For 75 years, the state of Washington has had an unusual supermajority requirement: ballot measures to raise local property taxes for schools must receive 60 percent of all ballots cast.

Guess who's leading the charge to change the law to make it easier to raise taxes? The Washington Education Association (WEA), the leading teacher union, is among the highest donors to a political action committee.

Other groups involved in the effort is People for Our Public Schools and the Schools First Coalition.

Notice anything missing? Yes. Students. It's not "students first," or "People for student learning" or anything like that. Like much discussion in education policy, the emphasis is on the institution, not its alleged purpose.