None of these very expensive reforms will improve student achievement in Washington State, unfortunately. These reforms are more of the same from Olympia: centralized, bureaucratic mandates for additional programs which do not address or correct the reason for Washington's failing schools---that principals are not in charge of their budgets or staff. See the Washington Policy Center Education Reform Plan: "Eight Practical Ways to Reverse the Decline of Public Education." Think about it: if we raise the $7-8 billion to pay for these programs, will these programs allow principals the power to allocate resources to the classroom to raise the effectiveness of the teachers? (Less than 59 cents of every public education dollar actually reaches the classroom and only 45% of public school employees are classroom teachers.) Will principals be able to give bonuses to hard-working teachers so as to create cultures of excellence to replace cultures of mediocrity? Will principals be able to replace ineffective teachers? The answer to all these questions is NO. So we'll have a much more expensive system and achieve the same abysmal results. More money is not the answer---real reform is needed so principals can be given the tools they need to improve the culture of their schools and to raise the effectiveness of teachers.