CER In The News

PAUL ALLEN HELPS BANKROLL INITIATIVES
Charter-school, class-size issues get boost
By Rebekah Denn
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 25, 2000

        Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is expected to spend at least $800,000 for two education initiatives, one promoting charter schools and the other reduced class sizes, virtually guaranteeing that both measures will make the fall ballot, organizers said yesterday.

        If the charter-school initiative qualifies for the ballot, Allen would spend even more to help bankroll the election campaign.

        Allen's push for charter schools also could be a shot in the arm nationally for the independent public schools, helping them continue a move from the educational fringe to the mainstream.

        "If someone as reputable as Paul Allen can get their hands around something like this, I think it will really help a lot of people take notice," said Jeanne Allen (no relation), president of the non-profit Center for Education Reform in Washington, D.C., which tracks charter schools nationwide.

        Allen, a billionaire, his sister Jody Patton, and their family announced yesterday that they would finance signature-gathering efforts for Initiative 729, which would allow charter schools in Washington state, and that they will also help finance the election campaign if the initiative makes the ballot.

        The signature-gathering drive for I-729 could cost at least $600,000, said a spokesman for a public affairs firm coordinating the effort.

        Allen's family also announced a separate $200,000 donation for Initiative 728, which would reduce class sizes in Washington state and offer teachers more professional development, among other opportunities.

        "I guess our family believes in supporting initiatives in education. Better education is very important," Paul Allen said yesterday.

        Backers of each initiative need to collect roughly 180,000 signatures by July 7 to make the fall ballot.

        Jim Spady, who filed the charter schools initiative with wife Fawn in February, estimated it would take $3 million to $5 million to finance the complete I-729 campaign. The campaign had raised about $60,000 before Allen's involvement.

        Allen would not finance the entire I-729 campaign -- exactly how much he would pay has not yet been determined -- and outside donations would be sought if it reaches the ballot, said David Schaefer of Gogerty Stark Marriott. The Seattle public affairs firm will coordinate the signature drive and campaign until professional staff are hired.

        The Spadys, who had previously led the charter-schools campaign, will continue on as advisers but will not be involved in day-to-day operations.

        "It's a huge burden off our shoulders," Jim Spady said yesterday.

        The Spadys have pushed for charter schools since 1994, when they were dissatisfied with the education their young son was receiving in the Seattle Public Schools.

        The couple had backed a more aggressive charter schools ballot initiative in 1996, which was defeated. Yesterday, Spady attributed part of that defeat to well-financed opposition from state and national teachers' unions and said that Allen's support would likely blunt a similar offensive against the current initiative.

        "The opposition to charter schools has always relied on outspending the proponents of charter schools. Obviously, you cannot outspend Paul Allen in a political race," he said.

        Rich Wood, spokesman for the Washington Education Association, said yesterday that the union has not yet taken a position on I-729 (it supports I-728), but probably would do so within the next month or two.

        The WEA does not oppose charter schools in theory and had supported a compromise version of a bill in the Legislature earlier this year to create charter schools. That bill, which Allen had pushed to create as well, did not pass, and the initiative is not identical.

        "We do have concerns about the initiative as it's currently written," Wood said.

        The initiative would allow up to 20 public charter schools per year in Washington state during the next four years and would allow an unlimited number of conventional public schools to convert to charter schools. They would be operated by non-profit, non-sectarian corporations and would be exempt from many state statutes governing school districts.

        Charter-school proponents typically say the schools will be better-quality, allow for more choices for parents and have less bureaucracy to bog down their operations.

        Opponents often fear such schools won't provide an adequate education and that they will cream the top students from existing school systems, leaving them with fewer resources to care for less-advantaged children who are left behind.

        There will be about 2,000 charter schools nationwide this fall, and their creation has been approved in 36 states plus the District of Columbia.

        Allen's contribution to I-728, the class-size initiative, is a "leadership gift" that essentially matched all the cash and in-kind contributions the grass-roots campaign had raised to date, I-728 co-chairwoman Lisa Macfarlane said.

        "It's exciting and it's thrilling . . . It ensures that we get on the ballot."

        Macfarlane estimated it would take about $2 million to finance the class-size initiative campaign through Election Day.

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Link to Allen family press release.

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