WPC official ‘shocked’ AG Ferguson was at DeVos protest

When Liv Finne with the Washington Policy Center invited Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to speak at their event, she was not surprised that people protested it. But she was surprised when she saw who protested.

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King County Executive Dow Constantine and Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson were among the demonstrators on Oct. 13 in Bellevue.

“You should be shocked because the attorney general is required to defend the law of the State of Washington, and one of the laws of the State of Washington is the charter school law that was passed in 2016 … and that law has been challenged by the WEA union in court. It’s in court right now on appeal. He’s calling into question his impartiality, which he is supposed to have.”

DeVos is a vocal supporter of charter schools — schools that are publicly funded, but separate from traditional districts. Charter schools were initially approved by voter initiative in 2012. In 2016, the Legislature passed additional legislation cementing the schools in state law. They are open to all students, tuition-free. There are 10 charters currently operating in Washington.

But they are not favored by all, especially teachers unions such as the Washington Education Association. The Washington Policy Center is a right-leaning think tank, and Finne said they wanted to hear DeVos’ thoughts on “school choice.”

“She is a strong advocate for school choice which is a policy that gives parents the power to direct the education of their children, so they can find the school that best fits their individual needs,” Finne said. “She has observed … that the power structure in public education is not aligned with the needs of parents and children, but with the needs of school officials, bureaucrats, and unions.”

“This is why we invited her because she is at the cutting edge of school reform and we wanted to hear what she had to say,” she said.

Finne argues that charter schools are good for students with special needs, or low income and minority students. She also believes that if charter schools are successful, it will force the remaining public school system to evolve.

“What it will do is it will force the public education system to improve themselves and to reform themselves from within,” Finne said. “Trying to improve it from the outside has proven to be impossible. For 40 years we have passed top-down policies from the federal government and state government … and they don’t work because this is a monopoly-run system.”

Finne alleges that monopoly is filled with teachers unions and bureaucrats. It’s, therefore, a contentious issue, and Finne says that Attorney General Ferguson should not appear to be biased.

“It’s anti-intellectual and it’s handed to us by the teachers’ unions,” she said.

Ferguson spoke at the Oct. 13 demonstration and said he was protesting because of DeVos’ lack of action on college loan fraud.

“Her approach is to take the side of big for-profit companies at the expense of Washington state consumers,” Ferguson said. “There are nearly 6,000 Washington state consumers who borrowed significant student loans. Those loans are supposed to be forgiven right now. She refuses to do it. I may have to file a lawsuit on that to make sure she gives the protections to those folks that they, frankly, have earned and deserve.”