Mercedes Schneider reports that the few charters in Washington State intend to stay open with private funding and continue to seek public funding.
A few days ago, the Eashington State Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that charter schools are not entitled to state funding because they are not “common schools,” as defined in the state constitution. They do not have democratic control but are run by private boards.
“Thus, the nine charter schools in Washington State in 2015-16 will almost certainly not be funded using public money. However, as Komo News reports, all nine schools vow that they will remain open this school year by raising the estimated $14 million they need via private donations.
“Note, however, that the intention is that charter schools draw public money and not just survive on private funds. So, these nine charters’ surviving the year on private donations is certainly a short-term fix. The public can watch to see who steps up with the temporary millions– unless the money does not come from a nonprofit– in which case the public might not know who is financing the effort.
“Meanwhile, as Komo News notes, the Washington State Charter Schools Association plans to petition the Washington State Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling (and to perhaps turn to the dissenting opinion of three judges who stated that they agreed that charter schools are not common (i.e., public) schools, but that they should be able to be funded via the general fund.”
Hmmm. Wonder who will put up $14 million? Maybe the same small group of billionaires who put up $17 million to pass the referendum on charters, which passed by about 1%.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
$300 lunches for astroturf foundation employees, or charter school educations for children? Oh the choices.
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It is fine for these 9 charters to stay open, but not to be funded with public taxpayer money, which now would be law breaking . They can advertise themselves as private schools and collect tuition, apply for grant funding, get donor funding, like any other free enterprise private school. That would be real parental choice. Pay up or shut up.
California is gearing up to press a similar lawsuit that would invalidate the charter school law passed in the mid 1990s.
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According to this morning’s edition of Politico Education, Robin Lake of the Center for Reinventing Education at the University of Washington, which advocates for charters and “portfolio districts,” tweeted the following: – “I guess it’s ironic or something that the only public school that will be open in Seattle tomorrow is a charter school,” tweeted [http://bit.ly/1VMDdnj ] education researcher Robin Lake, a nod to the Washington state Supreme Court ruling late last week that the state’s charter school law is unconstitutional.
The real irony is that Robin Lake refers to charter schools as “public schools,” right after the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that they are NOT public schools.
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These folks have tunnel vision.
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Good, this should be a national ruling. Private schools funded privately and public schools with public monies. It’s worked for many years and guaranteed public access to education.
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If they don’t do this right and resolve the public/private issue it will continue to dog both charter and public schools for decades.
I don’t know why they’re so reckless, given what has happened in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
What are these schools? What kind of public duty do they have? Are they a special class of schools that don’t have the responsibilities of the public system? Should people support that? What about transparency and democratic governance structures? What about local funding? What about the existing public schools? If they get hurt was the trade-off worth it for “choice” for some parents?
They put so little thought into this law that the state supreme court found it violates the state scheme? Shouldn’t that alone give them pause? I mean, my God. Bill Gates doesn’t lack lawyers, I’m sure.
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K-12 public education has been in play here just like all other places in our country. The new wrinkle here is we can expect Gates/Walton/Broad/Bloomberg and the rest to throw much more money into state Supreme Court races. Every office is our state is now very high stakes. Did ya hear Chris Vance is running for Senate against Patty Murray? Bwaahahaha! Vance doesn’t have a chance. Interestingly he has been a consultant to Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn, a Democrat in a nonpartisan post. Rumor has it Dorn is retiring. We’ll find him on the deformers payroll very soon.
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What happens when taxpayers decide against supporting public schools period. What if every bond measure is turned down.
I began voting against them when I saw where the money went at the school in which I taught: the complete remodeling of serviceable teachers’ bathrooms, the replacement of lockers (which had been removed because the students could not use them responsibly and were late to class.) And now the I Pad, playing field, and student records debacle. Next comes the teacher shortage, which looks to be worse than expected.
How many high school graduates will want the job? Flipping burgers could be easier and leave more time for surfing– ocean or Internet.
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Now that the judges in Washington State have their say, we are still left with 42 more states and DC where charter schools are legal and exist. It is too early for the people who do not like charter schools to rejoice.
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No one expects this to spread beyond Washington state, so therefore, no large scale rejoicing. Washington has a constitution that spells out the definition of public schools differently than other places. We all understand that.
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Charter schools aren’t illegal anywhere, they just are not public and do not deserve public funds or the ability to leech off of the public system. They are what they are, let them be funded by their backers.
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Funny, someone here suggests that people in this blog expect this is going to trigger a sweeping effect of anti-charter movement. Do you really think this is education version of anti-gun control or gay marriage??
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