Senate Joins House in Voting to Save Charter Schools
/By Matt Halvorson
Every day this school year, every kid in every charter school classroom in the state has studied and learned without knowing if his or her school would be allowed to stay open.
Every day this year, every teacher in every charter school classroom in the state has worked hard to teach every single kid, all while knowing the schools that pay them might be forced to shut their doors.
Every day this year, each one of the 1,100 charter school students in our state -- including some in my neighborhood, and probably in yours -- have heard the daily expressions of systemic and overt racism and classism directed at them and their school.
They have felt attacked and unwanted by their own communities and their own state, even as a wall of teachers, administrators, parents, friends, advocates and legislators did their best to shield them and fight for them.
But today, finally, we are on the verge of something different.
The Washington State Senate voted in favor of equity in education today, approving a bill by a 26-23 margin that will save public charters schools and create a long-term path for their success.
The vote comes on the heels of yesterday's bipartisan show of support in the House. The bill now heads to Gov. Jay Inslee's desk to be signed into law, finally putting to rest this last-ditch effort on the part of the state teacher's union and other stagnant education organizations to block charter schools from gaining a foothold in the state.
“We expect Gov. Inslee will respect the bipartisan legislature’s vote, respect the will of the voters, and most of all," said Tom Franta, CEO of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, "respect the parents and students who worked so hard for this victory today on behalf of not just their schools, but every kid statewide.”
Advocates mounted a powerful grassroots campaign which, coupled with a paid effort, called steadily on legislators to reinstate the 2012 law overturned by the State Supreme Court last fall.
More than 1,100 families already benefitting from public charter schools were joined by many more voices from Yakima to Walla Walla, Spokane to West Seattle, all advocating for equity in education.
The bill that passed today reflects that effort but does contain some clear compromises that differ from Initiative 1240. The bill eliminates charter school access to local levy monies, and it removes provisions authorizing the conversion of traditional public schools into charter schools.
Still, this bill's passage represents a resounding success for low-income families and families of color in Washington State. And we may see the charter school movement bloom even brighter for having gone survived this assault.
Many, many of those 1,100 students and parents and siblings became activists and advocates in recent months. At first it was simply a fight for themselves and their own schools, but they became part of something much bigger.
For all the dark sides this unconstitutionality business has evoked, and for all the ignorance and fear it has revealed, this is at least one glimmer of a silver lining. In the midst of its shadowy maneuvering, maybe the WEA and its fellow clingers-on to the status quo accidentally activated the Puget Sound's next generation of homegrown advocates for equity in education.
I hope they did. It would serve them right.
