By The Associated Press
and Peninsula Daily News
EDITOR’S NOTE: This updates with quotes, details. There are no charter schools in Jefferson or Clallam counties, and no plans by any school district on the North Olympic Peninsula for a charter school.
OLYMPIA — The state Supreme Court ruled Friday that the state’s voter-approved charter-school law is unconstitutional, throwing the new school year into chaos for about 1,200 pupils enrolled in the system.
In a 6-3 ruling, the high court said charter schools do not qualify as “common” schools under Washington’s Constitution and cannot receive public funding intended for those public schools.
The decision didn’t specify what will happen to the schools that are already open or the students who attend them. Instead, the justices sent the case back to King County Superior Court “for an appropriate order.”
“Our inquiry is not concerned with the merits or demerits of charter schools,” Chief Justice Barbara Madsen wrote for the majority.
“Whether charters schools would enhance our state’s public school system or appropriately address perceived shortcomings of that system are issues for the legislature and the voters. The issue for this court is what are the requirements of the constitution.”
In 2012, state voters passed Initiative 1240, making Washington the 42nd state to approve charter schools. The measure provided for the opening of as many as 40 publicly funded, but privately operated, charter schools within five years.
A charter school is run by an independent board of directors. Charters aren’t bound by many of the rules governing traditional districts; they operate under their own standards of conduct and curriculum outside the realm of local public school districts.
While many state statues and regulations may still apply, charters can establish their own methods of operation, similar to how many private schools are able to design their instructional and social practices.
The first charters opened at the start of the past school year. This school year, eight more have opened, with classes beginning over the past few weeks. The schools are in Spokane, Tacoma, Kent, Highline and Seattle.
Not ‘common schools’
Citing a state Supreme Court ruling from 1909, Madsen said the charter schools are not “common schools” because they are controlled by a charter school board — not by local voters.
She said she saw no reason to overturn that precedent, and she further rebuffed an argument from the state that the charter schools could be paid for from the general fund rather than money specifically intended for public schools.
She was joined in the ruling by Justices Charles Johnson, Charles Wiggins, Mary Yu, Debra Stevens and Susan Owens.
In a separate opinion, three justices agreed with the majority that charter schools are not common schools, but argued that the charter school law was still valid.
“Nowhere does the Act identify a source of funding, it merely states that charter schools must ‘receive funding based on student enrollment just like existing public schools,’” wrote Justice Mary Fairhurst.
“Because the Act neither identifies a source of funding nor commands the use of restricted funds to support charter schools, it withstands appellants’ facial
challenge and is constitutional.”
Gov. Jay Inslee’s office and the Washington State Charter School Association, an advocacy group for the schools, said they were reviewing the ruling.
“We are reviewing the court’s opinion and will be consulting with the Office of the Attorney General,” Inslee’s spokesman, David Postman, said in an email.
“The decision strikes down the voter-approved charter school system. But until we have a thorough analysis we can’t say what that means for schools operating today.”
What is a charter school?
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools says “charter schools are unique public schools that are allowed the freedom to be more innovative while being held accountable for advancing student achievement. Because they are public schools, they are:
“Open to all children;
“Do not charge tuition; and
“Do not have special entrance requirements.
“Charter schools were created to help improve our nation’s public school system and offer parents another public school option to better meet their child’s specific needs.
“The core of the charter school model is the belief that public schools should be held accountable for student learning. In exchange for this accountability, school leaders should be given freedom to do whatever it takes to help students achieve and should share what works with the broader public school system so that all students benefit.”
But, according to Change.org, “charter schools get overwhelmingly positive press and make a lot of claims about their success. But actually, numerous studies confirm that their achievement is indistinguishable from that of traditional public schools. Some are very successful, some are troubled and struggling, and the rest are somewhere in between just like traditional public schools.”
