Charter schools in Washington state can continue to receive public funding, the state’s high court ruled last week.
Washington voters first approved the opening of charter schools in 2012. That law was challenged by several groups, most prominently the state’s teachers’ union.
In a bombshell ruling in 2015, the state Supreme Court ruled that charters were unconstitutionally funded with money for the state’s common schools—essentially traditional public schools. That effectively shut down the state’s nascent charter sector, at least for the time being. It was the first ruling of its kind nationally in the 25 years that charter schools have been around.
The next legislative session, lawmakers passed a law to resurrect the state’s charter sector. In last week’s ruling, the justices did stike down part of the law that restricted the ability of charter school employees to unionize.
