Washington’s Charter School Battle—Let’s Set the Record Straight
Originally posted in The Progressive.
Washington State has been ground zero in the fight over charter schools this past year, and misinformation abounds.
Over the last several years Bill Gates and the Waltons of Walmart poured millions of dollars into Washington to establish charter schools in the state.
Last fall the Washington State Supreme Court decided that those charter schools are unconstitutional, due to a lack of public oversight while using taxpayer dollars. The same organizations backed by Bill Gates including the League of Education Voters (LEV),Stand for Children (SFC) and the Washington State Charter Schools Association along with Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) founded by hedge fund managers, began funneling money to state legislators tobring bills to the floor that will circumvent public oversight of these charter schools.
Why all the flurry of activity over charter schools in our state? It’s the money, of course.
Charter school operators, owners and CEO’s stand to gain millions by taking Federal, state and district money to run their schools, whether they meet standards set by school district guidelines or not.
Many of these charter schools will take state money allocated for each student and then, particularly if they are special education students or students with behavioral issues, or Washington’s Charter School Battle—Let’s Set the Record Straight | Seattle Education: