Sunday, March 10, 2013
Sane state, sorta
The Wash state legislature is trying an experiment this year, with a bipartisan coalition holding the majority and setting the pace. Results are fairly good so far. More productive than previous years, and immeasurably better than the DC suicide bombers.
Example:
The Senate discussed another education bill Thursday that would do away with a number of unfunded education laws that supporters say have been weighing down the budget. “We have put mandate after mandate on our school districts, but we never include any funding,” said Sen. Curtis King (R-Yakima). The bill repeals and suspends more than a dozen laws, ranging from a requirement for schools to observe Temperance Day to a law that requires schools with gardens to teach both organic and conventional gardening.Good work. But not everything is sane:
Another bill aims to improve reading levels of third graders in the state. Third-graders who test below their level would either be required to repeat the grade or go to summer school. Students who speak English as a second language are exempt from the requirement.Testing sounds good. Unfortunately, non-native speakers are the only students who really need intensive training by the third grade, thus they are the only students who really need to be tested. Exempting them in the name of Die-Versity makes the whole thing pointless, like the fraudulent "core inflation" measurements. ¶ 5:16 AM
