Seattle's Loony Toons School Board

The Seattle Times issued a deservedly harsh rebuke today to our loony toons School Board:

The Seattle School Board is making a serious, rookie mistake by pursuing a resolution against charter schools.

It is not only distracting and time-consuming for board members to take an official stance on a matter outside their jurisdiction. The knee-jerk position is an affront to legislators and educators who have studied the issue for years and are crafting bipartisan legislation that aims to benefit some of the state's most disadvantaged students.

I would only add that the most egregious affront is not to legislators and educators, but to the children who are trapped in failing public schools.

I would also add that the problem is not merely a "rookie mistake" of the four newly elected board members. It's just one symptom of the board's pervasive lunacy. Indeed, two of the three veteran board members also oppose charter schools. (Kudos to Dick Lilly, the Board's sole remaining moderate, who declined to join his colleagues in opposition to charter schools). Furthermore, the new members' opposition to charter schools shouldn't be a surprise to anybody who follows them. Three of the new board members (Stewart, Butler-Wall and Flynn) went on the record opposing charter schools during their campaigns. (See statements here, here and here). The Times didn't report this during the campaign, nor did it report on many of the new boardmembers' other nutty positions. The Times even endorsed both Stewart and Flynn.

I'm pleased that the Times is taking the right stand today. Hopefully in the future it will do a better job vetting the next batch of loony school board candidates so they can't sneak into office without adequate scrutiny.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at December 21, 2003 11:41 AM