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Report from Olympia | September 11, 2015
Dear
Friends and Neighbors,
The only debate between then-challenger Ronald Reagan and
incumbent President Jimmy Carter prior to the 1980 presidential election
produced one of the lines for which President Reagan is still remembered. “There you go again,” he said to Carter
(before explaining that Carter’s promotion of national health insurance
misrepresented Reagan’s position on Medicare).
Last week the state Supreme Court released its second
controversial education-related ruling in less than a month. While this latest
ruling is flawed in a different way, it’s still a “There they go again” situation. Please read on for the details and
why there is a new call for lawmakers to return to the Capitol – barely two
months after the Legislature adjourned for the year.
If there is anything I can do for you, or if you have
questions about anything in this e-newsletter, please give me a call, send me
an e-mail or come and meet with me. My 4th Legislative District office is in
Suite 305 at 11707 East Sprague Avenue, in the Spokane Valley City Hall
building. The phone number is 921-2460.
It’s my privilege to serve you in our state Senate.
Best Regards,
Senator
Mike Padden
 Last week Representative McCaslin and I visited the Yoke renovation project, joined by CV Superintendent Ben Small (left) and Deputy Superintendent Jay Rowell (right).
A former
Yoke’s market is being transformed by the Central Valley School District into
the new home of Mica Peak High School, formerly known as Barker Alternative School.
Mica Peak High School offers a unique educational choice for students
seeking an alternative high school experience. Its highly qualified
teachers and staff focus on each student as an individual, providing a
supportive environment for student achievement.
According to news reports, district leaders announced the name change at a Sept. 3 meeting before about 200 Barker students, teachers and administrators in front of its new location.
The new facility will serve 600 students following completion of the Yokes renovation.
In a 6-3 decision announced
this past Friday, on the eve of the new school year for many students and
families, the state Supreme Court threw out the charter-school law passed by
voters in 2012.
A majority of justices felt that charter schools steal funding from traditional schools –
“common” schools, to use the state constitution’s language – and are not
themselves common schools. The Court claims the charter schools are not sufficiently accountable to
local voters.
The lawsuit had been filed in King County, and in late 2013
a judge there ruled portions of the law were unconstitutional, but left the law
partly intact. That decision was raised to the high court for its review,
resulting in the Sept. 4 ruling.
Perhaps the only thing worse than the reasoning in the
majority opinion was the timing. There was no reason to think a decision in
this case was imminent, yet it was announced after 4 p.m. on the Friday before
Labor Day. The justices had to know what that would mean for charter-school
students who expected to be in class this week and those who had already started. Could they not have issued the
decision a week or two sooner? That would have been kinder not only to students
and their families but to the public schools that would need to find seats for
children if the charter schools closed.
This editorial
in The Seattle Times put it
succinctly:
“The
timing of the ruling — about 11 months after hearing arguments and after
charter school classes commenced — was perplexing, but its repercussions are
serious. More than 1,200 students are enrolled in the state’s nine charter
schools, eight of which are starting their first year. In 2012, voters approved
Initiative 1240 to authorize publicly funded charter schools that give higher
priority to serving at-risk kids. Charters have greater flexibility to respond
to students’ needs, something the traditional system does not provide or
encourage enough of.”
As charter schools are a national topic, the Wall Street Journal also weighed in with
an editorial
headlined “The Judges Who Stole School Choice.”
Private funding has been lined up to take the public-funding
question off the table and keep the charter schools open. In the meantime,
there are already emails coming to my office, asking me to call on the governor
to bring the Legislature back for a special legislative session to address
this.
Schools like Barker Alternative (see story above)
and multi-district skills centers such as our excellent Spokane Valley Tech
seem to be viewed with favor because they respond to the varying needs of
students. So why are charter schools under fire?
RALLY IN SUPPORT OF CHARTER SCHOOLS
At 4 p.m. today a rally in support of charters is scheduled at
Pride Prep, 811 E. Sprague Ave. Pride Prep and Spokane International are the area’s charter
schools.
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 Click the image above to watch TVW video.
I was one of eight legislators from around the state joining
Lt. Gov. Brad Owen for a Sept. 2 meeting at Spokane’s Memorial Veterans Arena,
where we discussed the economic benefit of local sporting events. The Wood Bat
Classic tournament, the annual American Legion baseball tournament I have directed,
was among the events mentioned as being economically significant in our area. Click
here to view the
discussion, carried on TVW. Testimony from Eric Sawyer, the President and CEO of the Spokane Sports Commission, starts at the 1:40:22 mark. You can also watch testimony from Bobby Brett, a managing partner of the Spokane Indians and Spokane Chiefs, by going to the 2:36:46 mark in the video.
Technology,
especially online technology, has changed the nature of sex trafficking, and
Washington legislators have kept pace with new laws aimed at this scourge. A
prime example is the website Backpage.com – which the Legislature targeted in
2012 when we unanimously approved legislation with new penalties for posting sex ads featuring minor children.
The major media
company behind Backpage.com prevailed in a federal lawsuit against the state,
rendering our law invalid. However, the state Supreme Court ruled this past
week that a lawsuit brought by three young women who were sold for sex on
Backpage.com can proceed against the company.
According to a statement by the attorney general’s office, the three underage plaintiffs allege
that Backpage.com features paid advertising for prostitutes and children forced
into prostitution and “materially contributed to at least some of the content
that was posted, effectively helping promote victimization of children.”
However the lawsuit turns out, I am pleased that it is moving forward. This is good news for those
of us who have worked through the Senate Law and Justice Committee and
elsewhere in the Legislature to strengthen the state’s already-substantial
anti-trafficking laws, to the point that Washington in 2013 earned an “A” grade
from Vancouver-based Shared Hope International and a perfect score from the
Polaris Project. I’ve said it before: The people of our state, especially young
girls, deserve whatever protection we can give them from those who view humans
as a commodity.
If you would like to sit down for some one-on-one
conversation about issues and concerns that are (or should go) before the
Legislature, I’ll be at Forza Coffee on Sullivan Road in Spokane Valley from 5
to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 30. Because of seating limitations it works best
if you phone my legislative office (921-2460) and set up a specific time. I started
meeting with constituents at area coffee shops a couple of years ago, and it’s
been particularly popular with folks who might not feel comfortable standing up
at a traditional town-hall meeting to ask questions and raise issues.
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