It should be well known, at least after Shift’s reporting last week, how out of touch the Washington State Democrat platform is with our shared values. That said, just consider how much Washington Democrats’ hate public schools approved by the state’s voters, by opposing:
“Charter schools and the trigger mechanism allowing charter school takeover of the public school spaces…”
It should come as no surprise that Democrats have stated their opposition to charter schools so publicly. After all, this last legislative session, the majority of Democrats in Olympia did everything in their power to prevent a bill that would save public charter schools from passing the state Legislature.
As for our green governor, Jay Inslee dragged his feet over whether to sign the bill into law or veto it. In the end, he chose to do nothing — a rather cowardly act of surrender to his million-dollar donors at the Washington Education Association (WEA).
Of course, the Democrats’ hostility toward voter-approved charter schools has a lot to do with their extreme desire to please the union bosses at the WEA, who direct millions not just to Inslee, but also to Democrat campaigns across the state.
As Shift pointed out, the fact that Democrats oppose charter schools reveals their special interests-driven agenda. Public charter schools offer underprivileged students an advantage they otherwise would not have in a system controlled by the WEA. Charter schools that have opened in our state report positive gains for students reflected in test scores.
Unfortunately, Democrats appear more concerned with the prospect of losing money (for the WEA via forced union dues and for Democrats via loss of campaign funding) than with helping children succeed.
Democrats claim that they are concerned with K-12 education. However, given the evidence, if that is truly the case, they would support public charter schools rather than continually submit to the WEA’s agenda.
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