How do you make change? We learned in Olympia this week that heart-felt outrage can spur action, even from the most obstinate lawmakers. A week ago our bills to implement a fairer system for evaluating principals and teachers and to bring parental choice through top-notch charter schools to our state's poorest kids were dead in the water.  But your calls and emails to your lawmakers helped break that log-jam.

An avalanche of media coverage this week exposed how  ground-breaking education reforms were being held up the chairs of the House and Senate Education Committees, Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos (D-Seattle) and Sen. Rosemary McAulliffe (D-Bellevue). With public indignation building, Gov. Chris Gregoire intervened.

Stand's policy director Dave Powell rushed down to Olympia on Tuesday to testify before the Senate Ways and Means Committee. "This bill is about ensuring every student in our state has access to a great teacher," he told lawmakers. "Teachers are the most important factor in determining the quality of education a student receives, leading to better graduation rates, better college enrollment rates, and a better prepared workforce." 

In the end, moderate Democrats Sen. Rodney Tom (D-Bellevue), Sen. Steve Hobbs (D-Lake Stevens) and committee chair Ed Murray (D-Seattle) came together with Republicans to vote the teacher and principal evaluation bill back to life.

Meanwhile, our champion Rep. Eric Pettigrew (D-Seattle) continues negotiations with House leadership to bring back legislation that would make Washington the 42nd state in the nation to offer public charter schools.

Our hard-fought progress in Olympia on these two issues has put us in the national spotlight. This week, the well-respected K-12 reform group Policy Innovators in Education called Washington the education state to watch in 2012. Read more about what the PIE-NETWORK had to say about our progress here.