Hart of Learning @HartofLearning

Imagine a classroom welcomes in a pitbull It has a history of fighting, biting, and attacking. Unsurprisingly, from day one, it attacks students and spends all day barking out the window and growling at passerbys. School administrators say you can't blame the dog. It was brought up poorly. Instead of a shock collar, muzzle, or removal, the administrator suggests petting sessions and lots of treats. We need to teach the dog to behave. Punishing it or removing it doesn't actually teach the dog anything. When other families complain, administrators assure parents that this is a chance for their child to learn patience and empathy. A gifted child is placed as this dog's handler. He's regularly nipped at and can't focus on his own work. But he learns leadership through it, the teacher assures his parents. Every time he bites this student, which is often, the administrator recommends feeding the dog and giving it a treat. Anyways. That's essentially how discipline policies work in schools right now with misbehaving students.

Washington schools just dropped to 31st in the national ranking. Just a decade ago we were ranked 20th and today only 50% of kids are at reading grade level. 🤨 Illiteracy is a policy choice. We are failing our youth. Washington it's time to choose differently. @waOSPI

@DonKAriel Nice piece. I think I am like a systems engineer too.

Can you afford a 30% utility rate increase? Puget Sound Energy (PSE) is proposing major utility hikes: 30% on electricity and 20% on natural gas over the next three years. The biggest driver? Compliance costs tied to our state's Climate Commitment Act (SB 5126 in 2021, enacted 2023) on the gas side, and the Clean Energy Transformation Act (SB 5116 in 2019) on the electric side according to The Center Square. Both expensive energy policies are from WA Democrats. These sharp increases need approval from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, which is appointed by the Governor. Energy bills have already jumped 12% this year alone. Many WA families and individuals cannot afford this. It’s time for policies that lower the cost of energy, instead of ones that constantly raise prices. #UnaffordableWA #PowerWA #waleg

Now this is legislation I can support.

Jake Whittenberg @jwhittenbergK5

3 weeks ago

NEW: WA Gov. Bob Ferguson and State Schools Supt. Chris Reykdal are launching a proposal to ban cell phones in all schools. It would need legislative approval in 2027. We will be streaming the announcement LIVE on @KING5Seattle at 10am.

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@helenrey @Alphaschool @sharemath Here's part of my experience with non-individualized instruction growing up: docs.google.com/document/d/1KZ…

One of the most important books in education history may also be one of the most overlooked. Stanislas Dehaene's 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘞𝘦 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 shifts the focus from how educators can promote learning to something far more fundamental: the biological requirements for learning itself. Dehaene would know. He's the most cited neuroscientist of learning in the world, the first-ever lifetime professor of Experimental Cognitive Psychology at France's most prestigious research institution, and the Director of NeuroSpin, France's advanced brain-imaging research centre. (He's also the President of the Scientific Council of the French Ministry of Education.) So how could a major work by such a major figure be overlooked? Well, it 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 been overlooked outside of education. Last year Dehaene won the Lewis Thomas Prize for scientific writing with 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘞𝘦 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 featured prominently in the citation. And 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘞𝘦 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 is currently available in 31 editions and translations worldwide. So why aren't more people talking about it inside the evidence-based education community? I don't know. But I'm going to be shouting about it from the rooftops.

If schools required boys to do things like this regularly, many problems of modern education would all but vanish. Boys crave adventure, risk, and things that unsettle many overbearing modern adults, who are depriving them of these things.

Kevin W. @Brink_Thinker

4 weeks ago

New Jersey school has required every freshman to hike 55 miles on the Appalachian Trail for 53 years straight. At St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, this isn’t optional — it’s a mandatory 5-day rite of passage before becoming a sophomore. Many students have never hiked or camped

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Thankfully, there is a WA law for this. Many teachers don't know it and/or won't demand it be followed.

Jen @jenteach13

4 weeks ago

Fix #4: Let teachers remove kids who make it impossible for everyone else to learn. One student's right to stay in the room does not outweigh thirty students' right to learn in it. #YouWantToFixEducation

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I posted before about how high taxes on distilled spirits are in WA state x.com/bkheywood/stat… But it can be helpful to understand how greedy that tax really is: The company that aged your whiskey for years takes home less than a third of what Olympia pockets at checkout. 🏛️ WA State: $8.98 on a $30 bottle 🏭 Distillery profit: $2.86 on that same bottle On a 1.75L handle? State takes $15.82. Maker clears $4.29. Not only are they greedy but they have a spending problem and still want even more.

