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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 5, 2012)
WWW . THESKANNER . COM S EPTEMBER 5, 2012 S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON V OLUME XXXIV, N O . 36 25 CENTS For The Skanner news alerts Text "NEWS" to 503-715-0890 or scan this QR code C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW Charter School Profits BUMBER SHOOT Charter initiative would open doors to school privatization By Donna Gordon Blankenship The Associated Press PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED Seattle native Evan Flory-Barnes played with his band Skerik’s Bandalabra, at the 41st Annual Bumbershoot Festival over the Labor Day weekend. The popular festival, known for its music, also features comedy, theatre, visual arts and the literary arts. This year’s big musical attractions included Tony Bennett, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and Gotye. New Effort for Immigrants’ Tuition Observers say cutbacks mean the effort faces an uphill battle By Manuel Valdes The Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — With the federal government giving young illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children a chance to stay in the country, advocates in Washington state are relaunching efforts to open state financial aid to college stu- dents who don’t have docu- ments. ``Now these kids can live and work here without fear of depor- tation,’’ said Ricardo Sanchez, chairman of the Latino/a Educa- tional Achievement Project, the main group behind the effort. ``The financial aid makes more sense.’’ But Sanchez faces an uphill battle in Olympia. The state’s financial aid pot — the needs grant program — is already strained after years of economic woes and rising tuition costs. Despite lawmakers providing additional money, more students who qualify aren’t getting aid because demand keeps growing. INDEX News ........................2,3 Opinion ....................4,5 A&E .............................6 Books ..........................7 Bids/Classifieds............7 More so, state financial aid is often tied with federal aid, something that students who qualify under the program can’t apply for. Add the reluctance by law- makers, including conservatives ones, and opposition from some constituents to give financial aid to students who entered the country without proper docu- mentation. ``The state is in the hole by significant amounts of money. We’re gonna give significant resources to people who I think were given illegally a legal sta- tus,’’ said Bob West, chairman of Grassroots of Yakima Valley, a tea party group that started as an organization to lobby for strict immigration enforcement in Olympia. West, who three years ago tes- tified against a similar bill, said that expanding the eligibility would act as further encourage- ment for immigrants to come to the country away from official channels. ``I realize that families come See TUITION on page 3 SEATTLE (AP) — Some of the most successful charter school organizations in the nation say they would like to open schools in Washington state if voters approve the charter initiative on the Novem- ber ballot. Rocketship Education, which runs some of the top performing elementary schools in California’s low-income areas, would love to expand to Washington state, said Kristof- fer Haines, vice president of national devel- opment for the seven-school organization started in San Jose, Calif., in 2006. ``We’re certainly interested and excited,’’ Haines said. He added, however, that the process to start a new school takes time. So even if Washington voters decide to allow up to 40 public charter schools to open during the next five years, the first Rocketship schools probably couldn’t open in the state until 2016 or 2017, after a thorough process, including approval by Washington authori- ties. Haines, who lives in Corvalis, Ore., and was asked to look over Washington’s initia- tive before it was proposed for the ballot, said he has had his eye on the Seattle-Taco- ma area for a long time. Initiative 1240 would allow the independ- ent public schools to be established in Washington state for the first time. Voters have rejected the idea three other times, in 1996, 2000 and 2004. Under the terms of the initiative, any non- profit organization could start a charter school in Washington if their plan is approved by either a new statewide com- mission or a local school board that has been authorized by the state school board to approve charter schools. The schools would need to be free and open to all students just like traditional pub- lic schools. They would receive public fund- See CHARTERS on page 3 US Attorney Offers Internet Safety Tips Cell phone sex tape spurs teaching moment for parents, kids By Gene Johnson The Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — It was a parent’s — or a principal’s — nightmare: Two underage students in Des Moines agreed to have sex at a party while others recorded it with their cell phones. The video spread quickly among the kids at Mount Rainier High School last year, and in addition to the potential harm to the cou- ple involved, the episode became a distrac- tion in the classroom — and prompted considerations about whether those who took and shared the video might face child pornography charges. The incident is the type Seattle’s top fed- eral prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan, is hoping to prevent with a new back-to-school Internet safety campaign. Durkan has asked public and private ele- mentary and middle schools throughout Western Washington to send home a letter from her with each student, accompanied by tips for parents and children about how to keep them out of trouble, whether the dan- ger is online predators, bullying or unwise- ly shared cell phone pictures. See INTERNET on page 3
