WA Supreme Court to hear challenge to controversial charter school law

The Washington Supreme Court has agreed to hear the latest case challenging the constitutionality of the state’s controversial charter school law.

The court will hear the case on May 17.

The challenge, filed by El Centro de la Raza, WEA and a diverse coalition of other public school supporters, argues the new charter law is unconstitutional because it diverts public funding to privately run charter schools that are not accountable to the public – at the same time the state is failing to fully fund our public schools.

The Supreme Court already overturned a similar charter school law in 2015 for similar reasons. Many community groups oppose charter schools. The NAACP called for a moratorium on new charter schools in 2016.

The Washington Supreme Court ruled in November that the state is not amply funding our public schools as required under its McCleary decision and the state Constitution.

US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is a big supporter of sending public funding to privately operated charter and voucher schools.