The Seattle Times reports that Mayor Durkan is considering whether to deny benefits to charter school families under the just-passed $600 million Families and Education Levy.

This is obviously unfair, and a denial of social justice, especially since charter schools largely help low-income and minority children in Seattle’s underserved communities (all of the city’s charters are located south of the ship canal).

After some investigation, I discovered that the same is true of Governor Inslee, State Superintendent Reykdal and some state lawmakers; state-level policy excludes charter school families from participating in state funding for educational facilities.

State and Seattle politicians like to talk about how they support social justice, but they go strangely silent when it comes to helping charter school families.

While professing devotion to fair and equal treatment to all, regardless of race and class, these politicians withhold public funding for the schools of low-income, minority charter school families.

Charter schools are a popular learning alternative in low-income communities.  Summit Sierra, in Seattle International District, serves 370 high school students.  Summit Atlas in West Seattle serves 240 students, and Rainier Valley Leadership Academy serves 250 middle and high school students.  Ashe Prep is set to open in the Skyway/West Hill neighborhood, primarily to serve low-income and immigrant families. 

All these public schools are scheduled for expansion in the coming year.  In fact, nearly all the charter schools in the state have waiting lists, and need more space to meet the growing demand from parents for good public school choices.

The issue is urgent because Seattle school officials are poised to ask voters for another tax increase, in February 2019, this time for $1.4 billion more under the BEX V Capital Levy for school construction and re-modeling.  As currently drafted, though, charter school families are barred from participating in the program.

The School Board’s exclusion of charter school families appears to violate its own policy, under Policy No. 0030, “Ensuring Educational and Racial Equity,” by which Board members promise to “provide every student with equitable access to a high quality curriculum, support, families and other educational resources...”

The same policy of exclusion occurs in the $1.626 Billion Capital Budget for 2019-21 and ten year capital plan drafted by Superintendent Reykdal.  He proposes $200 million a year for a “School Preservation Program”, but bars charter schools from participating.

The state supreme court recently ruled in favor of charter public schools, and these innovative alternatives are so popular in low-income communities that demand far outpaces supply.

State and Seattle officials often say they are for fairness, inclusion, and an end to persistent racial inequity.  Then, at the same time, they use their position of privilege to disadvantage charter school families, simply because of the kind of public school they happen to attend.