Eric Muhs, a teacher in the Seattle Public School district, braved the ice and snow on Friday, January 20th, with several other brave souls to provide testimony regarding House Bill 2426, the charter school bill. To follow is what he stated:

Hello. My name is Eric Muhs. I teach physics & astronomy at Ballard High School in Seattle. I’ve been teaching for 25 years, and achieved National Board Certification 5 years ago. I work 70 hours a week, and was in the news last year for leading a group of students in placing an experiment aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. I teach with a great science department, all of whom work harder than I do.

First of all, my thanks to the committee for the most excellent series of snow days. I know the budget is tight, but if you can throw a few more our way this winter, my students and & I solemnly promise to use the time wisely.

But I have to say I am beyond disappointed to spend my day off testifying about charter legislation. Again. 3 times rejected by voters is, what, not enough? Folks, charter schools were cool 20 years ago. Research, most famously the Stanford Credo study, has not been kind to charter schools in the interim. This is a futuristic express train from the 1990’s that you’re trying to buy a ticket on.

I remind you that you haven’t actually funded public education fully. That’s not just me saying that, is it? You have not backed us, you have starved us. Now, you want to bring another mouth to this table, to share this too-small bowl of thin soup?

Charter school selling point: smaller class sizes, individual attention. Well, I’ve got 12% more students than a year ago. That’s not just me: we’ve seen our resources cut deeper each of the last 3 years.

I work in a building with a leaking roof. I’m scared to go in on Monday and see what the damage is. Plus, I’ve been off so long, I’ve forgotten my computer login.

My district, Seattle Public Schools, has over a half billion dollars worth of deferred maintenance. That you would consider diverting even a nickel toward charter schools, a nationwide enterprise where we have two decades of overall very middling, unimpressive, C- results, fills my little heart with dirty, filthy, wet, slushy slush.

You want to see us do better? Get us some real, bona-fide, State constitution-mandated resources.

Smaller classes, of course.

Better trained and experienced teachers, of course. With time for collaboration. With time for kids with special needs.

Graduation specialists, that establish relationships with struggling kids and see them through.

College, career, internship, & employment specialists, that help students transition to the world beyond high school.

Attendance specialists, that help get kids in school and keep them there.

Teaching specialists that run math tutorial centers outside of class time, and that keep school libraries open.

Trained Instructional assistants that can help students transition from their 80 native languages to English.

Full day kindergarten, and early childhood specialists.

Thank-you

Post Script:

Mr. Muhs will be part of a grade-in on Wednesday, February 1st, at the Westlake mall food court. You can check out what teachers do in their “spare time”.