State Supt. Dorn urges special legislative session on Charter Schools, McCleary

From Randy Dorn

Washington State Supt. of Public Instruction

In a ruling Sept. 4, the Washington State Supreme Court declared the initiative that established our state’s charter schools to be unconstitutional.

This ruling potentially affects more than 1,000 students who have already started the 2015-16 school year.

“Even before the initiative was finalized, I warned the drafters it was unconstitutional,” State Superintendent Randy Dorn said. “And after the initiative was passed, I sent a letter to key education leaders in the state legislature expressing my concerns. 

“But now that school is in session, we need to do everything we can not to disrupt the education of the students caught in the middle of this argument.”

This is the second time in two months that the state Supreme Court has ruled on the constitutionality of our current education system. Dorn urges the governor to call a solution-oriented special legislative session to fix the charter school law and to address the lingering McCleary contempt order.