washington state charter schools; after the supreme court ruling, who was working to prop them up?

8/19/2019 Washington State Charter Schools; After the Supreme Court Ruling, who was working to prop them up?

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Who Tried to Save Charter Schools in Washington?March 28, 2016Melissa Westbrook

Exective S!!ar"

Washington State passed a charter school initiative in November 2012 by a less

than 2% margin after three previous failures both in legislature and at the ballot

box.

A variety of groups – the League of Women Voters, the Washington Education

Association, and El Centro de la Raza among others – filed suit that the law was

unconstitutional on a variety of grounds.

It's important to recall that the King County ruling - the original ruling on the law in

December 2013 - stated that charter schools were not common schools for

funding BUT that fact could be severed from the law. The ruling was then

challenged to the Supreme Court. By the time it got to the Supreme Court,

charter schools had already started enrolling students. Not a single charter

school website nor charter school advocacy group website warned prospective

parents of this litigation.

The Supreme Court ruling, 6-3, on September 4, 2015, found that half right - they

said charter schools werenot common schools and, without the funding, could

not exist. They remanded the case back to King County Court where it still sits.

Also, to understand, the Court was very clear that this was"not about the merits

or demerits of charter schools"nor would the Court address their usefulness and

said they would leave that to the Legislature and voters. The issue for the Court

was the constitution.

The uproar from charter schools and their supporters was immediate. They

called fouled and asked for a reconsideration from the Court. The Court denied

that request on November 19, 2915.

The charter schools were concerned over whether their schools could continue

on withoutstate funding. However, public disclosure e-mails show that they had

the money fromprivate sources, like Steve Ballmer and the Broad Foundation,

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The charter schools and their supporters used their money and their influence

and their lobbyists to rush thru a deeply flawed bill that now sits on the desk of a

Governor who ran as being against charter schools.The legislature could have

chosen to save these eight charters schools but waited on a new bill that

would pass constitutional muster and yet Republican legislators refused todo that.

The charter schools and their supporters advocated for less-than-ethical actions

in order to survive.

Whether any governor should sign a bill under these circumstances is an

important question.

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Who Tried to Prop Up Charter Schools in Washington State?

March 28, 2016

A narrative by Melissa Westbrook, writer/moderator of Seattle Schools

Community orum blo! based on media re"orts, her own re"ortin! and"ublic disclosure documents from #S$% and &reen 'ot(s 'estiny MiddleSchool charter school) All items in italic are *uotes and any items inbold were done by me)

BACKGROUND

Washington State passed a charter school initiative in November 2012 by a less

than 2% margin after three previous failures both in legislature and at the ballot

box. From The Progressive:

The initiative is based on a model bill written by the American Legislative

Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC, the Center for Media and Democracy explains,

is a powerful group that influences the legislative process around the country by

enabling right-wing Republicans to work face-to-face with corporate lobbyists to

author and pass model bills that can be replicated from state to state

After getting Initiative 1240 onto the ballot, proponents of the bill spent $10.9

million, making it the third most expensive initiative campaign in state history. Sixindividuals collectively spent more than $9 million in support of the initiative,

including Bill Gates, Alice Walton of the WalMart fortune, and Eli Broad, founder

of the Broad Foundation. In contrast, opponents of the measure raised

approximately $700,000. –

A variety of groups – the League of Women Voters, the Washington Education

Association, and El Centro de la Raza among others – filed suit that the law was

unconstitutional on a variety of grounds.

To note, the Washington State constitution has very specific language on public

education for K-12, calling it the “ paramount duty of the state make ample

provision for the education of all children resident within its borders, without

distinction or preference on account of race, color, case, or sex.”It also laid out a

naming of “common schools” to be funded out of the General Fund versus other

types of “public schools.”

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It's important to recall that the King County ruling - the original ruling on the law

in December 2013 - stated that charter schools were not common schools for

funding BUT that fact could be severed from the law.

However, the Supreme Court ruling, 6-3, on September 4, 2015, found that half

right - they said charter schools werenot common schools and, without the

funding, could not exist.

