Charter schools to return to a ballot near you
You can throw your clichés out the window. Apparently forcharter schools supporters it is not “Three strikes and you’re out.” Neither do they believe, “The third time is the charm.” Indeed, the sponsors of Initiative 1240 are hoping to turn in enough signatures by Friday to put the latest charter school measure before Washington voters for the 4th time in 12 years. Washington voters rejected charter schools in 1996, 2000, and 2004.
Bankrolled by some of the state’s wealthiest business elites and staffed by a virtual army of paid signature gathers (mostly from out of state), sponsors of the initiative say they will have more than the required 241,153 signatures turned in to the Secretary of State’s office by this Friday; taking just under a month to accomplish that goal. Moved by studies that tout the successes of charter schools in the 41 states that employ them, donors such as Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Nicholas Hanauer, Katherine Binder and Benjamin Slivka, and Mike and Jackie Bezos (parents of Amazon executive Jeff Bezos) have contributed over $2 million toward the effort.
Initiative 1240 would allow 40 charter schools over a five-year period. Only nonprofit organizations approved by the state