School Reform Initiatives I-177: Charter Plan Would Create A New Breed Of Schools

One side promises parents more control over their children’s education.

The other side predicts erosion of the state’s public education system.

Voters will decide who’s right in the emotional debate over initiatives to create charter schools and school vouchers.

Charter schools are independent public schools free from most conventional rules and constraints. Under Initiative 177, they could be created and run by parents, teachers and other non-profit groups.

Twenty-five other states have charter school laws, although they vary in how closely the schools are tied to the state and how many are allowed.

Jim and Fawn Spady, Democrats from Seattle, sponsored the initiative after becoming dissatisfied with their children’s schools.

“The key benefit for parents is they’ll offer an approach that works for their kids,” said Jim Spady. “Current public schools are kind of one-size-fits-all.”

Charter schools couldn’t be religious or run by hate groups. They couldn’t charge tuition or discriminate based on race, religion, economic status, disability or sex. They’d set their own disciplinary procedures and codes of conduct.

The schools would be regulated much like private schools and could bypass teachers’ unions or start their own.

Critics say charter schools wouldn’t be held accountable to the taxpayers who pay for them. Reports required by the plan - including attendance, complaints, finances and average test scores - wouldn’t be enough, they argue.

“If it’s the citizens’ desire to create truly independent schools, that’s what this bill does,” said Brian Barker, executive director of the Association of Washington School Principals.

Opponents say the plan is unfair because it would allow charter schools to use vacant public school buildings.

While the initiative wouldn’t force charter schools on any district, critics say voters would be forced to confront the issue too often.

Even if approved statewide Nov. 5, voters in each school district would decide in a special election in March whether to allow charters in their area.

If they voted no, they’d face a ballot item on charter schools alongside each levy and bond issue.

It’s too soon to tell how well charter schools work in other states, but enthusiastic parents and students have created long waiting lists.

I-173: School vouchers

Initiative 173 is also aimed at giving parents more choice and control over their children’s education, supporters say.

It would create school vouchers - a topic of intense national debate but so far implemented by only two cities.

Vouchers are basically checks parents can use to pay their children’s tuition at any non-religious, private school that will enroll them.

Their main backer, Ron Taber, says vouchers would help improve education, partly because they could be used at both non-profit and for-profit schools.

“When people are working for profit, they sacrifice and work harder. That’s the American way,” said Taber, an Olympia Republican running for state superintendent of public instruction.

“They’re more competitive, more likely to be innovative and change education for the better.”

Both the voucher and charter school initiatives have strong opponents, including the Washington Education Association, the League of Women Voters and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Vouchers, critics say, would create another layer of bureaucracy in public education while weakening existing schools.

First, said Al Shanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers, they’d skim the brightest and most involved families.

“The private schools would look better and better than the public schools because they’d be picking the students who’d already gotten a good education.”

Vouchers would be worth at least 55 percent of what public schools spend on the average student. Next fall, when the initiative would become effective, that’s estimated at about $3,400.

Private schools wouldn’t be forced to accept vouchers, and new voucher schools could open as long as they had at least 25 students.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: INITIATIVE 177 Allows voters to create “renewed” school districts where non-profit organizations could run “independent” public schools, free from many of the usual rules and regulations.

INITIATIVE 173 Would create school vouchers that allow parents to use public money to pay for tuition at private, non-religious schools.