Katy Vancil: Students at charter public schools deserve equal funding

The young people I serve as a counselor are just like other high schoolers in Spokane, except for one important detail: All my students are also parents.

At Lumen High School, a charter public school in Spokane, our mission is to offer educational pathways for teen parents who meet high academic standards alongside specialized services that support them and their children at this critical life juncture. Our goal is to ensure that our students’ role as parents perfectly aligns with their role as scholars. Unfortunately, our ability to achieve that goal is under threat because funding originally allocated for our school was pulled away and given to another education program, a potentially devastating development in maintaining operations at public schools like Lumen.

Our model is made possible by Washington’s charter public school law which means our school is free to attend, requires no admission testing, and is publicly funded. Additionally, our staff has the flexibility to meet the needs of our students as they earn their diplomas and advance into higher education and/or careers.

Before Lumen, I had no idea that education could be loving and rigorous at the same time. When our kids walk in the doors, my first job is not to see if they brought their homework, but to ask them where they slept last night, if they need breakfast, or how their infant’s health is progressing. At Lumen, we recognize that our students cannot possibly learn if their basic needs – and those of their children – are not being met.

Our specific population of students is a prime case study for how charter public schools provide students and families an important option within the broader public school system. No public school can be asked to be all things to all students. In Spokane, we’re able to support this particular community of students and do it well thanks to our education model and the accessibility of Washington’s charter public schools.

Lumen uses a project-based education model. A sit-and-get learning framework might work in a traditional school. But if our students are going to succeed academically and progress to their college and/or career of choice, we must meet our students where they are – from doctor’s appointments to birth recovery. Because our students are spending time outside of school learning how to parent, they do not have access to the same kinds of extracurricular experiences as their peers.

Part of our job is to provide them with opportunities to learn that accommodate the realities of their life and family. However, those experiences cost money and limited funding means our team must be on the lookout for grants and donors to make our resources go farther. Over the past three years, the state Legislature invested in charter public schools to close the distance in funding, and I urge lawmakers representing us in Olympia to do so again this year.

Despite our success in supporting teen parents, our students receive less state funding than their peers in other public schools. Unfortunately, lack of access to permanent enrichment funding is unique to charter public schools and perpetuates the funding gap. Our students are public school students – they deserve the same investment as their peers, no matter what public school they attend.

For our elected officials and community members who care about the future of Washington’s young people, we must remember that we are only as strong as the most vulnerable among us. We should embrace the responsibility to give teen parents and their children the care and education they deserve to strengthen the future for us all.

Although not all charter public schools serve the same population as Lumen High School, we are all responding to a community need for a flexible public option to serve our children. State lawmakers must protect and maintain funding for charter public schools, not claw back critical funding necessary for basic education resources. A successful public school system where every student has the chance to succeed cannot be built by pitting one group of public school students against another. As Washingtonians, we expect our representatives in Olympia to support pathways that allow for investing in the needs and futures of all public schools students.

Katy Vancil, of Spokane, is a counselor at Lumen High School and the proud parent of two children in Spokane Public Schools.