Before we go any further, I want us all to understanding something very, very important: Charter schools are PUBLIC SCHOOLS. They're not private schools, they're not Christian schools, they're not Catholic parochial schools, they're not religious schools; they...are...PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Designed to encourage and enhance better student learning and educational performance WITH PUBLIC MONEY.
And yet EVEN THAT is too much of an affront to "social justice" and "equality" for the
And did I mentioned that THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR IS ABOUT TO BEGIN?:
The Washington Supreme Court ruled Friday that the State's voter-approved charter-school law is unconstitutional, throwing the new school year into chaos for about 1,200 pupils enrolled in the system.
In a 6-3 ruling, the high court said charter schools do not qualify as "common" schools under Washington's Constitution and cannot receive public funding intended for those traditional public schools.
Look, I know that socialized education is in the Washington State constitution. I get that. It shouldn't be, Article IX ought to be repealed in its entirety, but as rock-ribbedly principled a conservative as I am, I am also a realist - which really, really sucks these days, by the way, in just about every sense imaginable - and I know that the "Overton Window" will never open wide enough for the privatization solution that would actually fix our education problems, in this State and in the country as a whole. Again, I get that.
But spiking a voter-approved initiative expressly intended and designed to improve public education because it doesn't "qualify as common"? Could there be a more overt, egregious embrace, defense, and forcible imposition of educational mediocrity and failure than this?
Not that the SCAW gives a big, steaming shit:
The decision, which came nearly a year after oral arguments in the case and just after eight new charter schools opened, did not specify what will happen to the schools or the students who attend them. Instead, the justices sent the case back to King County Superior Court "for an appropriate order."
"Our inquiry is not concerned with the merits or demerits of charter schools," Chief Justice Barbara Madsen wrote for the majority. "Whether charter schools would enhance our State's public school system or appropriately address perceived shortcomings of that system are issues for the legislature and the voters. The issue for this court is what are the requirements of the constitution." [emphases added]
Give me a minute here to prepare myself. Clear my throat <ahem>. Good. Take a big breath <GAAAAAAASP>. Good. Okay, then, I think I'm ready. Here goes. THE LEGISLATURE AND THE VOTERS DID "ADDRESS PERCEIVED SHORTCOMINGS OF THAT SYSTEM"!!! That's what you dumbasses just threw out as being "unconstitutional"!!!
You know, I don't think the legislature and the voters and the sponsors of Initiative 1240 - aggregately, several million Washingtonians - would have gone to all the trouble of trying to improve public education via a charter school system - akin to putting lipstick on a pig, admittedly, but it's damn sure better than nothing - if they believed that it was "unconstitutional", like they were all trying to put something over on Barbara F'ing Madsen and her five fellow-travelers. Why would they? They're working within the PUBLIC school system.
And thus we see the leftwingnut motivation, stripped bucky-tail nekkid in all its fetid, rancid glory. Washington school children are NOT SUPPOSED TO BE EDUCATED. They're SUPPOSED TO pass through the public school system like fecal matter. stupid, ignorant, and indoctrinated, with a diploma that isn't even worth using as single-ply bathroom tissue, qualified for nothing but sitting around watching "reality television," covering their bodies in stomach-turningly ugly tattoos, manning the barricades of "Occupy" protests, and swooningly waving placards while chanting "OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA!".
Or maybe working at the VA. That would explain a lot.
If you think my reaction to this travesty in substance and timing is sulfuric, you ain't seen nothing yet:
Joshua Halsey, head of the state Charter Schools Commission, lambasted the timing of the court's order - issued after 4 p.m. on the Friday before Labor Day weekend - and said the organization was evaluating whether it had any legal options. He was especially worried about the decision's effect on students and their families.
"The court had this case in front of them since last October and waiting until students were attending public charter schools to issue their ruling is unconscionable," he said. [emphasis added]
Yes, they did, Mr. Halsey. But Barbara Madsen and her five fellow-travelers don't give a big, steaming shit, remember?
Meanwhile, the winning plaintiffs - the usual suspects, in other words - were indulging in their usual obnoxious, in-our-faces endzone celebration:
The state teachers union, the League of Women Voters, El Centro de la Raza and the Washington Association of School Administrators were among the groups that challenged the law.
"The Supreme Court has affirmed what we've said all along - charter schools steal money from our existing classrooms, and voters have no say in how these charter schools spend taxpayer funding," Kim Mead, president of the Washington Education Association, said in a written statement.
No, charter schools redirect money to educational alternatives that come closer to actually succeeding. Which has now demonstrably been proven to NOT be your priority, or even on the priority list.
Oh, and I suppose it sucks money out of the Educratic Collective's pockets. The stopping of which IS your top priority. Always has been, always will be.
And "the children"? Who cares about their educational interests? They're just "fecal matter," right?
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