Anxiety High Over Charters, K-12 Aid in Wash. State

Washington state Attorney General and GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna visits with students at the Muckleshoot Tribal School in Auburn.

—Mike Kane for Education Week

By Andrew Ujifusa

Seattle

A tight race for governor, the heavy burden of rebuilding a school funding system recently declared unconstitutional, and a fourth ballot measure in two decades on charter schools has placed Washington state on an intense—and unpredictable—road for education this year.

Washington is one of nine states that don't allow charter schools, and the largest among them in population. Charter advocates nationally, who are keeping a close eye on the referendum, stress that Washington is the only noncharter state with a large metropolitan area such as Seattle-Tacoma, home to many underprivileged students they argue would benefit most from charters.

The Republican candidate for governor, state Attorney General Rob McKenna, supports charters along with some Evergreen State political progressives, but he also wants to partner with the state teachers' union to expand the share of the state budget dedicated...