Spokane only school district seeking to allow charter schools

SEATTLE — Washington voters have decided they want to add charter schools to the education mix in the state, and the three largest districts are taking different approaches to the question: What should charter schools mean to our community?

Seattle has decided to basically ignore the question for now, Tacoma is still learning and exploring and Spokane has jumped in with both feet.

Spokane is the only school district seeking permission from the Washington State Board of Education to authorize charter schools.

Thirteen districts had expressed formal interest in the idea. But by Monday’s deadline, only Spokane turned in an application.

Spokane Superintendent Shelley Redinger said districts that do not embrace the possibility of charter schools may have the issue forced on them.

“We don’t want divisiveness,” said Redinger, who experienced a similar transition in Oregon at a previous job. She moved back to Washington in 2012 and says the approach districts take now matters.

Although school districts are not required to make any immediate decisions, the new law gives them options.

The charter law approved by voters in November allows up to 40 charter schools to open in Washington state over the next five years. Proponents say they can help minority and low-income students improve their learning, close the achievement gap and head to college. Opponents worry they will take money away from regular public schools.

The new charter schools in Washington may be authorized by the statewide Charter School Commission or by districts that get the OK from the state Board of Education.

Spokane (about 29,000 students) is one of about a dozen districts that have expressed interest in becoming authorizers. They face a Monday deadline to file an application. The other districts that filed an official intent to apply by Monday include: Battle Ground, Bellevue, Eastmont, Highline, Kent, Naselle, Peninsula, Port Townsend, Sequim, Spokane, Sunnyside, Tacoma and Yakima.

Whether a district becomes an authorizer or not, charter schools may open in their service area as early as fall 2014 and become the public school for children who used to attend district schools, taking dollars away from those districts.

Redinger said charter schools can bring choice and innovation. Spokane has Montessori programs in two of its elementary schools. It has a home-school hybrid program and it offers an option for parents who want to take a more involved role in their children’s schooling.

“When I first started in Spokane, we did a parent and community survey. It came out loud and clear — before charters passed — that they wanted more options,” she said.

Redinger said her school board likes the idea of a blended district, where traditional and charter schools cooperate, learn from each other and share resources. A similar blended approach has been adopted in Portland, Ore., Denver and Los Angeles.

At Redinger’s previous job in the Oregon Trail School District, she said parents saw charter school partnerships as innovative and forward-thinking. Most of the local colleges and universities have also said they’d explore possibly partnering with the district to start charter schools.

In Tacoma (about 29,000 students), school officials and school board members also are curious how charter schools could help them meet academic goals, but they are taking a more cautious approach.

At the end of May, the Tacoma School Board voted to delay its application to become a charter school authorizer. They may reconsider in the fall.

Tacoma Superintendent Carla Santorno said the board evolved quickly from a resolution opposing charters before the November election to a discussion of how charter partnerships could be part of a plan going forward.

Santorno had a lot of experience with charter schools in Denver, but she doesn’t consider herself a charter proponent. She does believe, however, that Tacoma may have something to gain by partnering with charters.

The district offers a variety of academic choices, from the School of the Arts in downtown Tacoma to a science and math institute at the Point Defiance Zoo. Of the more than 30 schools designated as innovative schools in Washington, 12 are in Tacoma, Santorno said.

“That doesn’t mean we’re not open to other ideas and opportunities,” she added.

The Tacoma School Board’s original objection to charters focused on the loss of control, but Santorno agreed with Redinger that not becoming an authorizer may mean giving up whatever local control the district could maintain.

Meanwhile in Seattle (about 49,000 students), School Board President Kay Smith Blum said the state’s largest district has a variety of school models that have added choice to the system. Also, she said a new neighborhood school assignment plan has increased stability and enrollment and new buildings and technology are coming on line.

Blum said she was worried that adding charter schools could disrupt progress she said is being made — and added that parents have expressed strong opposition as well.

“What most voters were curious about: What does that get us?” Blum said of charters. “What is a charter school going to offer in terms of pedagogy or instructional value that isn’t available in our city?”

The district is currently trying to lengthen the school day and also incorporate the new national academic standards. When all those goals are achieved — six months or a year from now — Seattle may start to look at other ways to add choice to the system, including charter schools, Blum said.

But there are still many questions. “It’s going to be an interesting conversation, both at the state and the local level,” she said.

————

Contact Donna Blankinship at https://twitter.com/dgblankinship

————

Online:

State Board of Education: http://www.sbe.wa.gov/

Charter School Commisison: http://www.governor.wa.gov/issues/education/commission/default.aspx

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.