Download the full legislative memo here

Key Findings:

1.  An inequity in state law denies local levy funds to children who attend public charter schools.

2.  Voters intended charter school families to receive funding on the basis of equality, but the levy ban against families was enacted as part of a legislative compromise that saved charter schools in the wake of a hostile state supreme court ruling.

3.  Local levies provide, on average, $2,200 per student, or about 17 percent of the $12,565, in total per student funding provided each year.

4.  Charter schools are effective at teaching at-risk children and offer a popular learning alternative in communities where administrators send children to failing schools based on zip code.

5.  The levy ban is targeted disproportionately against children from low-income, immigrant, and urban communities.

6.  WEA union executives strongly oppose charter schools, and consider these families as “other” or “less than” and not deserving of receiving equal resources from the community.

7.  All families deserve equal treatment.  Lawmakers should end this social injustice and ensure that levy funding is provided to all Washington school children on the basis of equality.

Introduction

In 2012, voters made Washington the 42nd state to allow charter schools as an option for families in the public school system.  That year, popular approval of Initiative 1240 gave Washington one of the best charter school laws in the country.  Charter schools are popular with parents and research shows they are effective in helping children at greatest risk of falling behind.  Attending a public charter school is based on family choice, so these innovative schools offer an effective alternative in communities where administrators send children to failing schools based on zip code.

To secure fairness and social justice in school funding, the voter-approved law provided levy equity for all families.  Parents who send their children to a public charter school had equal access to local levy funding that was passed by voters after their school opened.