[“The Cost of Cutting Online Learning” by Diana Moore was originally published on GettingSmart.com.] State budgets have been hurting in a bad way. Across the country, legislatures continue to struggle to close deficits while still providing essential services. While cuts have been necessary, the wrong cuts can be devastating and ironically, very costly. On the chopping block time and again

Is social media—a low cost, high impact array of alternatives to mass media—the ultimate political equalizer, one that gives individuals and grass-roots organizers at least a fighting chance to affect public policy? Politics is its own type of warfare, a battle of ideas and between personalities, one in which words are the munitions and an array of media options comprise

This week the Innosight Institute released a groundbreaking report titled “Classifying K-12 Blended Learning.” While intended to clarify definitions and provide a common language for the education community, the report does much more. It illustrates the growth and prominence of blended learning (more than 80 programs were consulted in drafting this report). And it provides a crystal clear map of

Could Inslee Campaign’s Reliance on Transfusions of Party Cash Hurt Democrats Statewide? Reports filed with the State Public Disclosure Commission through April show Republican candidate for Washington State Governor Rob McKenna taking a thin lead over Democratic opponent Jay Inslee in total direct campaign contributions since the campaign began last June. The PDC reports filed by each campaign show $4.4

The Colorado Legacy Foundation produced a great short film that hits the nail on the head when it comes to what’s missing in public education, the possibilities for turning it around, and the mindset necessary to get us there. Using pithy, common sense questions, the film explores the faulty assumptions that drive public education and lead to the fact that,

Washington State voters have a refreshing opportunity this year, a chance to make a choice between two very different competing visions offered by the candidates running to become the next Governor. Specifically, on the issue of how to create jobs, Rob McKenna and Jay Inslee have laid out their plans to cure the state’s unemployment problem—a front and center problem

Survey of Top Execs Reveals Democratic States Not Perceived as Business Friendly, While Republican States Receive Good Marks According to an annual survey of 650 business leaders conducted by Chief Executive—a magazine for CEOs of U.S. companies—Washington State ranks 37th out of U.S. states as a place to do business, a ranking that saw the Evergreen State drop three places

In the 2011 legislative session, legislators tried to “save” money by reducing the Basic Education Allocation (BEA) for students enrolled in Alternative Learning Experience Programs. (For background on the issue and debate, read our coverage here, here, and here.) Online public schools fall into this category, and online students’ BEA was cut by 15 percent. Well, we’re starting to see

Washington State Attorney General and Republican candidate for governor Rob McKenna became the target of a lawsuit filed Thursday in King County Superior Court by a group of women with the support of Fuse Washington, a progressive group that has already endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Inslee. The suit claims that McKenna’s involvement in the multistate legal challenge to the

To paraphrase Dirty Harry: I know what you’re thinking. “Did lawmakers truly balance the budget and build in enough flexibility to deal with economic turmoil in Europe and an uncertain U.S. economy, or are we one forecast away from another special session?” Seeing how this is a $31.1 billion budget, balanced using accounting changes and reversions while leaving only a

With the May 1 resurgence of Occupy demonstrations (well, maybe riots is more accurate) come renewed calls for corporations and “the rich” to pay more taxes, to pay their “fair share.” News stories report that some corporations such as Apple, and locally Microsoft, Amazon and Boeing are actively working to reduce the amount of taxes they pay. Personally, I am

Governor Gregoire will begin negotiations with state employee unions tomorrow (May 2) to determine the terms of the 2013-15 state union contracts. These 2013-15 Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) are to be finalized by October 1 of this year – a month before the next Governor is chosen. Based on the 2002 law that granted state employee unions exclusive bargaining rights

On Monday, Washington native Bill Driscoll, a veteran of both the Marine Corps veteran and the timber industry, announced his candidacy for the open seat in Washington’s 6th Congressional District. Driscoll—a great-great grandson of Frederick Weyerhauser who founded the Weyerhauser Company in 1901—becomes the latest Republican to throw his hat into the ring in an election that took on new

This election cycle, Republican candidate for Washington governor Rob McKenna has been stalked by a nearly omnipresent group of paid and volunteer Democratic trackers whose sole job is to monitor where a candidate goes and what a candidate says, and to fluster them whenever possible. Whoever said Democrats don’t like to hunt? On Tuesday, the Democratic stalking morphed into full-on

This table reflects the 2012 supplemental budget as adopted by the Legislature. Operating Budget Spending History (Dollars in Millions) Biennium NGF-P* Federal Stimulus NGF-P + Stimulus Total 2001-03 $24,482 $0 $24,482 $44,932 2003-05 $25,579 $0 $25,579 $48,372 2005-07 $30,152 $0 $30,152 $54,265 2007-09 $32,563 $927 $33,490 $60,827 2009-11 $30,279 $2,825 $33,104 $63,460 2011-13** $31,241 $217 $31,458 $64,232 *Near General Fund

When is a budget cut not a budget cut? When agencies still have the authority to spend money but lawmakers assume agencies won’t spend all of it. This budget “reversion” philosophy isn’t built entirely on blind faith, however, but on historical trends. Though the 2011-13 balance sheet shows total spending of $31.121 billion, the actual budgeted authority for agency spending

Showing it’s never too late (or early) for lawmakers to come to agreement on bill language, during the early hours of the 2nd Special Session of 2012 a compromise was reached on SB 5940 (Regarding reforms to school employee benefits purchasing). The enacted version adopted 53-45 in the House and 25-20 in the Senate requires new reporting requirements for K-12

When it comes to determining the Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) with state employee unions, there is no such thing as a lame duck Governor in Washington. Even though Governor Gregoire is not running for re-election and come January 2013 we’ll have either Governor Inslee or McKenna at the helm, Gregoire will finalize the state’s 2013-15 CBAs by October 1 of