Washington State Representative Elizabeth Scott of the 39th Legislative District visited Arlington High School on Thursday, November 5 to take a look at the structure of the school and get some insight into what local citizens’ money is going towards. “We’re looking to see how the money has been put to use,” said Scott. The representative has toured multiple schools in our area, and has found that there are more costs that factor into the price of building a school than meets the eye. “The art is a percentage of the money,” said Scott, pointing out items such as stained glass windows which have to be paid for by citizens.

When asked what education reforms the Scott would like to see put into place, she didn’t hesitate for a second. “With the current Common Core model, I feel that teacher’s creativity is squelched. We need to return the responsibility to the state and local levels so the parents and school boards can have more say. People elected here are more responsive to the local voters,” said Scott.

Scott’s main point of concern was student data privacy. Her concerns for the sharing of student data connects to her goal of protecting individual rights. “The U.S. Department of Education has too much control. Without checking with Congress, they widened the FERPA law so student data could be shared for ‘educational research.’ They’re sharing the data overseas to private companies. If I’m elected to Congress, that’s something I want to fix,” said Scott. She continued on the subject of student data privacy and referenced to the law it is protected by. Organizations like the Office of Superintendent Public Instruction (OSPI) that handle student education data that could be used to identify a student, such as names or Social Security Numbers, are limited by law to releasing this data only to research organizations. Scott continued in referencing to a story broken by KUOW about an agreement the OSPI and Seattle Times came to that would release student data to the ‘Times so they could look for trends in education that would be newsworthy. The OSPI has said the information will be “de-identified” but like Representative Scott, privacy experts still remain extremely concerned with this agreement.

Scott’s stance on Common Core can be easily identified through her sponsorship of two bills—one to completely repeal Common Core and the Opt Out Bill, which requires that parents are notified of their right to opt their students out of Common Core Testing. “Students are all different,” said Scott. “You can’t cookie-cutter them. Students should not be passed to the next grade without mastering the material just so they can be kept with their age level.” In regards to testing, Scott is looking to keep the material the teachers use to gauge their students comprehension levels, but repeal the standardized testing we have in place currently. “We’re not testing them right. The teacher should be responsible for assessing if they’re ready to move on,” said Scott. In regards to the progress the Scott is making in her bill to repeal Common Core, the Representative said “I was just contacted by a teacher the other day from within my district, the 39th legislative district, who is willing to testify because she is horrified at what’s happening, she said ‘behind the scenes,’ as a result of Common Core.”

Scott concluded by speaking on the strengths the education system has. “I’m encouraged by the number of choices for students and families, the STEM Centers, the shops,” said Scott after visiting our school’s woodshop. With her master’s in Teaching English as a Second Language, her ten years of teaching English to foreign college students, two of those in China and three in the United Arab Emirates, and her experience at four local community colleges, Scott’s views of the education system stem from a strong background in the field.