becker, Benton, Braun, Cleveland, Dammeier, Ericksen, Fain,Frockt, Habib, Hewitt, Hill, Hobbs, Honeyford, King, Kohl-Welles, Litzow, Miloscia, Mullet, O’Ban, Parlette, Pedersen, Rivers, Schoesler, Warnick

Voting No were 6 Republicans and 17 Democrats : Senator Angel, Billig, Brown, Chase, Conway, Dansel, Darneille, Fraser, Hargrove, Hasegawa, Hatfield, Jayapal, Keiser, Liias, McAuliffe, McCoy, Nelson, Padden, Pearson, Ranker, Roach, Rolfes, Sheldon

Had only 2 more Senators voted No, the bill would have been defeated. 

Follow the Money
Speaking in favor of this bill at the Public Hearing on February 10, 2015 were members of four groups who have received millions of dollars from Bill Gates, the “man behind the curtain” who is the chief promoter of the VAM scam. These groups were Stand for Children (SFC), the League of Education Voters (LEV), Teachers United (TU) and the Washington State Board of Education (WSBOD). 
http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2015-16/Pdf/Bill%20Reports/Senate/5748-S.E%20SBR%20APS%2015.pdf

Stand for Children received 11 grants totaling more than $12 million. Here are just a few: 

The League of Education Voters received 15 grants totaling more than 6 million. Here are just a few: 

Teachers United received 2 grants totaling nearly one million dollars: 

The Washington State Board of Education received 2 grants totaling more than one million dollars:

In short, Bill Gates paid more than $20 million directly to the four groups who spoke in favor of his VAM scam bill on February 10 2015. In addition to direct funding from the Gates Foundation, all four of these groups have received millions of dollars in hidden indirect funding from Bill Gates and his hundreds of fake groups. 

Sadly, the Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Randy Dorn, also spoke in favor of this toxic bill. On January 26, 2015, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), announced that Randy Dorn had been elected to their Board of DirectorsLegislators Sold Out Our Kids and Teachers to Federal VAM Scam Blackmail for Ten Dollars Per Child: