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Common Dreams reports
The Seattle Times reports that
The ruling--believed to be one of the first of its kind in the country--overturns the law [I-1240] voters narrowly approved in 2012 allowing publicly funded, but privately operated, schools.
Teacher and author Mercedes Schneider offers more on the Act:
As is true of charter schools nationwide, the charters in Washington State (up to the current ruling) were eligible for public funding diverted from traditional public schools. Charter schools were approved via a November 2012 ballot initiative (I-1240, the Charter Schools Act) in which charters were declared to be "common schools" despite their not being subject to local control and local accountability. And also like America's charters in general, Washington's charters are not under the authority of elected school boards.
Thus, Washington voters had approved to give public money to private entities--a one-way street that provided no means for such funds to overseen by the public.
[...] The new ruling (pdf)[1] states that charters, "devoid of local control from their inception to their daily operation", cannot be classified as "common schools," nor have "access to restricted common school funding."
[...] "The Supreme Court has affirmed what we've said all along--charter schools steal money from our existing classrooms, and voters have no say in how these charter schools spend taxpayer funding," said Kim Mead, president of the [Washington Education Association], in a statement.
"Instead of diverting taxpayer dollars to unaccountable charter schools, it's time for the Legislature to fully fund K-12 public schools so that all of Washington's children get the quality education the Constitution guarantees them," Mead continued.
The Associated Press reports that the state had one charter school last year, and eight more have opened in the past few weeks.
I pity Ms. Schneider's students if she routinely starts sentences with conjunctions--especially consecutive, redundant conjunctions.
[1] I had trouble with the connection.
(Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Monday September 07 2015, @05:13PM
Sweet jeebus, angry much? There was a reason I put "consumer" in the quotes... If you don't like the analogy then stop using it in the rest of your post. Provide more explanation please, your post is just an angry rant without much analysis.
We need the flexibility of charter schools. Solve the problem of financial oversight and we're set.
Oh, the equal opportunity ruining democracy bit... right. Since public schools will still be available, and every child will still receive an education, you are basically saying that public education right now is ruining effective democracy. I think I know what you're angry about, the idea that charters pick and choose their students. That isn't much different than public schools with honors classes.
There are problems with both systems which need to be resolved. Public education is dominated by administrative control, and charter schools do not have enough oversight. Unless you can fix public schools these issues are not going away, no matter how angry you get.
It seems this has become another partisan issue, so logic is out and rhetoric is in.
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday September 08 2015, @12:14AM
Sweet jeebus, angry much?
Sorry. It was because we have think of the children!