Who Has the Best Coverage of McCleary Decision? Boston
Or rather, the Boston Globe. I had many people send me links to this story that appeared in the Globe on Saturday, Nov. 21st. It's part of their "Divided Nation" series and I hope to read more of the articles ( they cover a number of topics, not just public education.)
Here was a self-described progressive state with a Democratic governor and House, an electorate that last year voted to improve school funding, and many cash-flush corporations famished for qualified graduates. If a solution to gridlock couldn’t be found here, how could other states — or the other Washington, the nation’s capital — break out of their political stalemates?
The stats?
But the avalanche of data showing the impact of the state’s failure to fully fund education could not be ignored. Washington has one of the nation’s worst pupil-to-teacher ratios. It ranks 46th in percentage of high school graduates who go directly to college. (Only 48.3 percent do so, compared with 73.2 percent in Massachusetts, which ranks third.) And Washington ranks 40thin funding per pupil, at $9,436.I offer that Washington State ranks about 8th from the bottom (tied with Florida at 76% with the high being Iowa the high at 90%) for high school graduation despite the slow but steady ticking upward of the overall national rate.
As well, Washington state tends to rank in the middle or higher on other Seattle Schools Community Forum: Who Has the Best Coverage of McCleary Decision? Boston: