Dive Brief:
- Despite a Washington state Supreme Court decision striking down public funding for the state’s charter schools in September, the schools will receive the money until a now-finalized Dec. 9 cut-off date.
- For two months, the decision was held up in appeals, keeping state money flowing to the schools.
- The state's Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for charters to get state funding because they are not governed by an elected school board, KPLU reported.
Dive Insight:
There’s no precedent for what happens next, as the nine charters in Washington state will no longer have the public funding they depend on to continue operations. “The Washington Charter Schools Association has promised the schools will stay open through the year, saying it would tap a network of roughly 50 donors who could cover all nine schools' operating expenses if necessary,” KPLU reported.
Approximately 1,200 students attend the charters, and they had only recently begun operating before the new decision was handed down. The ruling was ultimately dependent upon a narrow definition of “common schools” in the state's constitution and is currently unlikely to lead to similar rulings in other states.