On October 25, 2018, in another victory for charter school families, the state supreme court upheld the constitutionality of Washington’s charter schools. The high court approved charter schools as a part of the state’s public education system. Washington state has 12 public charter schools now serving 3,500 students, with another 1,000 or so on waiting lists.  Sixty percent of charter school families live in minority, low-income and immigrant communities.

With charter school families secure, for now, from direct lawsuit attacks by the WEA union, lawmakers in Olympia should now work to restore equity and social justice for these families.

First, charter schools should be allowed to share equally in local levy funding.

Local levies provide on average $2,295 per student, or 17%, of operating revenue. In Seattle, the home of three charter schools, the School Board makes sure charter schools receive no levy funding. Yet Seattle’s other schools get $4,000 per student in local levy funding. In Tacoma, the home of three other charter schools, the School Board also denies them local levy funding. Yet Tacoma’s other schools get $3,000 per student in local levies.

When taxpayers approve local levies, they want to support all families, without exclusion or discrimination.  An inclusive funding policy would make sure charter students receive their fair share.

Second, charter schools are denied access to local capital funding, and charters are denied funding from the state’s School Construction Assistance Program.

This is another unfair inequity that lawmakers should correct. Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal says in his 2019-21 biennial K-12 Capital Budget request that:

“…All students in Washington should have the opportunity to attend school in a facility that supports health and safety, and provides the best educational outcomes for every child, regardless of a school district’s ability or inability to raise capital project funds.” 

Superintendent Reykdal adds that:

“OSPI aims to ensure all school districts have adequate funding and supports to reduce the disparity in overall building quality across the state.”

Superintendent Reykdal’s 2019-21 biennial K-12 Capital Budget proposes the state spend $11 billion on school construction for traditional schools over the next ten years.

Then, however, Superintendent Reykdal cuts out charter school families.  His budget request allocates not one dollar for facilities at public charter schools.

The 2019 legislature will soon consider Superintendent Reykdal’s capital funding request.  They should take him up on his commendable sentiments about equality and adequacy of school funding for even the poorest districts in Washington state, by adding into his budget what he left out – inclusive, fair and equal state funding for charter school families.