On September 4th, in a 6 – 3 ruling that stunned parents three weeks into the school year, Washington’s state supreme court voted to shutter the state’s nine charter schools and forbid the opening of new ones.  The ruling suddenly left 1,300 schoolchildren in educational limbo.

Charter schools operate in 42 states and serve some 2.9 million children.  They are non-controversial and extremely popular with parents.  Before opening, each of Washington’s nine charter schools had to hold lotteries to fill a limited number of slots because of high demand from families.

Charter schools operate just fine in other states and have done so for years.  Washington is the only state where the state supreme court has ordered charter schools closed.

Parents, education advocates and a bipartisan group of legislators have called on the justices to reverse their decision.  Now four respected former Attorneys General, three Republicans and one Democrat, have done the same.  Rob McKenna, Christine Gregoire, Ken Eikenberry and Slade Gorton recently filed a brief, here, asking the six justices to review and reverse the ruling. 

The new legal brief questions the contorted reasoning the justices used to reach their decision.  The court majority said that, since lawmakers pay for public education out of the general budget, any spending devoted to programs not considered a “common school” is unconstitutional.  The justices then ruled that public charter schools are not “common schools,” effectively defunding them.

The former Attorneys General respectfully point out that under this reasoning any non-common school educational program, like Tribal Schools and the Running Start higher-ed program, would also be defunded.  As they put it:

“The [Majority’s] opinion will make it very difficult for the current and future Attorneys General to defend challenges to non-common school education funding that is appropriated from the state general fund.

“The Majority’s opinion also puts at risk other appropriations from the general fund that pay for programs such as children and family services, mental health, developmental disabilities, and aging and adult services, to name just a few.”

The former AGs join current Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who filed a separate brief asking the court majority to reverse its ruling.  It would take just two justices to change their votes for the court to announce that, upon further review, it had decided charter schools could continue as part of Washington’s public education system.

Failing that outcome, the legislature could pass an authorizing bill and send it to Governor Inslee for signing.  The governor has indicated he opposes charters, but he might respond to public calls to let the bill become law.

Charter schools do not need to be a controversial issue, given their popularity and the fact that the public clearly wants parents to have a charter school option.

Students who go to charters say they love their school.  Kai Baker, a sixth-grader at Destiny Charter School in Tacoma, told Governor Inslee, “Please help me and my family...by supporting charter schools in Washington.  We deserve a chance to be great and go to college.”

Either solution, a reversal by the court or a bill passed by the legislature, would save charter schools in Washington state.  I don’t think parents and the public care which it is, just as long as leaders in Olympia get it done.  A positive outcome for charter schools would mean that Washington’s most deserving students, like Kai Baker, would continue to get access to a great public education.

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