Also, to understand, the Court was very clear that this was"not about the merits

or demerits of charter schools"nor would the Court address their usefulness and

said they would leave that to the Legislature and voters.

The issue for this court is what are the requirements of the constitution.

The Court was not ruling about the law being a "strong" law or "right" or "fair" - it

was about meeting the constitution of the state of Washington.

The defendants filed for a reconsideration of the ruling and the Supreme Court

ruled against it, 5-4, on November 19,2105.

While the Court's timing was not good, AGAIN, most the blame for upset charter

parents should be laid at the feet of the Charter Commission and charter schools

who did not advise prospective parents of this lawsuit.

Using public disclosure documents from Green Dot Public Schools (GDPS) and

OSPI, it is possible to follow a timeline of events by many people and groups that

tried to save charter schools.

As it stands today, approximately 700 students from former charter schools

(down from a stated high of about 1200 students) are enrolled thru Mary Walker

School District near Spokane in an ALE program (Alternative Learning

Experience.) One former charter school, Summit Sierra, has their 200 studentsin a homeschooling program.


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wouldn’t have affected the entire law. In fact, when this lawsuit was in front of the

King County Superior Court, it rules that the “common schools” provision was

severable from the other elements of the law.

Public charter school advocates argued in support of the law in front of the StateSupreme Court almost a year ago. We don’t know why the Court would make

this decision after schools were already opened. That just isn’t the right decision

for kids.”

I could find no documentation – either in the public disclosure documents nor the

charter school websites – that explains why the charter supporters didnot file for

anexpedited ruling with the Supreme Court which would have likely prevented

this outcome of opening charter schools under a cloud.

In a recent interview on TVW, Chief Justice Madsen pointed out the average time

for most cases to go thru the Court and thatthe charter school case was,

indeed, about average at 90-120 days. She also made the disclosure that no

request for an expedited ruling was made.

Maggie Meyers from the Washington State Charter Schools Association

(WSCSA) in aSeptember 5, 2015 e-mail told other charter leaders “We are

hearing from some parents that they have not been notified yet by their charter

school.” Thisafter the ruling had been rendered.

What else did the charter schools say about the ruling?

. They talked about making the issue of charter schools a “moral

imperative” forlower courts.

. The head of Excel charter school, Gillian Williams – in aSeptember 6,

2015e-mail to other charter school leaders - said this:

"This fight is not over and thetruth-telling about the crass media playof this court at the cost of students who most need support has not even

begun."

As well, Bill Kiolbasa WSCSA’s CFO in aSeptember 6, 2015 e-mail said:


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Some might read the timing of the Court’s decision – 4 pm on a Friday before a

holiday weekend – as an intentional effort to confuse, delay, and divide charter

proponents in an effort to further weaken the movement.

The final item includes a formal advocacy and political campaign to be managed going forward by an expert national political consulting/campaign firm.

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RIGHT AFTER THE RULING

September 4, 2015

Tom Franta CEO of WSCSA to charter school leaders:

Guys, The Supreme Court just ruled, and it looks bad…very bad.

This was followed by an e-mail the same day from Gillian Williams as Board

Chair of Excel to other charter leaders:

Appreciate the efforts of the Commission and WA charters on legal and political

front but best efforts are not likely to be enough in this fight. As the leaders of the

board I think we need to have a much stronger voice here and stop waiting for the

direction of the other groups.

I also think we should have a very public voice. Too many people I am talking

with are simply saying "oh good, no more charters." Even the anti-charter folks

need to understand the travesty of how this decision was handled.

We create either a letter to the editor or take out a full-page ad in major

newspapers with our united position. We need public outcry about what is being

done to these 1200 students.

"Founders made implicit promises and staff signed up to lead the way on

this.Founders can and should support these staff so they are not left hanging,

and so that they are in a position to support any transition for students and

families should they need to retire to traditional schools mid-stream.

Who Ms. Williams was referring to as “founders” is unclear; she may have meant

those who funded the charter schools.

For example, Green Dot Washington had already received start-up funds from

the Broad Foundation of $475K. The Charter School Growth Fund had given

them about $3.9M and the Gates Foundation had given Green Dot PublicSchools about $3.3M for “national expansion.”)

