Judge in pending charter school case accepted campaign money from charter school opponents
On Saturday, state supreme court Judge Mary Yu spoke at a meeting in Spokane to the lobbying arm of the WEA union. At the same time, executives at the powerful union have a case against charter school families pending before her court. On May 17th, she and the other eight justices will hear a request from the WEA to close every charter school in the state.
If this gives you a feeling of deja vu, you are not alone. In 2015, just as children were starting the school year, Judge Yu and other justices voted to close the state’s charter schools, shuttering classrooms to some 1,300 kids. A bi-partisan vote in the legislature overturned the decision, but the WEA union executives didn’t stop there. They have filed another lawsuit against charter school families. The case goes before the state supreme court in May, so it is odd that Judge Yu chose to attend the lobbying meeting of the group in April.
Or maybe it’s not so odd. The WEA runs the largest, wealthiest lobby operation in the state, according to reporting by The Seattle Times. Union executives give heavily in political races, including those for state supreme court. In all, the WEA Political Action Committee funneled $330,000 into statewide judicial races in 2016, including thousands of dollars to Judge Yu’s campaign.
Union executives are angry that today some 2,500 families choose to enroll their children in independent charter public schools and that more charter schools open every year. The WEA sees learning choice as a threat to its power within the school system. Also, teachers at these popular charter public schools are not forced to pay the union as a condition of employment. Freedom to educate children without paying a union costs WEA executives, as they see it, thousands of dollars a year in “lost” mandatory dues.
Naturally, charter school families are worried. Can they really expect impartial justice when one of the judges in the case is enjoying the applause of the people who want to close their schools?