Wayne Au: Washington’s charter ruling.
-By Wayne Au. Wayne Au is an Associate Professor of education at the University of Washington, Bothell and an editor for the social justice education magazine, Rethinking Schools. This originally appeared in the 2013 Washington State Kappan. Au was one of the named appellants in the suit overturning the Washington charter law.
After rejecting charter schools three times since 1996, Washington State voters approved Initiative 1240 (I-1240) by a 50.69% majority in November 2012, potentially paving the way for charter schools here. While there are several problems with I-1240, I have two major concerns.
First, it radically redefines the “public” in public education. Under I-1240, while locally elected school boards can be authorizers, the state board for authorizing charter schools is appointed, and the governing boards of the charter schools are appointed as well. This structure is complicated by the fact that charter schools in Washington State will be funded by public school dollars following the students into charter schools. This combination of appointed governance and state funds means that I-1240 functionally creates a separate charter school system, one using public monies but with no required mechanism for public accountability. This is a classic redefinition of public education vis-à-vis a business paradigm of school reform, and in this definition the public good equals consumption amidst deregulation. Thus, as the argument goes, charter schools will improve education through business-like production and competition.
There are, however, significant problems with this paradigm:
1. Students are not manufactured like products or assembled like cars. Humans are complex beings who develop unevenly and under a diverse array of conditions. Similarly, schools are not businesses where “productivity” can be easily measured when it comes to human learning and teaching;
2. The deregulation of public education and lack of public accountability Wayne Au: Washington’s charter ruling. | Fred Klonsky: