The State Supreme Court, in a ruling that indicated an extreme partisan agenda unique for the court, declared voter-approved charter schools as unconstitutional – on the Friday afternoon before Labor Day weekend. The court’s ruling is the first in the nation to strike down charter schools in their entirety.
As could be expected, the ruling left charter school administrators, teachers, students, parents, and state lawmakers in a state of shock, scrambling to figure out what to do next.
Charter school advocates have 20 days to ask the court to reconsider its decision before the ruling becomes final and “wipes out the law voters narrowly approved three years ago.” The short turnaround does not give much time for charter school supporters to act.
That’s why Republican State Sen. Steve Litzow urged Jay Inslee to call a special session immediately following the court’s ruling. The Yakima Herald,
“‘Let the kids finish the year out and give the Legislature time to figure out a solution,’ said Litzow, chairman of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee. ‘But we don’t want to do this in such a way that the kids, once again, are getting hurt in the crossfire of a political move.’
“The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools also released a statement Saturday urging Inslee to call a special legislative session.”
Indeed, the only people who did not—and still do not—appear to feel any sense of urgency over how to deal with the court’s ruling are Inslee and his staff. David Postman, spokesmen for Inslee, stated on Saturday, “The governor is, I think, on an airplane now coming back from Japan but his staff has been talking to the Attorney General’s office since yesterday… It would be great if everybody wanted to give up their Labor Day weekend … but it’s not practical.”
Postman’s statement is concerning in two respects. First, he is not sure where Inslee is—he may or may not have been on a flight. We could only assume that Inslee’s staff lost our green governor for a while, perhaps he wandered off in the airport seeking secret sauce or his staff forgot him somewhere drawing pictures.
Second, and more importantly, Inslee and his staff do not think that the potential closure of schools in which 1,200 students are enrolled warrants they give up at least one day of their Labor Day weekend. Democrats keep proving that their call to “put children first” is just a slogan. It has no action behind it, and no sense of urgency.
tensor says
“‘Let the kids finish the year out and give the Legislature time to figure out a solution,’ said Litzow, chairman of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee. ‘But we don’t want to do this in such a way that the kids, once again, are getting hurt in the crossfire of a political move.’
Since charter schools unconstitutionally divert money from common schools, the only thing the legislature could do would be to amend our state’s constitution. That would require a two-thirds vote in each house, followed by a popular vote at the next election. Even if this was done — and with a simple majority of voters having approved I-1240, there’s no reason to believe two-thirds of our elected representatives would vote for such an amendment — it simply cannot be done quickly, so there was never any urgency for Inslee (or anyone else) to betray.
We could only assume that Inslee’s staff lost our green governor for a while, perhaps he wandered off in the airport seeking secret sauce or his staff forgot him somewhere drawing pictures.
Actually, the Puget Sound Business Journal reported he was inquiring of local officials about the best way our state government might prepare for tsunamis.
The picture of spinelessness,
Involves anonymous blog postings with unflattering images of the targets.
AbleAmerican1 says
The Longer you Elect Defication as your means of governance..as is Historically evident in the State of Washington’s Capitol.. & it’s Supreme Court of Misfits.. Very much like WDC..The LONGER it’s going to take eradicate the “STENCH”..That’s why Unions force members to pay dues even when members try to opt out & NOT have ANY say in WHAT Political agendas the Union heirarchy decides to use those funds. So, Washington “voters” you are NOW going to ‘pay the piper’ for your continuous ‘stool softening’ appetite..