September 6 e-mail from Paul Graves at Perkins Coie law firm (he is on the

Board of Excel Charter School):


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WSCSA expects $15M funding promises by end of the week which should be

enough to keep each school open for the rest of the year. PR hit (if you can

raise that much money so fast why do you need public funds?) but

obviously for the best

-Initiative- not a first choice by any means but contracting with an initiativeorganization to explore the possibility

- PR campaign that firm has hired that is coordinating messaging, op-eds,

interview, etc. “

PLANS FOR RALLIES RIGHT AFTER RULING

Several rallies were planned at charter schools sites throughout the state.

Sep. 4 from Genny Cadena, Principal at Green Dot’s Destiny Middle School

Green Dot National has a whole team of people working on talking points for us

and they want us to call individual parents.

Stand for Children Washington is credited as one of the founders of Green Dot’s

Destiny Middle School. Stand for Children Washington organized the rallies.

E-mail from Stand for Children Washington head, Dave Powell, had details for the

four rallies planned in Seattle, Tacoma, Kent and Spokane.

Eric Shellan at Stand will work with GMMB and WSCSA on ensuring flyers are

ready for Schools to distribute on the rallies Tuesday morning.

Stand is working on drafting the agendas and event logistics, including arranging

travel to the events as needed from individual schools.

GMMB is a national PR/communications firm based in Seattle and Washington,

D.C.

Sep 7

Rush on t-shirts for rallies - $5,000 plus$1,000 for rush delivery

Sept 8

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Anne Martens at the Gates Foundation wants to throw a bake sale at rally for PR

stunt. She wrote to Bree Dusseault at Destiny Middle School and Jen Wickens at

Summit Sierra:

The teacher Union in Seattle is organizing a soup drive to feed the teacher(sic)as they go on strike and the media is loving it.

But Jen Wickens at Summitt didn't want to do this because they had told families

theyDID have the money for the year and didn’t want to confuse the issue.

(Note: Ms. Martens was referencing the Seattle teachers’ strike that was going on

and support for it. It wasnot teachers who organized this support; it was Seattle

Schools parents who organized in support of teachers and schools thru a new

group,Soup for Teachers. Their work was not a PR stunt: they ended up

supporting teachers at every single Seattle public school.)

September 11, 2015 E-mail from Washington head of Stand for Children, Dave

Powell

I just heard back from the lobbyists for Stand, DFER and LEV. Staff from

Stand,LEV and other groups available to make phone calls, pass out flyers.

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CONTINUING ON AS PUBLIC SCHOOLS

OSPI said that these schools, after the final ruling on the reconsideration by the

Supreme Court, were“former charter schools.” The charter schools then had to

decide what road they would take to continue on – public or private. E-mailsindicate that they were all prepared to go private.

But for the eight remaining charter schools – including Green Dot – if they

remained public or private, there was worry over how to fund their schools for the

rest of the year.

Sep 7th e-mail from Rekha Bhatt at WA Charters to Charter leaders

On agenda for conference call

School operations - work with Randy Dorn andRob McKenna to ensure a path

forward (independent schools, home school, ALE possibly pilot)

Note: Rob McKenna is the former Republican Attorney General of Washington

State and ran for governor in 2012 and lost to Democratic Jay Inslee. He now

has a website – Smarter Government Washington.

September 6 e-mail from Marco Petruzzi, CEO of Green Dot Public Schools, to

Maruerite Kondracke of Social Venture Partners Seattle, Bree Dusseault ofGreen Dot’s Destiny Middle School and Andrew Buhayar of the Gates Foundation

(who is also on the Washington board of Green Dot schools):

I did get an informal “we got your back” from Gates on Friday night before

sending out the email to our staff asking them not to worry about their livelihood.

I think they and a bunch other foundations will come up with the $14M

pretty quickly.

I have met with Duncan before, but my impression is that Don Shalvey (at the

Gates Foundation) may be best conduit for that conversation. I will reach out

directly to Ted Mitchell, who used to be on our Board and is now Deputy

Secretary under Duncan. I’m hoping to get from him a clearer picture of their

willingness to get involved, given the federal vs state issues involved, as well as

the judicial precedent that was set.

