State House Democrats are so beholden to the campaign money from the Washington Education Association (WEA) that they will not work to save the voter-approved public charter schools in our state. In fact, many Democrats have reacted with increasing hostility toward public charter schools and their advocates.
Who could forget state Rep. Gerry Pollet bragging that he used the opportunity of charter school students asking lawmakers to save their schools to teach them about their “privilege”? Apparently, it didn’t seem to occur to him that most of the children came from underprivileged communities.
But, where Pollet revealed himself to be willfully ignorant toward the sorry state of education in underprivileged communities, a fellow Democrat recently revealed herself disturbingly apathetic about the plight of failing public schools.
Seattle Democrat Rep. Noel Frame reportedly told a concerned mother who was petitioning her to support keeping her child’s charter school open (Rainer Prep in Seattle) that “some students simply lose when it comes to public schools” and that perhaps she should “consider private school.”
Here is a screen shot of the mother tweeting about the incident:
As Shift has pointed out, it is due to the prospect of losing money and power that the WEA has done everything in its power to destroy public charter schools. And, it’s due to the prospect of losing money and power offered by the supporting the WEA that Democrats like Frame oppose public charter schools with almost unbelievable indifference toward the reality faced by working families.
ALL kids simply lose when Democrats are in charge of their education. The WEA? They win big when Democrats are in charge of public education.