Signature gatherers at Pride claimed they would "increase" funding to public schools while building schools for special needs students. The funding line is funny, considering that they were also circulating 2 Eyman initiatives and, for one circulator, they had what appeared to be a Pidgeon petition hiding in their stack.

@1, were the signature gathers looking oddly like blonde housewives from Clyde Hill? I have to ask since I saw one of the signature gather's at the Target in Woodinville last week nicely decked out in a cute Burberry outfit asking me to sign the petition and save our schools.

@2: a couple did! And some circulators wore pride parade tees and shadowed parade organizers to look legit.

Yikes, that first "conversion" clause should freak people out. Bascially, a highly motivated person with a vendetta could legally do a "coup d' etat" for any number of crazy things.

I was surprised how many people seemed to be signing it at Pride ...

I was gathering signatures for I103, Seattle's Community Bill of Rights ... which I hope people will print out and sign http://www.i103.org

Charters, fine. Provided they have to address bullet #3 in exactly the same way as the public system--in other words, required by law to take ALL students. Profoundly mentally disabled and require a full-time instructional aid? You're in. Incapable of getting through the day without your diaper being changed? You're in. Language deficient and require daily speech therapy? You're in.

Let's see how they do with a level playing field.

And then there's THIS example of what can happen when charter schools & tuition vouchers attack.

@8 Yikes! I spent several years in an ACE school, and I can attest to the horrible lies spun in their materials. I had to re-learn a fair amount of history and science when I got into an honest educational environment.

What a load of nonsense. 41 other states already have nonprofit public charter schools, and some states have 20 years of experience with public charters. I-1240 is written to take the best of what works in other states and bring it to WA. It's written to ensure that our kids get only the highest performing charter schools - like KIPP and Rocket. Students and parents in Washington deserve to have the same educational choices as students and parents in 41 other states.

@11 Nice use of all the key words there: nonprofit -check! Public - check! Highest-performing - check! Educational choice - check! Too bad its all a crock.

You're right - 41 states do have charters and I come from one of those states. Charter schools have decimated the public school system. Schools are more segregated by race and class than ever before, and the public schools have seen their budgets cut drastically by the state as charters siphon off more and more money, and more public tax dollars go to private "non-profits" and into the pockets of out-of-state corporations and groups like KIPP and Rocket and Gulen. I would not wish that system on anyone.

Er, no, it's not written to "take the best of what works in other states" - for example, the parent trigger provision would make Washington the only state to allow a charter takeover of a school that is not even under-performing. Not only is there a parent trigger, there's a teacher trigger. With elementary schools only having about 20 teachers that's a tiny group for a charter organization to market to. No surprise teachers are already being flown out to charter school chains around the country.

If you want a "better" or as many people want RELIGIOUS school experience go private. Don't take the money away from every other kid, you'll get my support.

It's written to ensure that our kids get only the highest performing charter schools - like KIPP and Rocket. S

First of all, there are NO guarantees for ANY school. Second, could you cite the section and page where you believe the initiative is written to ensure "highest performing" charters will get in? Because I'm not seeing that and I would interested to read it. Third, you do know that if there are multiple charters authorized (over the 8 per year limit), ALL the charters go into a lottery? There would be no way to know if the highest performing ones would be picked.

Charter schools have been around for over 20 years and I can see that they can be highly profitable for charter school operators and the educational vendors. Not so much for all the kids. http://dianeravitch.net/2012/06/26/how-c…

Just who really is pushing charter schools? What's their agenda? Think before signing. Know that initiative signature gatherers are paid per signature and may well mislead you and tell you what you want to hear.
Washington voters thought independently on charter schools three times already, so I hope people look at this initiative with a judicial eye and first go home and do some research before signing ANYTHING.

Well, this thing isn't even on the ballot and it already has over $700K in the bank. And who did that come from? Pretty small group of people - Gates $200k, Bezos (and wife, the Amazon owners) $100k each, etc.

Not so grassroots or parent-driven.

Ideology and greed are driving this one.

Westello: almost 2 million in donations now, on the PDC website. 800,000 in a single donation from Gates.

Grassroots documentary by NY city public teachers and parents. https://vimeo.com/41994760

Good column. However, if anything, it just scratched the surface of all the many reasons to oppose this underhanded scam called "charters".

Funny how almost all of the money for this fraudulent "education" measure comes from the very wealthiest people in our society: mainly Eli Broad, Bill Gates and the Walton Family (which owns Walmart).

Billionaire Mike Bloomberg and many hedge fund millionaires and billionaires have contributed heavily as well.

And all of these mega-wealthy people have one other thing in common: NOT ONE of them sends their own children to a public school. Not one!

Their precious kids get to go to exclusive, elite, cloistered "academies" where there is no "teaching to the test"; classes of 18 or less; lots of music, art, drama and other "impractical" subjects, in addition to the very finest offerings in math, science and English.

Hypocrites. Liars. Puppet Masters.

All of these phony, Astroturf "educational" groups---from the odious "Stand For Children", to the "League of Education Voters", to "Students First", to the speciously labeled "'Democrats' for Education Reform"---get their money from these very same ultra-rich One Percenters.

They have big staffs. Slick websites. Smooth talking lobbyists in expensive suits. And LOTS of cash to legally bribe---eh, I mean, uh, "contribute to"---politicians from both major political parties. And almost every penny of it comes from a handful of billionaires.

As if they know better than the rest of us who are struggling just to maintain a middle class existence. Shameful.

There are some decent, well-intentioned people working at these Astroturf groups. But they are essentially functionaries---the hired help, as they are thought of by their funders---for this group of billionaires who want to impose their agenda on everyone else.

A writer recently described "education reform" as the "newest plaything" for the idle rich---people who get easily bored with life and go from one dilettante pursuit to another. We can only hope that they'll soon move on to their next "new plaything" and leave our schools alone.

Our public schools have their challenges---they ALWAYS have. But for those of us who work hard for a living, and want the best for our kids, the public schools must remain healthy, supported and open to all. They're not an "experiment" for some bored Daddy Warbucks. They are the vital lifeline for our families, our communities and our nation.

Vote NO on this Trojan Horse called "charters". For kids and adults alike. Thank you.

This was a thoughtful and informed read. I hope Ms. Alarcon reads it and reconsiders her position based on the evidence cited.

I am glad to see you guys calling out these paid posters here. I just started working against charters for 100 reasons. 100 million each year drained from or public schools for less that 1% of our children (the chosen few). I have had battles with charter INVESTORS who pay these people to fool voters again. Charters are good for their portfolios. This is our children's lives. Do we really want a few having control over what they learn and how they learn? LET'S FULLY FUND OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS LIKE OUR STATE SUPREME COURT HAS FINALLY MANDATED US TO DO (as we are 46th in funding as it is). NO on 1240! Volunteer against this. Not too late. www.peopleforpublicschools.org