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September 11th from Chad Soleo,Vice President of Advancement at Green Dot

Public Schools.

We have cleared a big hurdle already in this step.We’ve secured financialcommitments to keep us open throughout the year without reliance on

public funding.

From aSeptember 12th e-mail from Dave Stewart at Vulcan to Andrew Jassy at

Amazon (Mr. Jassy is on the board of Pride Prep charter school.)

Ballmer is contributing $5M. He has not yet allocated the amounts, but it will be

spread across bridging local charter schools, advocacy and other support.

Nick Hanauer, Eli Broad and Alice Walton are also likely to make significant

contributions, although it is not clear to what extent it will be allocated to bridging

existing schools, advocacy or other support.

The charter association and funder representatives agreed to wait 2-3

weeks before announcing these grants.

Reasons:

Provide more time for individual schools to raise money, and for more funders to

commit

Building a broader coalition of supporters by inviting person of ordinary means to

contribute small sums and participate in a joint announcement that better reflects

the communities these schools were created to serve.

Schools have money from existing grant sources to maintain operations

into October.

Therefore, we anticipate waiting until late-September, early October to release

any funds so that we may determines the final funding gap needed.

So in just days , all the charter schools had secured funding for the rest of the

year BUT their funders didn’t want anyone to know right away for PR reasons.

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September 23rd e-mail from Marguerite Kondracke to Marco Petruzzi as well as

Bree Dusseault and Andrew Buhayar:

So we are still going to receive payments from the state, according to the Seattle

Times? If so, let’s put it in a reserve account. Odds are, we will be asked to payit back if the court ruling stands.

Reply from Marco Petruzzi to Bree Dusseault at Green Dot as well as Marguerite

Kondracke and Andrew Buhayar:

I think we spend the funds, since we have a backstop with Gates. I’ve rarely

seen a situation where we would have to return funds. But this may be it.

STATE SUPERINTENDENT RANDY DORN AND OSPI

Superintendent Dorn and his staff did several things. OnDecember 3, 2015 he

released a memorandum (No. 072-15M Financial and Governmental Relations)

labeled “informational.”

It stated that OSPI would“facilitate the transfer of students from resident

districts” and that“no action will be required by resident districts that

approve OSPI’s facilitation of the transfers.”

Meaning, OSPI would do all the work for resident districts who agreed but some

did not agreed to do this.

December 17 e-mail from Seattle Superintendent Larry Nyland to Superintendent

Kevin Jacka of MWSD:

As we have made clear to OSPI and now to you,we do not intend to subvert

legal processes to find ways to fund charter schools that have been ruled

unconstitutional.Parents will need to ask us for a release. (I understand that

OSPI is evidently looking for a way to subvert the current legal processes by

removing our local control of this process.)

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Jan 7, 2016 letter from Karen Vialle, President of Tacoma Public Schools School

Board to Justyn Turner, President of the Mary Walker District School Board:

I am writing in response to the enclosed correspondence from your

Superintendent, Kevin Jacka.

From the Tacoma School District, perspective, we have clear legal direction now

that the Supreme Court of Washington has found the former Washington Charter

School Law to be unconstitutional. The Supreme Court also explicitly determined

that the provision of common school funds to charter schools is unconstitutional.

The Tacoma School District takes compliance with laws and regulations

seriously.

It also appears that the Mary Walker School District is actively attempting tocircumvent the Supreme Court’s ruling and wants the Tacoma School District to

assist it in doing so.

There is no statutory authority to support the emergency rule-making that OSPI

has undertaken to strip the statutory rights that have been afforded to all school

districts by the Washington Legislature.

Dorn said he had the authority and rewrote the rules for Alternative Learning

Environments (ALEs) which was, in the end, the choice for seven charter schoolsfor their students. (ALEs provide a Written Student Learning Plan (WSLP) for

each student.) (Summit Sierra charter school chose to have their students

become “home-schooled” students even as they attended Summit in the same

manner they had been previously done. Why Summit made this choice is

unclear.)

