Last Wednesday evening, the state House of Representatives passed a bill to save Washington’s charter schools.  The original bill, SB 6194, was sponsored by Senator Steve Litzow (R-Mercer Island and chairman of the Senate Education Committee) and passed with broad, bipartisan support by a vote of 58-39.

If signed by Governor Inslee, the measure would prevent Washington from becoming the first state in the country to close its charter schools.  A number of people have asked me how House members voted on this historic bill.  The roll call vote is listed below.

The last few months have been a roller-coaster for charter school families.  Early in the session the Senate passed SB 6194 by a bipartisan vote of 27-20.  Then, two weeks ago opponents of charter schools sought to kill the bill in a House committee on a tie 10-10 vote. 

You can imagine how this made charter school teachers and parents feel.  House leadership responded to the public outcry by using the Rules Committee to resurrect the bill and move it to the House floor.  Although House Speaker Frank Chopp voted against it, he allowed it to come to the floor for a vote and the measure passed the full House comfortably, garnering support from 10 Democrats and all 48 Republicans (one member, Tina Orwall (D-SeaTac), did not vote).

The debate on SB 6194 is here.  My favorite floor statement is the one by Rep. Eric Pettigrew (D-Seattle) (at Time Stamp 1:32:32).  The most dramatic action occurred during debate on the over two dozen hostile amendments intended to weaken the bill and place charter school children at a disadvantage.  The bill was ably defended by floor managers Chad Magendanz (R-Issaquah), Matt Manweller (R-Ellensburg) and Melanie Stambaugh (R-Puyallup).

The anger of opponents against charters school teachers, parents and students is unrelenting.  Executives at the WEA union took a hard-line stance against underserved families from the beginning, and sought to close the innovative public schools at every turn.

Ironically, the aggressive effort to close charter schools only made them stronger, as child advocates, education experts and elected leaders in both parties rallied to their defense.  Assuming Governor Inslee signs the bill, this legislation will protect today’s charter school families and allow more schools to open in communities that want them.

E2SSB 6194 – to provide funding for public charter schools: