Washington State Charter School Updates

There are three letters of intent for new charter authorizers districts- Tacoma, Highline and West Valley in Yakima.

 In 2013, there had been 13 school districts from around the state that submitted a notice of intent to become authorizers.  Only Spokane followed thru.  Tacoma was in that first group but not Highline or West Valley.

Spokane School district has three letters of intent.
Moose Project (Magic of Oral and Signing Education for near-deaf/deaf students but all students may enroll) is one of them but I am working on finding out who the others are.

Update:  the other two applicants for authorization by Spokane are iLEAD (K-8),opening in 2015, and Spokane International Academy, also a K-8.  Their letter of intent does not say when they want to open. iLead has two other charter schools in California. End of update

(There is some irony about these charters starting up in Washington state because I'll outline in another thread how charters are falling apart in other states.)  

Great flowchart from the Commission of how the process works to become a charter in Washington State.

As of June 20, 2014, there are 12 notices of intent from 12 non-profits to open charter schools.  From the Washington State Charter Commission:

Clark County:

Bilingual Charter Academy 

Franklin County:
SOMOS, Educational Institute 

Grays Harbor County:
Pioneer Youth Corps of Oregon Inc., Evergreen Leadership Academy 

King County:
Out of the Box Learning Studio
Green Dot Public Schools Washington State, Seattle Charter School Quantum Leap Educational Foundation, Coral Academy of Science 

Pierce County:
Achievement Peaks Schools, Achievement Peaks Charter School, Tacoma Preparatory Academy
The Ducere Group, The Village Academy
Northwest Leadership Academy, Tacoma STEM Academy 

Yakima County:
Academy of Continuing Education, Cesar E Chavez Charter School Charter Schools of Sunnyside, Sunnyside Charter Academy 

More information about the organizations, including a brief description of the mission and vision of the proposed schools, may be found on the Commission’s website at http://www.governor.wa.gov/issues/education/commission/applicant.aspx under ‘Submitted Notices of Intent.’ 

Of the twelve, Pioneer Youth Corps of Oregon Inc., Big Picture Learning, Green Dot Public Schools Washington State, Quantum Leap Educational Foundation, The Ducere Group, and Charter Schools of Sunnyside all submitted applications in the Commission’s inaugural Request for Proposals (RFP) in 2013.

The Commission welcomes the new and returning applicants in their efforts to demonstrate how they intend to improve educational outcomes for at risk students. 

The applicants can now look forward to completing comprehensive application that is due July 15, 2014, as well as engage in in-person interviews in late August, and attend a public forum in the first half of September. The Commission will vote on which applications to approve during its October 9, 2014 meeting at the Yakima Valley Community College in Yakima, WA. 

None of these are conversion charters so no one is organizing around that idea (but something may be coming for Seattle so I'll let you know as I find out more).  

Tacoma STEM Academy would be a Pre-K-8 school to open in 2015.  They would be located in Tacoma. 

Achievement Peaks Academy Charter school would be K-6 and be located in Tacoma.  Wants to open in 2015.  This is part of a group of charters; here's their application for Los Angeles.  It's a lot of ed blah, blah, blah plus the ability for the student to be there 100% of the time or at home learning on-line 100%. 

Tacoma Preparatory would be a high school in Tacoma with language immersion and STEAM.  Desires to open in 2015.  Virtually nothing on-line about its non-profit, Auauna Mo Tupulaga except that it is registered as one. 

Out of the Box Learning Studio would be grades 5-12, located in the Rainier Valley.  Desires to open 2015.  Run by a former KIPP educator.  

Seattle Charter School is a Green Dot to open in 2016 in South Seattle for grades 6-12.  Green Dot did not check the "conversion" box but I suspect that, with that opening date in 2016, they will try to get their ducks in a row to take a Seattle school over.  That is what my Spidey sense tells me (along with a few other signs).  

Bilingual Charter Academy would be P-8 (starting K-5), opening in 2015 in Clark County.  

Sunnyside Charter Academy would be K-8 (starting K-5), opening in 2015 in Sunnyside.  (I recall this being on of the stronger first charter applicants that got rejected)

Village Academy would be 6-12, opening in 2015 in Pierce County.  It appears to be a STEM/language immersion.  They checked the "disability" box which said to list the disability served but they did not.  

Evergreen Leadership Academy for grades 6-12 would open in Grays Harbor in 2015.  They tried the first round and had a very weak application.  It is a military intervention-type school.  

Coral Academy of Science is yet another second-timer and is connected to the Gulan chain of charters in the U.S. that have had many problems.  Again, I cannot see how the Commission could consider this group unless there was a real disconnect from Gulan.   They want to open a K-12 in South King County in 2015.  

El Camino (that's the whole name listed on the NOI) would be a K-5 opening in 2015 in Pasco.  It would be a dual language/"bicultural" school.   I can't find anything on the non-profit group that submitted the application, Somos Educational Institute, except an address and that they are registered with the IRS.  

The Cesar E. Chavez school had been in the last group (I thought) but it may have just been a mention in a news article and they didn't follow-thru.  Dual-language, mentions CC.  K-8, located in Yakima.  Desires to open in 2015.

To note: there is only one charter opening this fall, First Place in Seattle.  But seven others were approved.  If there were eight more approved this round, then by Fall of 2015, you might see about 14 charters opening all at once.