There had to be a school district that would be the “host” district for these ALE

students. Tiny Mary Walker School District outside of Spokane, whose

superintendent, Kevin Jacka, was a former Washington State CharterCommissioner, said they would be the host. (To note, with each ALE student

there was state dollars. MWSD received those dollars and then, in turn,

contracted with the charter schools to fulfill each student’s WSPL. Of course,

MWSD, which has about 500 students total, now more than doubled overnight

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and would receive a portion of those dollars for administrative purposes for each

student.)

Dorn stated in the Memo that the district accepting “Choice Transfers” would start

receiving state dollars even in the absence of a WSLP. This is in directcontradiction to stated protocol from an ALE and the WSLP Webinar at OSPI

from April 2013. How schools could fulfill the ALE without a WSLP is not clear.

One rule Dorn rewrote was about how students can be part of an ALE not within

their own district. Each district is legally responsible for the education of public

school students within their boundaries. So when the parents of the students

decided to go with an ALE choice, each student individually had to request a

“release” from their school district. (The release is called “Choice Transfer.”)

Most of the students were from Seattle SC, Tacoma SD, Kent SD, Spokane SD

and Highline SD. Seattle and Tacoma declined to do so (as seen in the above

quoted e-mail/letter from Seattle SD and Tacoma SD.) Dorn told the charter

schools and the regular public districts that he didn’t need their release and

authorized them himself.

He then had Mary Walker School District request a parent request for each

student. Public disclosure documents show that for Green Dot charter school

(Destiny Middle School),MWSD’s business manager signed her name in theChoice Transfer box which was intended for a parent signature. As well, the

MWSD provided their own address and contact information which was

intended for parental contact information.

Another rule that Dorn rewrote was on the ALP. According to OSPI regulations

on ALEs, each student must have an ALP in place within weeks and yet Dorn

waived that until Feb.1. That means that every charter school student under an

ALE plan was operating without an ALP for at least a month. How each student’s

work was known or tracked or graded is unclear.

Also about ALEs, this from OSPI:

In light of a significant state auditor findingsfor a number of ALE programs in

the past,the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction requested funding

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from the state legislature for a program compliance monitor position. The request

was granted in the 2014 supplemental budget as outlined in ESSB 6002.

The intent of this endeavor is help programs understand the pertinent laws, rules

and regulations related to ALE.Hopefully, this work, conducted incollaboration with ALE programs, will help those programs identify areas

for improvement and avoid potential, costly SAO findings in the future.

Mike Jennings, a consultant hired for the charter student work for MWSD, writes

to OSPI staffin Decemberwith concerns:

Has SAO passed judgment on the one time WSLP approved and in place

extension?Per their review of the extension, will this year's converted Charter

School's WSLP's pass an audit if the approval date is between December 1st and January 31st and Mary Walker received apportionment funding for December

and January?

The answer was no, the SAO didn't weigh in because they do audits at the end of

a process, not the beginning.

Sep. 6 e-mail from Bree Dusseault, Executive Director at Green Dot Public

Schools, Greater Seattle area

Three options being discussed so far are independent, homeschool, or online

school, summit is researching this and should have more information for the call.

This is what could prevent us from staying open after Sep 24th as not having

status would make our students truant.We may need to put pressures on

Randy Dorn and OSPI to expedite this for us.

Sep 11 e-mail fromBen Rarick, Executive Director of the State Board of

Education to Joshua Halsey, Executive Director of the Washington State Charter

Commission and Superintendent Randy Dorn saying

I am led to believe that the rest of the charter schools are of a similar mind (to be

private).

Randy, OSPI staff may very quickly be in a situation where we are in receipt of 8

private school applications... For our part, we are preparing to call a next-day

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emergency meeting of the board to ensure that these schools (meeting re'q) are

approve andavoid compulsory school attendance law entanglements.

September 12 e-mail from Mitch Price, Director of Policy and Government

Relationsat WA Charters

- Until KC Superior Court officially invalidates charter school law, schools

continue to operate as public charter schools (this could be days, weeks or

months.)

