Urgent! Action Needed Against Charter School Money Grab

There are four bills in the Washington State Legislature this session around charter school funding. 

Not only will charter schools receive more dollars from the state, if charter schools in Seattle start accessing both operations levies AND capital levies, you will see a direct hit to SPS. That budget deficit will only get larger if these bills pass.  

These bills will make the above happen.

I am begging you to contact to your senator and house representative NOW.

Here's how:

There are 4 bills in the legislature about charter school funding. Each Senate bill is linked to an accompanying House bill.

The bills are:

SB5809 - HB1418

SB5442 - HB1897

I beg you to contact your legislators and tell them to oppose these bills. 

- Here's a very easy link at the Washington State Legislature site that allows you to find your district if you don't know who your reps are. 

- An  link to the House representatives.

- An link to the Senate. 

Here's a synopsis of what you can say (but feel free to craft your own message):

The first issue is that in the charter school law, it explicitly says that a small percentage of charter school funding is reserved for oversight by the Washington State Charter Commission which oversees all non-school district-authorized charter schools. The freedom that charter schools receive does come at a price which is oversight.

Second, there are 18 charter schools in Washington State. Most of them receive some kind of private grant funding including funding for facilities from donors like the Gates Foundation. Charters do not like to acknowledge this funding but it is there.

Also, VERY important to understand is that in 2015, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that charter schools could not be funded by General Fund dollars. Charter schools receive their funding from the Washington Opportunity Pathways Account via the Washington State lottery. In the last year recorded, lottery funds have dropped. It is not a completely stable funding source. 

         The Opportunity Account funds early childhood education, college tuition for low-income  students, vocational education and more.

        What programs supported by the Account will lose dollars for charter schools to get more and why are charter schools more deserving than these other programs?

        Also, once the Legislature starts giving state grant dollars to charter schools, you will see real public schools suffer even more from the fewer dollars available.

Lastly, these bills would direct money from school levies to charter schools. If your district has charter schools within its boundaries, the money that comes from levies - levies that the teachers union, PTAs and community groups  help to pass - would see dollars go to charter schools.  

 

Testifying/Giving Written statements

Here's how to testify/give written comments for any given bill.  The second dark green box on the right says, "Sign up to testify/give written statement."

It will ask for the bill number and the committee. 

• The first hearing to give testimony/written statement is for HB1897 to the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday, Feb 1 at 10:30 am. 
• The next hearing to give testimony/written statement is for SB5442 to the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee on Friday, Feb 9th at 1:30 pm.
• The next hearing to give testimony/written statement is to the House Appropriations Committee for HB1418 on Friday, Feb. 16th at 4 pm. 

 I will update you for when SB5809 makes its appearance at the Senate Ways and Means Committee. 

As well, write to the Seattle School Board and urge them to speak against these bills.

It's  - SPSdirectors@seattleschools.org

Bill Information

SB 5809 is basically a money grab in all directions. It would direct OSPI to apportion money for buildings, more dollars for instructional staff, and transportation (hugely expensive).  

As well, charter schools would also be able to access dollars from levies that pass in the district where their school sits. So while PTA parents and community stump to pass these school levies, charter schools will just sit back and do nothing and get the dollars if the levies pass. In Seattle a levy has not failed since the early ‘90s. This change would devastate Seattle Public Schools.

Sadly, SB 5809 passed out of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee and has moved to the Ways and Means Committee. To note, the co-chair of Ways and Means is Republican Senator Mark Mullet who is now running for governor. As well, the co-chair of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee is Democratic Senator Lisa Wellman. It’s a mystery why she would embrace this bill.

The Senate Ways and Means has not yet scheduled a meeting to hear this bill.

The accompanying House bill - HB 1418 - was introduced in Committee and will have its first public hearing in the House Committee on Appropriations on Friday, Feb 16th at 4 pm.

There is also another set of bills, these to allow charter schools access to state grants.
SB 5442
This bill would allow charter schools access to any state grants for instructional staff, supplemental instruction dollars for ELL students, transportation, etc.

The Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee will have a hearing on this bill on Friday, Feb 9th at 1:30 pm.

HB 1897
The House Appropriations Committee will hear this bill on Thursday, Feb 1 at 10:30 am.