SEATTLE — A coalition of educators and community groups on Wednesday filed a legal challenge with the state attorney general, questioning the constitutionality of Washington’s new charter schools law.
The three-page “legal demand” asks Attorney General Bob Ferguson to investigate seven constitutional issues with the law approved by voters in November.
The coalition — led by the Washington Education Association, the League of Women Voters and El Centro del la Raza — says if the attorney general doesn’t take action, they will file a lawsuit in state courts. Their issues range from the way the law would divert money from public schools to private non-profit organizations to a perceived violation of the requirement that the superintendent of public instruction should supervise everything related to public schools.
They question the way levy dollars could be converted to a new purpose without consulting voters if a regular public school is converted to a charter school, as is allowed under the new law.