- Meanwhile, schools apply for “conditional approval” of their private school

application and/or negotiate ALE service provider contracts with a host

school district; application/contract would stipulate that it is only effective

if/when KC superior court invalidates charter school act;

- I see no need for schools to collect or submit homeschool petitions this

week, given the expedited reviews of private schools applications and the

ALE contract process,the fact that OSPI has said ALE apportionment

dollars could flow even before an ALE contract is executed and the

email fro Dierk starting (sic) that school districts have no authority to

refuse to accept a declaration of intent to homeschool past the 15 day

window.

One issue not addressed by Dorn or OSPI – how many charter students

were truant from the time of the Supreme Court ruling to when their status

changed via OSPI?

Sep 11 e-mail from Rekha Bhatt at WSCSA to Bree Dusseault at Green Dot, et al

(partial):

Dierk Meierbachtol (OSPI) said he’d been assured that Tacoma SC isnot

purposefully calling charter school students regarding truancy.

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MANIPULATION OF ELECTED OFFICIALS OR GOVERNMENT STAFF

Nov. 19Dave Powell at Stand for Children to Franta and Green Dot

But with the signature on transfer forms - we know the District staff are much

more open to charters than the Board. I can call Josh Garcia, whom I have a

good and candid relationship with and ask directly him directly (sic) about how

they would direct their staff on signing transfer forms, I feel like there is a way to

get the senior staff there to give a quiet go-ahead to their staff under the

boards (sic) radar and if the board gets wind of the signing of transfer

forms, there is a pretty easy answer back from the Supt that its(sic) biz as

Normal. Let me know if such a call is desired or helpful.Don't want to tip

people off either though.

To note, Josh Garcia is the Deputy Superintendent of Tacoma (he was awared

the "leader to learn from” award by Education Week this year) and yet Mr. Powell

at Stand for Children believed he could persuade Mr. Garcia to direct Tacoma

School District staff to act “under the boards (sic) radar” AND figured out an “out”

for Mr. Garcia.

November 22nd e-mail from Rekha Bhatt of WA Charters to Jen Wickens of

Summit

AGO opinions that Spokane's attorney cited to show there's common law that

points to the need for an Inter-Local.OSPI is saying they recommend inter-

local agreements, but the absence of one is not going to prevent them from

engaging in the ALE process between the charters and MWSD.

Bill Kiolbasa at WSCSA to Franta at WSCSA, Stand for Children, Green Dot:

I agree on coordinated effort, but I think this is a good start. The overall ALE

agreement may be a district issues, but if choice transfer forms are signed all thetime, andwe have some mid-level allies who will do this, that would seem to

be simple cover"

Nov. 30

Maggie Meyers at WA Charters writes to Kevin Jacka at MWSD:

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First, we want to thank you again to your willingness to work with us and your

commitment to providing a quality, public education for all Washington students.

As this issue gains attentionwe wanted to provide you with a media response

plan in the likely event that press reach out to you directly.Our

recommendation is that Mary Walker decline any interviewsand instead provide a short statement.Our team can handle any further questions.

WASHINGTON STATE CHARTER SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION

(WA CHARTERS)

The WSCSA is a major player in this ongoing saga for charter schools in

Washington State. WSCSA is funded mostly by the Gates Foundation (which

funded the charter school initiative and is a major funder for Green Dot). WACharters is a private non-profit and yet it seems to have been dictating to charters

schoolsand OSPIandMary Walker School District. On its board sit major

corporate education reformers in this state including Democrats for Education

Reform (DFER), League of Education Voters (LEV) and the Washington

Roundtable.

WA Charters was the nexus for both the effort to save these charter schools as

well as figuring out what the students would be doing since their charter schools

were now defunct under the Supreme Court ruling.

OSPI e-mails reveal that OSPI staff worried about the role of WA Charters in the

revision of the role of charter schools re: their students and staff wondered aloud

what the State Auditor might think.

E-mail from Bill Kiolbasa from WA Charters to other charter school leaders,

detailing a time line that includes what WA Charters will be doing:

-12/11 5 pm.- WA Charters will share the MWSD reviewed draft version ofthe contract with schools.

