By Matt Halvorson

Last week, I asked if the anti-charter-school ringleaders like the Washington Education Association (WEA) and Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA) would work to find common ground with the re-constitutionalized charter school movement, or if they would keep that line in the sand clean and visible.

It didn't take long for both labor unions to announce their disappointing decision. This from the Tacoma News-Tribune:

"Kim Mead, president of the Washington Education Association, said charter schools also divert money from traditional K-12 public schools, which the state is under a court order to fully fund by 2018. In the case known as McCleary, the state is in contempt of court over the Legislature’s lack of a plan to meet the 2018 funding deadline.

The charter school law 'shortchanges the more than one million public school students who are still waiting for the state to meet its constitutional obligation to them and their education,' Mead said in a prepared statement.

Cynara Lilly, a spokeswoman for the pro-charter group Act Now for Washington Students, said the groups’ lawsuit is unfair to charter school students and families who fought hard in Olympia to keep their schools open. About 1,100 students now attend charter schools in Washington state.

'This is clearly a political ploy and a despicable one,' Lilly said, adding that the schools’ innovative approaches to education are helping many students succeed.

'Charters are closing the achievement and opportunity gaps,' she said.

State Rep. Chad Magendanz, R-Issaquah, said by passing the new charter school bill, the Legislature 'tried to get out in front of any future issues that might be brought before the court.' He said the Legislature took care to avoid classifying charter schools as 'common schools,' a category that includes traditional public schools.

Magendanz, who supported the measure, said a legal challenge to the new charter school law could also threaten other unconventional schools.

'If they question the funding formula for charters, they’d also be questioning the funding policies for the School for the Blind, the School for the Deaf, tribal compact schools — all the schools that are in the same category as charter schools right now,' Magendanz said."

Sadly, this isn't the last we'll read or write about this battle. The WEA's commitment to fighting to maintain the status quo -- one that is not working for students of color or students from low-income backgrounds -- is clearly one they will not let go.

So, since we have an answer to last week's question, let's pose another: Is this a decision that has our most vulnerable students' interests at heart?