Seattle schools are in crisis. There is a $35 million deficit (being successfully closed, apparently) and the superintendent who created the deficit was thrown out on his ear and yet to be replaced. Many of the local schools have earned a "No Child Left Behind" failing grade. My family moved to Seattle because it is one of the few big cities that still has a few good public schools. I want that to still be the case when my son David is ready to start school in a few years. I would like to say get rid of the bums who were asleep at their desks while the superintendent ran up the deficit. Unfortunately, most of their challengers seem to be even worse.

I get to vote only in District 2, where the race is between incumbent Steve Brown and challenger Darlene Flynn. Flynn is endorsed by just about everybody in town, including groups that are normally at odds, so she must be some kind of a white knight. Either that, or she's done a good job at fooling somebody, we just don't know whom. The biggest red flag is the endorsement by the Seattle Education Association. The schools exist to serve public school children and their families, using the community's resources wisely. Teachers should be supported as professionals and valued employees, but the relationship between the teachers' union and the school board is inherently adversarial. Looking to the teachers' union for school board endorsements is like asking France and Saudi Arabia to help pick undersecretaries for the U.S. State Department. I will not vote for a school board candidate who accepts a teacher union endorsement. If you are running for school board and you do not understand who you work for and that accepting teacher union support is a fundamental conflict of interest, then you should not be in charge of the school system.

There are four open spots on the school board. The following table shows who is endorsing whom. The candidate that the lunatic left is most excited about this season is Brita Butler-Wall. She is also the one most likely to inflict long-lasting damage on the school system. A barking mad Green Party activist, her priorities are to prevent high school students from (a) drinking chocolate milk and (b) joining the military. The Seattle P-I applauds her as "an outspoken activist on school commercialism" and the Stranger calls her a "mature realist". Enough said. The other favorite liberal candidate is Theresa Cardamone, who is best known as the lady who

has delighted some observers at School Board meetings and appalled others by her performances with her young daughter of Broadway show tunes rewritten to lampoon [former Superintendent] Olchefske and the board.