business backgrounder | education & workforce
Association CEO Thomas Franta. “Traditional schools do a good job of meeting the needs of the majority of kids, but there
are large swaths of our population that we are not adequately preparing for successful futures.”
An October 2015 study by the Center for Reinventing Public Education backs Franta’s assertions.
The study, which examined educational improvement and opportunity across 50 major U.S. cities, including Seattle,
reported that white children in Seattle are almost 10 times as likely as
black children to attend an elementary or middle school with reading test
scores that rank in the top 20 percent citywide. Additionally, Seattle’s lowincome children were about four times as likely to attend low-performing
schools. Only 14 cities had a wider gap.
“When you’re talking about kids,
you can’t have the mentality that
‘we’re working on it.’”
— Rep. Eric Pettigrew, D-Seattle
at a glance
Voters narrowly approved Initiative 1240, allowing the
creation of public charter schools, in 2012.
A group of education advocates — state teachers’
union, school administrators association, League of
Women Voters of Washington, among others — sued
to invalidate Initiative 1240 in 2013.
A King County Superior Court judge ruled in December
Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Eric Pettigrew, D-Seattle, speaking on the House
floor in Olympia. (Photo courtesy of Washington State Legislative Support
Services)
rewind: voters approved public charter schools in 2012
Over the years, there have been several attempts to pass bills through the
Legislature and statewide ballot measures to authorize charter schools
in the state. But it wasn’t until 2012 that supporters of the idea agreed on
one proposal, Initiative 1240.
The initiative passed, albeit narrowly, in November 2012. Not a
new concept by any means, this made Washington the 42nd state to
approve public charter schools. The measure allowed for creation
of 40 public charter schools in the K-12 education system. But for
those entrenched in the traditional public school model, it was a
controversial change.
2013 that public charter schools are not “common
schools” as defined in the state constitution, a ruling
that was appealed to the state Supreme Court.
The state Supreme Court handed down a 6-3 ruling
Sept. 4, 2015 deeming the public charter school law
created by Initiative 1240 unconstitutional. The court
upheld the ruling Nov. 19.
According to the Washington State Charter Schools
Association, 70 percent of those currently attending
the new public charter schools are students of color
and two-thirds of the children are living in poverty.
For public charter schools to remain open, the
Legislature must craft a fix to the law in 2016.
state supreme court rules i-1240 unconstitutional
A coalition of groups, including the Washington Education Association,
the state’s largest teachers union; Washington School Administrators
Association; and the League of Women Voters sued the state in 2013 to halt
the creation of public charter schools allowed through passage of I-1240.
Washington is the 42nd state to approve the creation
of charter schools.
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