Gregoire tells WEA bill ready to be signed
Gov. Christine Gregoire greeted some of her strongest supporters in Spokane on Thursday night and announced her plans to sign a bill Monday that could lead to an overhaul of how the state allocates money for education.
Gregoire was in town for a convention of the Washington Education Association.
The bill initiates a $1.7 million study of how the state pays for public education, including preschool, K-12 and higher education. Pro-education organizations like the WEA have pushed for this kind of study for years.
Originally, the bill was sponsored as a $500,000 study of the 28-year-old funding system that was put into place in 1977, when disco was king and the first “Star Wars” movie was released. Administrators say it doesn’t take into account the current education climate of high-tech classrooms, growing special-education costs, security concerns and high-stakes testing.
In Washington, the state provides money to each district based on formulas that calculate full-time student enrollment, the range of teacher experience and special-needs populations such as special education.
Gregoire received consistent applause for talking about areas of increased funding she secured through the Legislature, including $25 million for to help struggling high school students. She pushed a partial reinstatement of an estate tax and increases in “sin taxes” on cigarettes and alcohol to fund an initiative to reduce class sizes.
The WEA endorsed Gregoire during the 2004 election, and the nearly 1,200 people in the Spokane Convention Center gave her a standing ovation before she began speaking.
“Had I been able to find a job (with her teaching certificate from the University of Washington), I might be here tonight, sitting among you,” Gregoire said. “I’m having a lot more fun sitting among you as governor of the state of Washington.”
Following Gregoire at the podium was David Berliner, an education researcher who contends that high-stakes tests – like the Washington Assessment of Student Learning – tempt an education system to train students rather then educate them, which then causes scores to drop on national tests such as the SAT.
“The scores we get from high-stakes tests cannot be trusted,” Berliner said. “They are corrupted and distorted.”
He urged WEA members to protest the use of tests like the WASL, which high school students must pass to graduate, starting with the class of 2008.
After Berliner, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, Terry Bergeson appeared on stage to announce a teacher award and was subjected to a single heckler who made a quick disparaging comment about the WASL. The room of more than 1,000 people groaned their disapproval of the outburst.
Bergeson said she disagreed with much of what Berliner said, but added that she wasn’t there to debate his views.
She said that SAT and ACT state scores have risen and that the number of advanced-placement courses available to high school students have quadrupled.
“We have a number of wonderful things happening in the state of Washington,” Bergeson said.