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Washington’s Charter Shell Game and Another Lawsuit
The League is in a new lawsuit in the state of Washington. Charters were approved by the voters in 2012, but the League of Women Voters called the move unconstitutional. The Charter School Case filed by the League et al in 2013 was appealed all the way to the state’s Supreme Court. In 2015, the Court ruled that charter schools violated the Washington constitution. Charters were not public schools. In order for the legislature to fund charters, they must be governed by elected school boards, and of course, they were not.
The legislature was not deterred.
Charter School Parents Have No Rights
In charter schools, parents may have choice but no rights. What does this mean? In this brief from the American Bar Association, the rights that parents assume they have are valid for public schools but not charters. According to recent court decisions in a California Appeals Court and a U.S. District Court in Hawaii, charters have the right to dismiss students in a manner that would be unconstitutional in a regular public school.
As the number of charters grows, charter parents need to beware.
Suspension Happy Charter Schools
Charter schools represent 7% of New York City’s school population but 42% of all student suspensions. Of the top 50 schools with high suspension rates, 48 were charters. These schools are clustered in the heart of black communities in Harlem, Crown Heights, Brownsville and Brooklyn. The problem extends far beyond New York. Parents are pushing back.
Local Control Issue Finds Tennessee
by Anne-Marie Farmer
in the Voter from Nashville League of Women Voters
In response to the Nashville school board’s denial of the Great Hearts Academies charter application, the Tennessee legislature passed the state charter authorizer law, which gave the State Board of Education (SBOE) the power to authorize and oversee a potential charter school whose application was rejected by the local school board. Last year, the SBOE used this authority for the first time, overriding a decision by local officials in Nashville to deny the application for an additional KIPP charter school. That means that, while the funding for the additional KIPP school will come primarily from local funds, the school will not be under the supervision and authority of the local school district, but instead be accountable only to the SBOE. Another charter appeal, currently pending before the SBOE, will test whether the SBOE intends to expand its role in opening charter schools over the objection of the local school district. This is an important test.
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- League Members visit the office of Senator Marco Rubio
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- League Members wait to see Senator Bill Nelson
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- Education Team at the Department of Education
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