Washington State [Private] Charters Get Their $14 Million
Four day after the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that Washington State charter schools do not qualify as “common” (i.e. public) schools, King5.comreports that the Washington State Charter Association has raised the $14 million from private donors in order to keep the nine charter schools open for a year absent any taxpayer funding.
The nine schools are completely privately funded, yet the media cannot seem to stop referring to the schools as “public” schools. King5.com reporter Janna Hanchard does so (“TACOMA, Wash. — Millions of dollars are being set aside to keep the lights on at public charter schools across the state”), as does Robin Lake of the University of Washington’s Center for Reinventing Public Education (“I guess it’s ironic or something that the only public school that will be open in Seattle tomorrow is a charter school”). However, calling schools that have been barred from receiving public funding “public” schools does not make them so.
The September 04, 2015, Washington State Supreme Court ruling dealt with that issue: Calling charter schools “public” schools does not mean that they are according to the Washington State constitution.
In order to become “common” (i.e., public) schools, Washington State charters would need to answer to an elected school board.
They do not.
Thus, it does not matter if the charters have set up their version of accountability. They need to be held accountable to an elected board to qualify as “common” (i.e., public) schools– and to dip into taxpayer money for their funding.
Of course, the politically-charged battle is on, with the Washington State Charter Washington State [Private] Charters Get Their $14 Million | deutsch29: