Education

The good news in this week's new Washington state revenue forecast has drawn the attention of everyone who wants some money for their department or program.

But in a statement put out by Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn, Dorn says the state Constitution and the Supreme Court give Washington only one choice: pay for education first.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – The Washington state senate has approved a new four-tier teacher evaluation system. The bill that passed Tuesday also creates a mechanism for firing under-performing teachers who don't improve.

School kids are graded A through F. But not teachers in Washington. For the most part they're still evaluated on a pass-fail system. But that's changing.

Several Washington school districts have been piloting a new four-tier teacher rating system. And now the Washington senate has approved legislation that would require all districts to adopt a one-through-four rating for classroom teachers and principals in time for the 2015 school year.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Forty one states allow charter schools. But not Washington. Opponents in the legislature recently killed a bipartisan proposal to allow a limited number of under-performing schools to convert. But supporters of the idea haven't given up.

For the legislature it was high drama. A stand-off in the Senate Education Committee. A coalition of five Republicans and two Democrats had the votes to advance the charter school bill.

But longtime chairwoman Senator Rosemary McAuliffe, a Democrat, wouldn't allow a vote. She explained her opposition to charter schools on TVW's "Inside Olympia" program.

Despite signs that the state economy is improving, finding money to send children to college is still becoming more difficult.

More students received financial aid last year, but even more families aren't getting the help they need, according to a new report from the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board.

An African-American man who was bullied when he was a student in Aberdeen has won a major settlement from the school district. Russell Dickerson III sued the district in federal court for not stopping his classmates from harassing him throughout junior high and high school. 

With life returning to normal across much of Puget Sound, at least 24,000 homes were still without power as of 11 o'clock this morning. Puget Sound Energy has the largest number of outages and predicts it will have nearly all its customers restored by Wednesday evening.

The clean-up job is still daunting, and it's affecting some schools and college campuses.

All Seattle schools will be closed on Wednesday, according to Schoolreport.org. Evening activities are also canceled.

The University of Washington says it will have more room for in-state students in this fall's freshman class.

This gift for the class of 2012 comes from the Legislature and the fact that UW has received fewer applications from freshmen hopefuls.

Education researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have a message for the citizens of Washington state. They want them to know that the state government is failing to meet its responsibility to provide enough opportunities for a college education in Washington.

We've heard a lot of stories lately about the struggles of young, unemployed people with college degrees. A Washington State agency says the reason for that is a lot of students are choosing the wrong majors for this economy.

If they spent less time and money on school, they might have an easier time getting a job and make more money, at least in the short term.