Attorney general to ask Supreme Court to reconsider charter school ruling

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Attorney General Bob Ferguson says his office will ask the state Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling that Washington state's voter-approved charter-school law is unconstitutional.

In a statement issued Friday, Ferguson said that the motion will be filed by Sept. 24. He says that the high court's ruling last week calls into question the constitutionality of other state educational programs, including those that provide career and technical education to high school students.

In a 6-3 ruling issued late last week, the court ruled that the privately operated, publicly funded charter schools that were created under a voter-approved initiative do not qualify as common schools under Washington's Constitution and thus cannot receive public funding.

The chief executive of the charter schools association, an advocacy group for the schools, has said that all nine current schools have committed to remaining open for the year, even if that means relying on private donations.