Michelle Blue

The quarterly Market report for the Woodinville neighborhood of Brooktrails Estates has been published. This report summarizes the real estate activity over the last 12 months - showing what is Active, Sold and was on the market and cancelled in the last 12 months.

http://michelleblue.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/neighborhood-re-update-bte-january-2009.pdf

If you would like more information on this report - or would like to see a report on your neighborhood, please let me know.

By Michelle Blue
Your Guide to Woodinville Real Estate, Neighborhoods, & Community!
www.WoodinvilleGuide.com

The Washington Legislature's Joint Task Force Report on Basic Education Funding has been completed and it is endorsed by the Washington State PTA. This isn't a Woodinville or Northshore report - it impacts every school district in Washington, but I am posting it here to help keep the active and caring parents in the Northshore School District up to date. We escaped a school closure last year, but we don't know what will happen this year that will impact next year. Keep up to date and make sure your voice is heard!

Definition of Basic Education

• Includes the implementation of Core 24.
  Which is an increase in the number of courses required to graduate from the current 19 to 24. These 24 courses are deemed required to enable all students to graduate from high school ready for post-secondary education, apprenticeship programs or other job training.

• Includes the programs required to enable all students to achieve the higher goal of Core 24. Including pre-school for children from low-income families, specialized instruction for English language learners and students with disabilities, and extra time and teaching for struggling students.

Task Force Recommendations:

• Revised System of Funding Allocation-that will provide (1) smaller class sizes, (2) additional days for teacher development, (3) increased funding for counselors, teacher-librarians, other specialist professionals, classified staff, school administration and other costs. Allocations to be based upon the number of students served.

• Early Learning program to be funded based upon the federal Head Start model.

• Demographic adjustments for funding based upon % of students in a school that come from low-income families at the school. The funds will then be utilized to serve all students who need the extra help, regardless of family income.

• New system of teacher Compensation where increases in pay is tied to increases in classroom effectiveness - residency, professional and master teacher categories. Additional salary will be allocated for mentoring of new teachers by master teachers, a regional leveling to non-education salaries, school-wide bonuses for improvement in student learning and special incentives in subject shortage areas.

• New system of teacher preparation and a new career ladder.
  

• Simplify and Standardize Funding. Requirement for all schools districts to use a new common fiscal accounting and budgeting system, new statewide student data system, and simplifications in the allocation models that are currently very complicated.

• Continued use of local levies to enhance education - but with limits and equalization to ensure basic equity across the state.

• Timeline: Phase in over 6 years.

For your reference, here is the link to the full report

by Michelle Blue
Your Guide to Woodinville Real Estate, Community & Neighborhoods!
www.WoodinvilleGuide.com

Market reports need to be relevant to where you live!
Often what you read and hear about is not relevant to our market on the Eastside, or more specifically, Woodinville. I post periodic updates on my website Here is a sample of the December post that shows data through the end of November 2008. If you would like information that is tailored to your specific home or property type, please contact me and I would be happy to create a report that is tailored to you.

Woodinville Monthly Charts
All Residential listings for sale, pending, or sold over the last 15 months in Woodinville
(excludes condos, multi-family, commercial, vacant land)

Months of Inventory

Sellers Market: 0-3 months inventory
Balanced Market: 3-6 months inventory
Buyers Market: 6+ months inventory)

Average Price of Home Listed for Sale and Sold

Data Source:Northwest Multiple Listing System as aggregated by Trendgraphix, Inc.

by Michelle Blue
Your Guide to Woodinville Real Estate, Community & Neighborhoods!
www.WoodinvilleGuide.com

Congratulations to Woodinville High School staff & students for being one of 12 schools in Washington to receive the Silver ranking in the recent US News & World Report's annual rankings of the top performing high schools in the country!

The Gold & Silver met the following three distinctions:

• Students perform better overall than statistically expected

• Disadvantaged students perform better than statewide averages

• One of the select schools that perform best at producing college-leve achievement for the greatest percentage of students - as measured by (a) Breadth of access (significant number of students taking and passing AP test), and (b) Depth of access (significant number of students taking and passing multiple AP tests).

