Think Tank Opens Tri-Cities Office: Experts Call for Education Reform

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By Ruth Johnson

Summary

One Washington think tank, with a new office in the Tri-Cities, is playing hard ball. It says schools must learn to compete in the marketplace. It says the result would be better education, and more intelligent spending. But not everyone agrees the right time for education reform is right now.

Story Published: Jan 8, 2010 at 12:14 AM PST

KENNEWICK -- One Washington think tank, with a new office in the Tri-Cities, is playing hard ball. It says schools must learn to compete in the marketplace. The result would be better education, and more intelligent spending. But not everyone agrees the right time for education reform is right now.

Chris Cargill heads up the Eastern Washington division of the Washington Policy Center. The non-partisan public policy research organization focuses on seven core areas of public policy research including budget reform, health care, and the environment, as well as small business, transportation, and education.

One major concern for the Center is the quality of education being offered, and the protection bad teachers get from their union contracts. Cargill is quick to say that the Washington Policy Center is not anti-union, but he says the bottom line is: "The teacher's unions sometimes protect bad teachers."

The WPC's solution is that there needs to be an avenue that would make it possible, unions or not, to axe the deadwood. Another agenda being pushed: give parent's the freedom to choose where their kids go to school. When asked whether that might, effectively, put some schools out of business, Cargill had this to say:

"On the flip side, the schools would compete for dollars. You're talking about opening it up for schools that are struggling to say, 'Hey, we've got to get ourselves together and start competing for dollars, or we'll all be out of job.'"

But, this begs the question--is anyone listening?

Senator Eric Oemig, a democrat from Kirkland said, "It's always tough talking about the future and reform in the same year that the governor is putting massive cuts on the table." Oemig is a major proponent of education reform. He is on the Quality Education Committee, formed after the Education Reform Bill was voted into law last year. But he has a healthy skepticism when it comes to quick action on reform.

While Oemig and other lawmakers wrangle with the 2.6 billion dollar budget deficit, Cargill said Thursday there is one way for schools to continue to cope with education cuts.

"We think principals should have complete control of their budget, and decide which teachers are failing and which are doing great work." He also says the WPC favors salary hikes for teachers who are effective. In all it offers an eight step plan for education reform.

The Eastern Washington offices of WPC, headed by Cargill, will focus on outreach to citizens, the media, and community organizations. He said Thursday, "It seems the ideology on the West side is that Eastern Washington issues don't matter. He plans to change that.

The Washington Policy Center has opened seven research centers in Washington, thanks to a recent $4.2 million dollar capital campaign. It also sponsors the free public service website WashingtonVotes.org.

An event to formally introduce WPC to the public is planned for February.