The LEV Annual Breakfast Panelists

by League of Education Voters
Meeghan Black
Meeghan Black will host our Annual Breakfast.

We hope you will join the League of Education Voters at our annual breakfast on March 11 at the Seattle Sheraton to learn how, through high-quality early learning, we not only change the beginning of the story, we change the WHOLE story.

Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist Meeghan Black will host our event and Washington First Lady Trudi Inslee will moderate a panel of early learning advocates and experts.

Panelists include: Seattle City Council President Tim Burgess, Seattle Children’s Hospital pediatrician Dr. Michelle Terry, South Shore PK–8 Principal Keisha Scarlett, and Trilogy International Partners Chair John Stanton. Read More

What a college and career ready high school diploma means

by League of Education Voters

The field of Human Centered Design & Engineering is growing, and more than 80% of the program’s graduates are employed within 6 months of graduation. But Stephanie White, an undergraduate advisor in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington, says that even though the undergraduate program has been flooded with applications, a lot of the students who want to study engineering in her department can’t—they simply don’t have the prerequisites to qualify. “Many students find out their junior year of high school that they don’t have the prerequisites to study STEM in college—by then it’s too late to take the courses they need.”

Sadly, Stephanie’s experience isn’t unusual. Only 4 in 10 graduating seniors meet the basic admissions requirements to get into a public university in Washington. And nearly 60% of students who attend community or technical college must take remediation classes to get to those basic 4-year college admissions requirements. In other words, many students must pay tuition to learn what they should have been taught in public high school. Help us to change this for Washington students by signing a petition in support of a college and career ready diploma.

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Maggie Wilkens: Change Agent

by League of Education Voters

Maggie WilkensMaggie Wilkens joined the League of Education Voters (LEV) in 2009, initially as a part-time intern and ultimately as our State Field Coordinator. She recently left our organization to take a position at the Parents Union as their Director of Marketing, starting today.

In her time in LEV’s Field department, Maggie worked with diverse communities throughout Washington, including student populations and through online organizing. Maggie was instrumental in starting the conversation about race, equity, and disproportionality in school discipline at LEV. She believes that her experience growing up and attending school in Seattle Public Schools gave her a ground-level view of structural inequity.

Maggie is a basketball coach for Lakeside School in her spare time, and she credits her experience as a coach with teaching her a lot about community organizing. Her skills in organizing, combined with her commitment to racial and social justice, allowed Maggie to make a huge impact in both the organization’s direction and in the lives of those she worked with. Maggie was a key member of LEV’s current campaign on transforming school discipline policies, which led to the introduction of statewide legislation in 2013 to keep more kids in school and end the school-to-prison pipeline. According to LEV’s State Field Director Kelly Munn, “Maggie can do anything you ask her to do. Maggie is determined and thoughtful about her work and she does not allow roadblocks to deter her from her goal.”

Maggie had a huge impact on our organization, and we will all miss her greatly, but I am also thrilled that she has found an organization where she can continue working toward improving public education for all of our kids. Please join me in wishing Maggie the best in her next adventure at the Parents Union!

Activist of the Month: Betsy Cohen

by League of Education Voters

At the League of Education Voters (LEV), we recognize all of the hard work that you do toward improving public education across Washington state. We are pleased to announce our Activist of the Month for February: Betsy Cohen. Read more about Betsy’s experience as an education activist.

Betsy CohenBetsy Cohen testified in Olympia for the first time two weeks ago in favor of the college and career ready diploma (HB 2181). That might come as a surprise to those who know her, since Betsy has been involved in education advocacy for years—since moving to Washington state when her children were young.

Betsy joined her children’s elementary school PTA and, with her background as a law professor, was quickly appointed as their legislative representative. Over the years, she has organized dozens of trips to Olympia and helped others testify (but she never had the opportunity to testify herself). Read More