Fight for Washington charter schools continues

As the state Supreme Court looks at legal arguments for reconsideration of its September ruling on charter schools, charter advocates continue to lobby for their cause.

The court ruled Sept. 4 that the voter-approved law establishing charter schools was unconstitutional. But the nine schools — all but one newly opened in August — have continued to stay open as they wait to see if the court will reconsider its ruling.

On Thursday (Nov. 19), buses from Tacoma and elsewhere will ferry more than 400 students and parents from charter schools to Olympia, where they will rally at the Capitol, testify before a joint Senate committee meeting and meet with legislators.

Students will also learn about how a bill becomes law.

They will testify before a joint Senate committee workshop that includes members of both the budget and education committees.

The joint legislative meeting is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 4 and can be viewed online at TVW.org.

The Legislature is scheduled to begin a 60-day session on Jan. 11.

On Tuesday, the state charter school association announced the launch of a new coalition to advocate for charters.

The group, Act Now for Washington Students, is a partnership between the Washington State Charter Schools Association and three other organizations: Democrats for Education Reform, the League of Education Voters and Stand for Children.

Act Now plans to use social media as well as online, mail and television advertising to convey its message. The group’s goal is to ensure that parent, student and voter voices are heard as the court decides whether to reconsider its decision.

The Sept. 4 court ruling said that charter schools don’t qualify as common schools because they’re governed by appointed, rather than elected, boards. Therefore, the court said, charters are ineligible for public funding.

Since then, a series of legal briefs have asked the court to reconsider its decision. The briefs have been filed by the charter association, state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, a bipartisan group of 10 legislators and four former state attorneys general.

Charter advocates have said that the court’s ruling would adversely affect the more than 1,000 students, many of them low-income and students of color, who are already attending charters. They also say it threatens other types of education programs created by the state, including tribal compact schools and Running Start.

This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 3:21 PM with the headline "Fight for Washington charter schools continues."