House Speaker Frank Chopp (D-Seattle) is an important figure for the future of charter schools in Washington state. Last week the state Senate passed a charter school fix, SB 6194. Over the weekend Governor Inslee praised charter school students after his visit to Destiny Middle Charter School in Tacoma. Speaker Chopp’s position on charter schools is relevant to what happens next, so it is significant that in 2004 Speaker Chopp supported charter school legislation.

In 2004 the Legislature passed the Washington Charter Schools Act, HB 2265, with Rep. Chopp’s “yes” vote a deciding vote. Democratic Governor Gary Locke signed the bill on March 18, 2004. The powerful Washington Education Association union then launched a repeal effort in the form of Referendum 55, which passed in November of 2004.

That was a dozen years ago, before the public knew much charter schools. Since then charter schools have grown in popularity with parents. Charter schools are especially popular with low-income and minority parents. Their safe and disciplined learning environments, and their customized specialty programs for children are attractive to parents. Today charter schools are expanding rapidly, with 6,700 public charter schools enrolling 2.9 million students throughout the country. Charter school enrollment jumped by 14 percent nationwide between 2013-14 and 2014-15. 

Growing demand for charter schools explains why voters passed Initiative 1240 in 2012. With the passage of Initiative 1240, Washington state became the 42nd state in the nation to allow public charter schools.    

Now that Washington has eight operating charter schools, they are no longer hypothetical.  Lawmakers can visit the schools and see for themselves how they are helping students. Below are two three-minute videos from Excel Public Charter School in Kent.

In the first video, Excel’s teachers describe their innovative “computational thinking” learning model:

In the second video, Excel parents describe the positive impact the school is having on their children:

As House lawmakers deliberate in Olympia, these videos show why there is so much enthusiasm for charter schools, by students, parents and teachers in Washington state. 

This report is part of WPC’s Charter School Follow-Up Project