Washington to allow charter schools after billionaire-backed initiative squeaks through
Washington becomes the 42nd state to allow public charter schools to open now that ballot Initiative 1240 has passed, apparently by about 1 percentage point — this after a group of billionaires, including Bill Gates, donated more than $10 million to get it pushed through.
Under the initiative, as many as 40 charter schools will be permitted to open across the state over the next five years.
Because Washington state voters had rejected the idea of opening charter schools three times since 2004, supporters of the initiative did everything they could this year to make
