Washington education chief wants special session on charter schools
The state teachers union and the League of Women Voters were among the groups that challenged the law.
The Washington court overturning a 2012 law that allowed publicly funded but privately operated schools.
The latest donations may buy time for the schools to operate privately while the state Legislature tries to clarify the law.
The state Supreme Court’s surprise decision to throw out charter schools has left over 1,200 students and families anxious about what is next for their schools.
“The public has no voice in management or oversight of charter schools; they are private with private boards”, Diane Ravitch, an education historian and prominent critic of charter schools, wrote in an e-mail.
A student peers outside the front door of Olympus High School in Tacoma, one of three charter schools opening in Tacoma this year.
Those protections were not enough for the Supreme Court, serving as a reminder that the will of the people remains subject to the state constitution.
The parties in the case, including Excel and the Washington State Charter Commission, have 20 days to file a motion for reconsideration, which Sefrioui said will happen. Therefore, “money that is dedicated to common schools is unconstitutionally diverted to charter schools”, Chief Justice Barbara Madsen wrote.
Classes were in session on Tuesday morning at Excel following Labor Day weekend, and two new students had enrolled at the school, Sefrioui said. This would, in effect, make charters more like traditional alternative schools but “on steroids”, Spitzer said.
“We finally felt hopeful that our kids would have the kind of education that us as voters had voted for, that we believe they deserve”, Garcia said.
Sefrioui said even if the court ruling is upheld, Excel will continue to serve its students. In addition to Excel, seven additional schools have or are slated to open this year.
He resisted a call for a special session earlier this year when the Supreme Court ruled the Legislature had not followed orders to come up with a plan to replace the property tax system in which some school districts use part of their levy funds to augment school salaries – a state responsibility.
Some groups such as the Charter Schools Commission and a few lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic sides want Gov. Jay Inslee to call a special session to fix the law. They argued charter schools were siphoning money that would otherwise go to traditional public schools.
Even as charter-school proponents criticized the Washington decision as anachronistic, some said they agree that local voters should have more say over public education in cities like New Orleans, Detroit and the District, where a significant proportion of children attend charters.
While the ruling only directly affects Washington’s charter schools, and charter advocates will be looking for ways to have it reversed, it does spotlight what should be a growing debate about the importance of local control of public education. This would mean the hiring of a principal must be approved by the local superintendent, and rules applying to common schools still would apply to charters. Efforts to improve public education have often seen local control as an obstacle to educational improvement.Washington education chief wants special session on charter schools » Bulletin Leader:
