Teachers union plans charter-school challenge

By Linda Shaw
Seattle Times staff reporter

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The state's largest teachers union yesterday voted to challenge a charter-school law passed so recently that Gov. Gary Locke's signature barely has had time to dry.

The 1,100 delegates at the Washington Education Association's annual meeting in Spokane voted overwhelmingly to file a referendum asking voters to overturn the law, passed by the Legislature on March 11 and signed by Locke last week.

Now the union must collect roughly 98,000 signatures by June 9 to qualify the measure for the November ballot.

"Before the Legislature and Gov. Locke begin pouring millions of tax dollars into charter schools, the state needs to fulfill its commitment to existing public schools — including fully funding voter-approved initiatives to reduce class sizes and provide annual cost-of-living increases for teachers," WEA President Charles Hasse said in a prepared statement.

The union also doesn't think lawmakers should approve what it considers an unproven experiment that voters have turned down twice — in 1996 and 2000.

"We're asking the Legislature to live up to its responsibility to do the will of the people," said Peter Bogdanoff, social-studies coordinator for the Bellevue School District and member of the union's board of directors.

The legislation cleared the way for a new breed of public schools in Washington state — privately run but publicly funded schools that now exist in nearly 40 other states across the country.

The legislation allows just 45 new charters over six years, with the majority reserved for those that serve students from disadvantaged backgrounds. School boards also could convert existing schools into charters if they're falling short of the test-score goals set out in the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Charter schools here would operate under a charter, or contract, between a nonprofit organization and a school district or the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
 
The charter outlines the school's plans and responsibilities. If the school doesn't live up to the charter, it can be closed. In return, charter schools would be free from most of the regulations governing other public schools.

They must, however, take any student who wants to attend and, if they have too many, select them with an impartial method, such as a lottery.

Supporters say charters are a tool that will strengthen the public-school system by fostering innovation and allowing entrepreneurial teachers to create the schools of their dreams. They point to charters in other states that have been very successful.

They think voters will support charter schools if a referendum makes the ballot because their popularity continues to grow.

"Charter schools are a genuine grass-roots education-reform impulse in this country," said state Sen. Steve Johnson, R- Kent.

State Rep. Dave Quall, D-Mount Vernon, said the referendum doesn't make a lot of sense.

"It seems like it's going to be an expensive proposition for them (the WEA) to spend those kinds of dollars to defeat something that's designed to benefit tough-to-educate children."

Along with fighting charter schools, union delegates also voted this week to sue the state, saying it's not living up to its constitutional responsibility to fund basic education. The union expects to spend up to a year researching that litigation.

It plans to ask other groups to support both efforts — the lawsuit and the referendum.

Other charter opponents include the Washington Association of School Administrators, the Washington State School Directors' Association, and the League of Women Voters. Several school boards, including those in Seattle and Edmonds, also have passed resolutions expressing opposition to charter schools, the union said. The Federal Way School Board passed one in support of them.

Meanwhile, charters supporters are planning a conference for April 16-18 in Seattle. Conference organizers include businessman Jim Spady and his wife, Fawn, who have worked for years to bring charter schools to Washington state.

Jim Spady said he's been getting lots of calls from teachers who are thrilled that charter-school legislation passed, and are eager to learn how to start one.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com

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