The need for public charter schools is growing because they are popular with parents and teachers. The schools are so popular they often have waiting lists. Eight charter schools are now thriving, and three more are due to open next year. And while Governor Inslee said he would not sign it, he agreed to let it become law without his signature. They quickly passed a bi-partisan bill, SB 6194, that complied with the court ruling and identified an alternate source of funding. One 10-year-old girl, who would otherwise be sent to one of the worst schools in the state, said, вЂњI just want a better education.вЂќ A girl at Excel Public Charter School said, вЂњI donвЂ™t see why we would want to close down for kids!вЂќ Students even created a rap video asking the legislature to save their schools. Charter school families and teachers traveled to Olympia to explain why they love and want to keep their charter schools. Supreme court justices, rather cruelly many thought, announced just days into the school year that public charter funding was unconstitutional and that the schools would have to close immediately. The aggressive legal action shows Mead and other union executives care first about their revenue what happens to charter school children and families is at best a secondary concern. The two lawsuits illuminate the unionвЂ™s push to end competition from charter schools and safeguard the system of forced dues payments. (вЂњState teachers union flexing sizable political muscle again,вЂќ by Brian Rosenthal, May 5, 2013). The exemption for charters threatens the unionвЂ™s bottom line, making it harder for Mead and other top executives to maintain what The Seattle Times calls the stateвЂ™s most powerful lobby operation. In other public schools WEA executives will have a teacher fired for not paying dues. MeadвЂ™s primary complaint appears to be that public employees at public charter schools are not required to pay her union as a condition of employment (charter school teachers can form or join a union voluntarily, however). Independent research into state Public Disclosure Commission reports found that seven of the nine sitting justices had received WEA union campaign money. The case went all the way to the state supreme court, which ruled in favor of the union. In July 2013 WEA union executives filed a lawsuit against the voter-approved charter school law. This is MeadвЂ™s second attempt to close charter schools. State of Washington, case number 16-2-18527-4, in King County Superior Court. Mead has given the unionвЂ™s attorneys the go-ahead to file another lawsuit against charter school families, in a new effort to shutter the innovative public schools to some 1,600 children. The stateвЂ™s powerful WEA teachers union, headed by union president Kim Mead, is again trying to close WashingtonвЂ™s public charter schools.

Shutter bar access 2013