12 High Schools in Washington received the Silver honor: Bainbridge High School, Garfield High School, Interlake Senior High School, Mercer Island High School, Orcas Island High School, Redmond High School, Roosevelt High School, Sehome High School, Vancouver School of Arts & Academics, and Woodinville High School.

4 High Schools in Washington received the Gold honor which put them in the top 100 schools across the country: Bellevue High School, International Community School, International School, and Newport Senior High School.

By Michelle Blue
Your Guide to Woodinville Real Estate, Neighborhood & Community
www.MichelleBlue.com

When you are a parent and you hear that the school your child is going to is going to be closed it is a very emotional issue.

What can YOU do?

The best response is to stay calm, get informed, keep an open mind and get involved - you can make a difference.

Learn from others.

Last year the Northshore School District announced that it was considering closing an elementary school because we had a $700,000 projected budget short fall for the next school year and it would continue on in future years due to projected declining enrollment. The district has been cutting for several years and the board felt that it was now to the point where something big had to be done.

Several several schools were under consideration and everyone feared that their school would be the one. It is human nature that the next step was for all of the families to go through the justification of why their school shouldn't be closed (they are wonderful and loved) and then they went to the other side - why other schools should be closed instead of their.

The Good News is that we have some excellent leaders in the Northshore PTA and generally very strong parent and administration involvement and so we did our best to take emotions out of it and treat it like any other serious business problem where there is often another option.

Parents mobilized within and across schools - the goal was to prevent any of the schools from being closed.

• We accepted that there was a problem that needed to be resolved. This wasn't just a bunch of board members who were playing with power - they were individuals trying to solve a real problem and perform their fiduciary responsibility to create a balanced budget - to do otherwise would be irresponsible.
  
• We focussed on the kids. A key event for me was when our school principal reminded the PTA that this was a great chance to lead by example for our children. To show them that we believe in the value of a good education and that positive change can come about through personal involvement. We were very careful that we didn't create a situation where the children were made fearful of the future - all of the schools in our district are great - so if, in the end, they need to move - it will be ok. Children watch what you say and what you do - do not teach them that change is bad in and of itself. Any adult knows that change is part of life and learning to deal with it positively is an important lesson to be learned.
  
• We called for volunteers and a sharing of expertise and time to come up with solutions. We organized oursevles - communications, financial, technology, legislative, etc... it was amazing the depth and breadth of skills and energy that were applied to this situation.
  
• The Result?
  The $700K was found in other areas - there was still an impact on the schools but not as drastic as the closing of a school. District Information - 2008-09 Budget Reduction We were able to make a difference this time - but that may not always be the case
  

Now What?

Now that we have all of these people informed and invovled - the challenge is not losing momentum because the immediate crisis has gone away for our school we will feel it again unless something changes. The Seattle School District is making headlines right now - parents are getting involved - the emotions are running high. Maybe they will save some or all of their schools - but the budget problem is not going away. We need to work together - within schools, within school districts and within the State!

THE FUNDING SYSTEM FOR K-12 EDUCATION IS BROKEN IN WASHINGTON STATE!

Northshore School District may very well be facing another school closure this year. The Governor's budget is release next week and the deadline for bills that will have a financial impact make it out of their respective commmittees in mid-March.

All of the PTSA/PTAs need to work together to let our representatives know that education funding is important and when they are making cuts - this is an area that should be spared because it is critical to our future.

Make sure you are educated so that you can voice your support for changes that will benefit all of our children!

Northshore School District - Letter from the Superintendent
K-12 Financing - The Depty, Breadth & Causes of a Looming Financial Crisis

Seattle School District - Letter from the Superintendent about Excellence & Capacity Planning

Bellevue School District - School Board Approved Budget Reductions

Roger Goodman - Preserving Education Funding

Is your representative on the Education Committee? Let them know this is important!

by Michelle Blue
Your Guide to Woodinville Real Estate, Neighborhoods & Community
www.MichelleBlue.com