For Immediate Release:                                                         
January 31, 2019         

Media Contact:
David Boze 206-946-1018

SEATTLE-- Since the day it opened in 2015, Tacoma and state officials have adopted a policy of shorting SOAR Academy on funding.  They denied all charter school families access to district-raised taxes, thus cutting the school’s funding by over $3,000 per student.

SOAR Academy offers small classes, extra help for students, and daily art classes.  The school serves 180 students; 80 percent are students of color, 77 percent qualify for free or  reduced lunch, 15 percent are homeless.

WPC’s Education Director Liv Finne has issued the following statement:

The Tacoma School Board starved SOAR Academy of $3,000 per student in local funding, with the idea that a school they see as competition would close.  This didn’t have to happen.  School officials should stop discriminating against charter school families, and make sure they receive funding on an equal basis as everyone else.

For more information about how Washington state discriminates against charter schools and how it unfairly denies public charter schools access to public funding, see WPC’s latest video on the subject: