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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Washington charter school law best in nation, according to report

Spokane International Academy sixth-graders, from left, Mason Davis, Bela Cruz and A.J. Anderson roll marbles down some of the paper "rollercoasters" the students made as a final project in a section about physics Friday, June 10, 2016. (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)

Washington State’s reinstated charter school law is the best in the nation - tied with Indiana and Nevada - according to the National Association of Charter School Authorizers.

The report, published Tuesday, scored each state against “eight known best practices in school accountability and authorizer quality,” according to a news release.

The report looked at who authorizes the schools, standards for authorizing new schools, evaluations, sanctions and performance reports among other things.

“Washington is a national model for how to get charter school policies right,” said John Hedstrom, Vice President of Policy for NACSA in a news release. “Its law strikes the right balance that gives charter schools the freedom they need to thrive, while ensuring these schools meet a high bar and are good schools for students and taxpayers.”

According to the report Washington State charter schools received a perfect score. Since 2005 NACSA has focused on charter school authorizers, school expectations, oversight and accountability.

Idaho was ranked 20th according to the report after the state “modernized its law to put several charter school accountability mechanism in place.”

Spokane Public Schools is one of Washington’s two charter school authorizers. In September the state’s eight charter schools got a $6.9 million, three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

A pro-charter school organization, the Center for Education Reform, criticized the NACSA report saying Washington has “serious deficiencies” in state law. According to a news release issued by that organization Washington’s charter law is too restrictive and doesn’t leave room for individual school innovation.

Washington’s charter schools have had a tumultuous year and a half. Days after the schools opened in 2015 the state supreme court ruled them unconstitutional. Several months later the schools were adopted by the Mary Walker School District, in Springdale. Then in April the legislature passed a bill that fixed the funding issue, using money from the state lottery, although Gov. Jay Inslee didn’t sign it.

In August, the Washington Education Association, along with several other organizations, filed a lawsuit against the state’s charter schools trying to overturn the April legislation diverting money from the state lottery to fund the schools.

In 2012, voters passed Initiative 1240, making Washington the 42nd state to approve charter schools. The measure provided for the opening of as many as 40 charter schools within five years. The first opened in the fall of 2014; there are now eight, in Spokane, Tacoma, Kent, Highline and Seattle.