By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org

SEATTLE – A ballot initiative to allow a handful of charter schools to take root in Washington State is stirring debate as the November election approaches, and it’s becoming increasingly clear the teachers unions are on the wrong side of the issue.

Seattle Times editorial columnist Lynne K. Varner recently penned a compelling piece on the charter debate in her state, breaking down the union’s tired arguments against school choice for families.

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Varner reflects on the famous quote from Fredrick Douglas: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will.” She’s clearly referring to the education establishment, which doesn’t want to lose students, and the state money attached to them, to charter schools.

“Initiative 1240, Washington’s experimental toe dip into charter schools, promises to be serious heavy lifting. Opponents are not going to concede and agree to even a limited, publicly accountable experiment in an education system still structured and governed the way it was 100 years ago,” Varner writes in her column Thursday.

In Varner’s view, the effort to establish charters mirrors the civil rights movement in the tactics used by the establishment to protect the status-quo. Like locals in southern states, teachers unions and bureaucrats working to prevent change are telling others to mind their own business.

“ … (T)he it-works-in-other-states arguments has been co-opted by opponents to mean that outsiders are pushing the charters effort here. That’s a strong accusation because it fuels the ‘stay out of our local business’ refrain heard from opponents lately. History is a great teacher. During the civil-rights era, locals in Mississippi, Alabama and a host of Southern states told the rest of America to stay out of its business.

“Thank you for not listening.”

Varner punches gaping holes in the union’s “school funding” argument against charters.

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“There’s the argument that these nontraditional public schools siphon money from existing schools.  That’s a divisive tactic. We don’t worry that special education, alternative schools or programs for gifted students siphon away funds when students leave one school for another in search of those programs.

“The biggest drain on school money? The dropout rate. Schools can’t collect money for students who are not enrolled,” Varner writes.

The columnist points out that while the Washington Education Association (the state’s largest teachers union) opposes charter schools, not all public school teachers do. Many who embrace school choice have formed the group Teachers United.

The education reform movement clearly has a great deal of momentum, and research shows charter schools have the potential to improve learning for many students. Varner predicts that Washington citizens will eventually look back on the traditional education system much in the same way we do slavery.

“Decades from now, we will be surprised we were so nervous about innovating our schools and spreading our educational good fortune to all kids. We’ll be surprised that any of us were so close-minded as to be on the wrong side of education history.”

Varner’s full column is definitely worth a read.