- 12/16 – WA Charters will discuss open items with MWSD and MWSD

counsel

- 12/18 WA charters and MWSD will share finalized contracts with schools

and OSPI

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Rekha Bhatt,their Director of School Service said, in aDecember 21, 2015 e-

mail to OSPI’s ALE Program Manager, Lillian Hunter:

It might be best for Cathy and I to connect with Lillian directly to tag-team andcoordinate future trainings and topics. Let me know if this works on your end.

"Cathy" is Cathy Frommer, a former Charter Commissioner (like MWSD's

superintendent, Kevin Jacka who hired Frommer to manage some of the charter

student work for MWSD.)

Early December e-mail from OSPI's ALE Program Manager, Lillian Hunter:

Hello All:

Thank you for the follow up Sue. I wanted confirmation that the follow up

activities for these new schools are approved and orchestrated by the

public school district and not by the Charter School Association. This is a

unique situation and our actions will be likely be subject to future scrutiny.

As such, we need to exercise due diligence as these former charter

schools are transitioned into the public school arena.

Then, onDecember 21st, she writes to Sue Isaacs at MWSD:

Hi Sue,

I'm mildly concerned that the Charter School Association is leading the

training on ALE compliance. Were you aware of this? Is Mike Jennings no

longer helping you? The powerpoint presentation was worrisome - hugely

overwhelming with possible misinformation.

As I stated below, I am happy to assist the Mary Walker SD as you absorb these

students into the public school system.I'm concerned about mixed messaging

with regard to compliance in the ALE setting with the Charter School

Association stepping in to conduct training. Is this part of your agreement

with them?

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Please advise.

The training referenced in the e-mail was about was creating the written student

learning plans for each ALE student. I find this quite confusing because why

would MWSD look to a private non-profit rather than OSPI for this kind oftraining?

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WASHINGTON STATE CHARTER COMMISSION

September 12, e-mail from Mitch Price at WA Charters

The other looming question is whether the Commission will consider it abreach

of contract to shift to another designation.Yesterday I ran into Josh and he

told me that he and Eileen (Aileen) were "looking into it" but considering saying

we breach our batter contract if we go homeschool and removing our charter

status if families apply. My assumption is applying for private school or ALE

would warrant the same response of homeschool does, given homeschool is the

lowest level of breach.'

This issue has never been publicly addressed.Would charter schools be in

breach of contract with the Washington State Charter Commission because

they were now providing services to students in a manner different than

described in the contracts that were signed?

The Commission was preparing to wind-down if charter schools were closed.

- "Work includes" review of compliance with Public Records Act

- Review of student transfers and exits

-

Review of disposition of Assets upon termination or dissolution

That Public Records Act is important because not only did multiple charter

schools try to refuse me access to public records (saying they were no longer

charter schools), they also tried to put off Representative Gerry Pollet.

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ON McCLEARY

Not a single time during the regular session did any charter school or group plead

with legislators about fully funding McCleary. There was no op-ed or ads by

these groups either.

This as thousands of PTA parents across the state either visited Olympia or

contacted their own legislators to ask for McCleary to be fulfilled.

If charter schools continue on, when McCleary IS fulfilled, they will benefit.

A tweet from Rep Chris Reykdal:

"68 tweets tagging me to support charter schools. Not one of them calls for fullyfunding our public schools. Sad!"

Rep Mike Sells, 38th Democratic LD:

What is not mentioned here, isthe proponents literally disappearing when it

comes to full funding for the public schools.Despite their protestation during

the regular session that they believed that the funding should take place, they are

nowhere to be found or even commenting much on blogs other than bragging

about their coup. The 22 highly paid lobbyists brought incleared the halls theday after the vote and are nowhere to be seen on the funding of public

schools issue.

The bragging by proponents of spending on two six figure ad buys has not

translated over to helping the public schools. You know big money was being

spent whenStrategies 360 lobbyists were outside the door plunking for a vote

along with the usual ‘astroturf’ groups.

washington state charter schools; after the supreme court ruling, who was working to prop them up?

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