Sebrena Burr, community activist and mother of 9-year old daughter Rena, went on a tour of charter schools in Houston hosted by pro-charter organizations. She now believes charters are not beneficial for the most underserved populations and has become an outspoken advocate about the harmful impacts of I-1240. (Photo courtesy Sebrena Burr)

Unless you are immersed in the education world, your exposure to charter schools might be limited to the 2010 documentary Waiting for Superman.

But with Initiative 1240 on the Washington ballot this year, you’re being asked to make a major decision regarding our education system with little information other than the ample evidence that our existing schools are struggling.

Washington is one of the only states in the country with a growing opportunity gap between students of color/low-income students and their white counterparts. In the recent state Supreme Court decision, the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff stating that Washington State has failed its paramount duty to provide basic education to all children. This upcoming legislative session, elected officials will be tasked with determining how we will fully fund basic education during an economic recession.

But in the midst of dealing with a broken and underfunded system why are we thinking about diverting more money from our struggling school districts to 40 charters schools that would only educate a very small proportion of our children? I-1240 has steered the conversation away from the thousands of students and the growing opportunity gap to the needs of less than 1% of our student population.

How did we find ourselves considering such an inequitable option?

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