By Lisa Macfarlane, DFER Washington State Director
It’s sad, but true. I am not going far, but I am moving on from the League of Education Voters (LEV). With pride about the past, and excitement about the future, I have exciting news to share. As of January 1st, 2012, I will officially be the Washington State Director of Democrats for Education Reform (DFER).
For umpteen years, I have been working to get our schools the resources and the reforms they need from a non-partisan advocacy perch. It’s been a fun and wild ride, with an incredible team. I am enormously proud of the organization that LEV has become, and what we have accomplished for kids in Washington State.
At DFER I will continue to fight for school reforms in WA. It is a civic, economic and moral imperative that we pick up the pace of school improvement in our state. While some states are closing their achievement gaps; ours are widening. It is time to “occupy the data,” and be honest about how many of our poor kids and kids of color are not getting the educational opportunities they need and deserve.
Defending the status quo of educational inequity is somewhere between wrong and unconscionable. The current polarized climate of excuse making and partisan resistance to sensible reform is not only embarrassing, it is becoming a political liability. Most importantly, it is hurting our kids.