The Washington House of Representatives Education Committee held a hearing yesterday on the proposed charter school bill, HB2295. As I mentioned yesterday, the current version of the bill is weaker than last year's bill, but it is an important step forward and worthy of everyone's support. The Education Excellence Coalition, which testified for the bill, e-mailed an update about yesterday's hearing. Some highlights:
for the first time, the Association of Washington School Principals (AWSP) had endorsed a charter school bill, specificallly, HB 2295. The audible gasps from charter opponents and applause from charter supporters underlined the importance of the announcement. The "Education Establishment" (school boards, school administrators, school unions) no longer stood unified in opposition to charter schools.A representative from the KIPP foundation, which operates a number of successful charter schools around the country also testified:
KIPP's representative praised charter school laws and told the legislators: "If you pass it [a charter school law], KIPP will come" [to Washington state].A lot of kids in this state could benefit from attending a KIPP school.
The House Education Committee plans to vote on the bill this afternoon. A list of the committee members is here. If your own representative sits on the committe, please call AND email them to express your support for the charter school bill.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at January 22, 2004 09:57 AM