Friends,
When is a game more than just a game? I mean other than every time I ever play my brother in something. Did I mention baby brother? Well, he’s almost fifty, but still. Losing to your baby brother in anything is when games stop being games. Makes me feel like Venus Williams. But I digress. And right from the start, too…
Ok, here’s what Sunday’s festivities reinforced for us. Americans see things differently. First the Super Bowl that either was or wasn’t like the election. Halftime was all Gaga who either was or wasn’t political. Tom Brady either did or didn’t have his jersey stolen. The ads were great and the ads sucked.
Enough controversy. Let’s talk about Betsy DeVos. Hopefully your heart rate dropped enough after the Super Bowl that by the time DeVos’ confirmation vote came along you didn’t flat line and fall down like Lady Gaga on a tether. While DeVos is settling in, work on education policy goes on all around her. The House wasted no time in repealing key elements of the Every Student Succeeds Act or ESSA. And President Trump’s Counselor, Kellyanne Conway is saying Trump will repeal Common Core. (Even though he can’t.) How will a DeVos Department of Ed affect us here? TBD
Speaking of here, legislators are hard at work trying to sort through the many machinations of the current education finance system to create a new one. As was mentioned last week, the Senate, House and Governor’s office have all put forward proposals. You can check them out on our bill tracker, or compare and contrast. Here’s another thing we’d like to see: a pair of bills have dropped that would expand career and technical education and dual-credit programs in the state, as well as implement much needed interventions for struggling Washington students.
Misc:
- Algorithms. Are they killing us softly?
- Lady Gaga isn’t the only one using drones to great effect.
- Today’s vocabulary words: bombogenesis and and schadenfreude. Used in a sentence: May we fight the feeling of schadenfreude while watching bombogenesis in the Northeast.
Happy Valentine’s Day! And as always, thanks for all you do for Washington’s kids.
Chris
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