By Ashleigh Costello
EAGnews.org

SEATTLE – Education reformers submitted more than enough signatures Friday to place the charter school initiative on the statewide ballot in November.

In just under three weeks, paid and volunteer signature gatherers collected about 350,000 petition signatures backing Initiative 1240, according to the Seattle Times. The ballot initiative only needed 241,153 valid signatures to qualify.

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Several previous attempts to legalize charter schools have failed, largely due to the opposition of the state’s teachers unions. But recent polls have suggested that a majority of registered voters now support the idea of charter schools.

“The fact that so many voters across the state stepped forward and signed our petitions in record time clearly shows that Washingtonians want another opportunity to vote on allowing public charter schools in our state,” said Shannon Campion, executive director of the Washington chapter of Stand for Children.

If approved by voters, the proposal would allow for the establishment of up to 40 charter schools over the next five years.  In addition, the proposal calls for strong accountability requirements for charters. It “would force the closure of unsuccessful schools, allows only nonprofit operators, prioritizes proposals that would serve economically and academically disadvantaged students, and limits who could authorize a new school,” reports the news site.

Robin Lake, director of the University of Washington’s Center on Reinventing Public Education, acknowledged a law is an important starting point for charter school quality but cautions the work does not stop there.

“It takes commitment and on-the-ground work after the law is implemented,” she said.

We can count on the state’s education establishment to put big money into yet another campaign to defeat the proposal and keep charter schools out of Washington State. But given the success of charters throughout the United States, we think it’s likely that the majority of voters will reject the idea of trapping kids in geographical school districts and finally give charters a chance.