Brian Heywood - That Damn Mormon @bkheywood

4 weeks ago

As a damn Mormon this doesn’t really impact me but I feel everyone’s pain…..

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Voyager 1 is 24 billion kilometers from Earth. It communicates with us using a 23-watt transmitter. Less than a refrigerator light bulb. The signal takes 22 hours to reach us, traveling at the speed of light. By the time it arrives, it's 20 billion times weaker than the power of a digital watch battery. NASA's Deep Space Network picks it up using 70-meter dish antennas cooled to near absolute zero to reduce electronic noise. The engineering required to hear a 23-watt signal from 24 billion km away is arguably more impressive than the spacecraft itself. Launched 1977. Still transmitting. Still being heard. We built something that works perfectly, 47 years later, in conditions no one has ever tested in. That's what engineering for the long term looks like.

It's a spending problem. I love my salary. I make more than most elementary teachers in the nation.

Travis Couture @TravisSCouture

3 weeks ago

Bob Ferguson’s OFM says inflation is partially to blame for causing our budget deficit. Yet, state spending, revenue, and costs have skyrocketed past inflation while household income barely keeps up. Long before tariffs, long before any war. It’s a spending problem. Nearly all of

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🚨 SOCIALIST SEATTLE MAYOR CRIES as Largest Bagel Franchise OFFICIALLY Shuts Down For Good! 🔥 👉 After 25 years and serving over 7 million bagels, Blazing Bagels — Seattle’s iconic local chain with 5 locations — has collapsed. Employees were stunned when they received a sudden email Thursday night: effective immediately, all locations closed, no warning, no severance. The family business survived recessions and a pandemic, but couldn’t survive Seattle’s crushing $21.30 minimum wage, skyrocketing taxes, and anti-business policies. With downtown office vacancy at a record 35.6%, more restaurants are shuttering while Mayor Katie Wilson responds to fleeing businesses with one word: “Bye.” Hardworking employees are now jobless, and communities are losing beloved institutions. Is this the final warning for Seattle’s economy? #SeattleCollapse #BlazingBagels #SocialistFailure

China currently has 1,200 coal power plants in operation and emits more CO2 than the US, India, Russia, Japan, Mexico, Germany & Canada COMBINED. The WA State Climate Commitment Act is a scam- meant to funnel our tax dollars to NGO’s who donate back to Democrat war chests.

I'm going to vote for HOLYK for Senate. It's time for a change.

Isaac Holyk for U.S. Senate @voteholyk

4 weeks ago

They are scared. I smell fear. I am coming for that seat @PattyMurray 💪🇺🇸 Tick Tock.

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Best trip ever. Bucket list done. Everything else is icing on the cake, likely not as icy. Alaska cruise photo album: photos.app.goo.gl/V4u8a9ovxertFs…

Gov. Ferguson’s Office of Financial Management (OFM) is warning every state agency to brace for the “most challenging budget” they’ve faced. I wrote a few months ago that if the 2027–29 budget grows at its historical average pace, the state would spend every dollar of the new income tax and still face a deficit of at least $7 billion. Now OFM is confirming the shortfall is real, but they are blaming inflation, population growth, and economic uncertainty for the shortfalls ahead. Unfortunately for OFM, the actual data completely disagrees. Over the past decade, inflation rose 39% and the state’s population grew 14.2%. Spending grew far faster than both combined, as the chart below shows. Outpacing inflation and population growth by this margin for years shows this is a spending problem. Don’t let them rewrite the truth. #waleg

Governor Bob Ferguson @GovBobFerguson

4 weeks ago

My team and I are working closely with our agencies regarding our budget outlook. This letter from the Office of Financial Management Director lays out the challenge well. There’s a lot of information still to come before I propose my budget in December, including two caseload

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If public schools were able to require a parent to come to the school every time their child misbehaved, the issue would be solved in a week. I’d love a policy where if the child is disrupting, the parent comes and must spend minimum 30 minutes with their child (somewhere private) and regulates their child or takes them home for the day. No punishment, just parental restoration instead of making the school do it.