by PG Veer
Watchdog Arena
September 11, 2015
In a 6-3 decision on September 4, the Washington state Supreme Court ruled that the voter-approved referendum to allow charter schools, proposition I-1240, was unconstitutional. The court said that charter schools, since their boards are not elected, cannot be considered “common schools” (i.e. public schools) and are ineligible for public funding.
This decision was met with both surprise and disappointment by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, one of the defendants in this case.
“This is the first time such a decision has occurred,” said Nina Rees, president & CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. “Charter schools exist in 42 states and the District of Columbia, and they are doing just fine.” She even wondered if the plaintiffs in this lawsuit had an ulterior motive.
When confronted with this charge, Cynthia Stewart, Vice President of the League of Women Voters of Washington (one of the plaintiffs) was puzzled as to “what ulterior motive there could be.” She told Watchdog that “We have worked very hard on the school funding issue for the last few years and believe strongly in the constitutional mandate for ample school funding for all students.”
A study released in 2012 by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice found that public charter schools don’t actually drain resources from traditional public schools.
The League also sent a press release saying that they fought charter schools as early as 1996 in order to have “common schools [opened] to all children . . . free, and subject to, and under the control of, the qualified voters of the school district and [not] publicly funded experimental schools whose management was not controlled by and accountable to the voters.”
In reality, charter schools are more accountable than traditional public schools because their charters can be revoked if they do not perform. Of course, the teachers’ unions don’t like that, but they do like this court decision.
“Charter schools steal money from our existing classrooms, and voters have no say in how these charter schools spend taxpayer funding,” said Kim Mead, president of the Washington Education Association.
But they may ultimately have a say in the matter. Rees and her defendant allies will try to work with Governor Inslee in order to at least allow the schools to remain opened for the rest of the year. That might prove to be futile as the Center for Education Reform doesn’t see Inslee as a big fan of charter schools and school choice.
School choice supporters are considering another ballot initiative, this time to amend the constitution to allow charter schools to receive public funding by having an elected board. The next election will be next year.
In the meantime, “we are confident. We have the data and stories on our side,” Rees said. The NAPCS is very active on social media to raise awareness about the battle over school choice in Washington. They actively tweet their concerns using the hashtags #saveWAcharterschools and #EdJusticeforWA.