On Friday, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled the state’s funding of charter school was unconstitutional. I believe the Court made several legal errors in its decision, and demonstrated a severe misunderstanding of the state budget. The ruling also has the practical and devastating effect of closing schools for 1200 Washington students who had found a home at a state charter school.
But even if the ruling is correct (and it is now law regardless), there are several changes the Legislature can make to correct the issues the Supreme Court had with charter school funding.
This is what I told the Associated Press today:
Some lawmakers, including Auburn Republican Rep. Drew Stokesbary, suggested the Legislature could make tweaks to the law as needed, such as by segregating the money that could be used for charter schools in a separate account. Stokesbary noted that the ruling also has implications for other types of educational programs – including tribal schools that receive state money and Running Start, a program by which high school students can gain college credit.
“The idea those things could be threatened is really concerning,” he said.
You can read the full article at KOMOnews.com