Washington state's low-ranking application for federal Race to the Top grant funds was a mishmash of platitudes and promises, AWB President Don Brunell writes in his weekly column.
"But chief among our shortcomings was a lack of support for reforms from the teachers unions and our anti-charter schools law," Brunell writes.
Charter schools are a major focus of the Obama administration's education reforms, and they are producing impressive results in places such as Washington, D.C., where 40 percent of the students attend one, and New Orleans, where nearly 70 percent of children attend a charter school.
In the Puget Sound region, a couple of schools have taken hesitant steps toward specialization -- Aviation High School in the Highline district and Federal Way's Todd Beamer High School. They suggest an appetite for creative reforms, but their ability to innovate is limited.
"However, with charter schools, parents and teachers across our state could create schools that fit the needs of their community," Brunell writes.
