Washington State Supreme Court says Charter Schools unconstitutional, unaccountable; Gov. Kasich's Charter influenced Corruption.

It's a ruling that could slow down the school privatization movement, and give taxpayers second thoughts about the unaccountable ways their money is being spent.

According to the Seattle Times, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled 6-3 charter schools to be unconstitutional.

In the ruling, Chief Justice Barbara Madsen wrote that charter schools aren’t “common schools” because they’re governed by appointed rather than elected boards. Therefore, “money that is dedicated to common schools is unconstitutionally diverted to charter schools.”
The ruling is a victory for a coalition that ask(ed) a judge to declare the law unconstitutional for “improperly diverting public-school funds to private organizations that are not subject to local voter control.”

State's that are now dominated by Republican super majorities plan to change what earlier framers of their state constitutions tried to protect us from:

It seems as though a door may be open for restructuring charters … In 2011, the Georgia Supreme Court struck down a 2008 law that created a state commission which have been legal in the state since 1993. In 2012, voters approved a constitutional amendment that reinstated the state commission.

Republicans Attack the Judicial Branch…Again: It’s time the public take notice of what is now a familiar tactic by Republicans; attack judges and justices that don’t agree with conservative orthodoxy. Take Kansas for instance, where GOP legislators unconstitutionally took away the State Supreme Courts power to select district judges because they didn’t like their rulings on abortion, capital punishment and education funding. That's happening everywhere. Here’s one Washington state Republicans bizarre upside down response that contradicts reality:

Rep. Chad Magendanz, R-Issaquah, and ranking member on the House Education Committee and a charter-school supporter, said he was stunned by the decision. “I’m shocked. I’m worried about the political aspects about this. The court is becoming too much of ‘a political animal.”

That's not all, Charters may sink Gov. Kasich's run for president. Since charter school leaders are some of the biggest donors to the Ohio Republican Party, one Gov. Kasich political appointees and husband of his former chief of staff took it upon himself to make charter school results look really good to the public. Again, if Republicans can't win on the ideas front, cheat:

The Enquirer received records that may clarify who was involved in the charter-school misconduct. What we know now: David Hansen, Ohio's school-choice director, resigned in July, the weekend before Kasich launched his presidential campaign. Hansen admitted he intentionally had scrubbed data when he was completing evaluations of the groups that sponsor charter schools.

Skirting guidelines outlined in state law, he omitted failing grades for online and dropout-recovery schools in an effort to make the charter-school sponsors look better overall. Hansen is the husband of Beth Hansen, who served as Kasich’s chief of staff until he launched his presidential campaign, which she now manages. The charter-school situation takes on additional significance because it involves a high-level conservative priority. Republicans have prioritized sending state money to charter schools, charter school leaders are among the biggest donors to Ohio Republicans, especially in the Legislature.

One final thought: If Republicans blame the increasing availability of federal student loan money for the rising cost of tuition, why are they opening the floodgates for more state taxpayer money for K-12 private tuition?

Of course in reality, college tuition increased due to GOP state funding cuts, but using their BS narrative, I thought it was interesting contradiction.