Last week 12 families fought back against the WEA union’s new, second lawsuit against charter school children. With the help of former state attorney general Rob McKenna, they have moved to intervene in the union’s lawsuit, to make sure their voices are heard.

Charter school families have already faced a lawsuit attack from the powerful WEA union; yet charter schools emerged victorious and more popular than ever after that attack. Last September the state supreme court issued a flawed and plagiarized ruling in the WEA’s first lawsuit against charter schools. This ruling threatened the existence of eight charter schools serving 1,200 students, who are mostly low-income and minority children. Yet the parents and grandparents of these children rallied and fought back. They testified before legislative committees. They attended rallies. They wrote their legislators. They wrote editorials for their papers. The Legislature responded on March 9^th, 2016, when 10 Democrats joined 48 Republicans in the House of Representatives to save charter schools, in a victory for the children and a stunning defeat for the WEA union. In the end, the state legislature passed SB 6194, saving charter schools, and in effect cancelling the union’s first lawsuit.

Charter school families have good reason to defend their charter schools from this second union lawsuit.  State test results from last spring show Washington’s charter schools are outperforming traditional schools. See The Seattle Times, here. For example, students at Rainier Prep, in South Seattle, are making significant progress in closing the achievement/opportunity gap between majority and minority children. In math, 58 percent of black fifth-graders and 76 percent of black sixth-graders at Rainier Prep passed the state test, compared to 21 percent of black fifth-graders and 29 percent of black sixth-graders in the neighboring Highline School District.

The WEA union cannot prevent these exciting results from reaching the eyes and ears of parents whose children are poorly served by their traditional zoned schools.

Here are the names of the 12 families moving to intervene in the WEA union’s new lawsuit:

• Shirline Wilson and her son Miles, a Rainier Prep student, who live in Seattle
• Delanas “Del” Johnson and his son Jalen, a Summit Sierra student, who live in Seattle
• Natalie Hester, a parent of a Summit Sierra student, who lives in Seattle
• Roland Bradley and his grandson Ben, an Excel Public Charter School student, who live Seattle
• Jennifer Lee and her daughter Angie, a Spokane International Academy student, who live in Mead
• Heidi and Scott Mitchell and their son JD, a PRIDE Prep student, who live in Spokane
• Darcelina Solaria and her son Kai, a Spokane International Academy student, who live in Spokane
• Gen Fiorino and her grandsons Dylan and Tyler, PRIDE Prep students, who live in Spokane
• Gustavo Cueva and his daughter Tatiana, a Summit Olympus student, who live in Tacoma
• Crystal Swaffer and her sons Tristen and Asher, SOAR Academy students, who live in Tacoma
• Gahyun “Sunny” Lee and her son Wonoh and daughter Yulan, Green Dot Destiny students, who live in Tacoma
• Eduardo Pacheo and his daughter Ava, who live in Yakima and are organizing to open a charter public school in their community

These mothers, fathers and grandparents are an inspiration. They have the courage and determination to see that their children get a good education. No union lawsuit or threat is going to dissuade them from enrolling their children in one of Washington’s high-quality public charter schools.       

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