Everyone is entitled to an opinion. However, not everyone is a former state Supreme Court justice.

Philip Talmadge is a former Washington State Supreme Court justice and he believes the recent charter school court ruling is a mistake. A mistake that could end "many other innovative programs like Running Start ..." 

In an opinion piece Talmadge wrote Monday for the Tacoma News Tribune, he says the ruling was misguided. The basic crux of his argument is that the court is confusing "school programs with a common school system."

The state constitution must provide a system that is open to all. That doesn't mean that the state can't fund specialized programs, he argues.

That's why he thinks the ruling could jeopardize programs like Running Start, which are funded by the state yet not operated by local school districts.

"Public charter schools are as constitutional in Washington as in the other 41 states that approved them in the prior 20 years," he writes.

Read (or skim) the court's opinion here. Read Talmadge's opinion piece here.

 

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