Statute allows a total of 40 charter schools, of which no more than eight may be approved each year during the initial five years (with any unused slots rolling forward).

Washington law allows new start-ups, public school conversions, and virtual schools.

Statute creates the Washington Charter School Commission, to which charter proposals for schools anywhere in the state can be directly submitted.  In addition, statute allows any local school board to seek approval to become an authorizer from the state board of education.

Statute requires local school boards to seek approval from their state board of education prior to becoming an authorizer. 

State law requires authorizers to submit an annual report to the state board of education that summarizes their authorizing activities as well as the performance of their charter portfolio.

State law makes the state board of education responsible for overseeing the performance and effectiveness of all local school board authorizers via an approval and oversight process detailed in statute.  It allows the state board of education to terminate a local school board’s contract to approve schools. 

The state board must submit an annual report that includes details such as the performance of charter schools compared to comparable groups of students in non-charter schools.

Statute requires the state board of education to establish a statewide formula for an authorizer oversight fee, which is to be calculated as a percentage of the state operating funding provided to charters.  It provides that this amount may not be more than 4% and that it may involve a sliding scale that takes into consideration such factors as the number of schools per authorizer and the number of years that an authorizer has been operating.  The law requires authorizers to separately account for such fees and report them annually to the state board of education.

Statute allows authorizers to provide contracted, fee-based services in addition to their oversight responsibilities, but such fees cannot cost more than market rates and cannot be required as a condition of being approved.

Statute requires each of the model law elements for this area, including specific application elements for all schools (with additional elements for conversion schools, those using educational service providers, and replications). 

Statute requires authorizers to issue requests for proposals and to conduct a thorough evaluation of each application including an in-person interview and public meeting.  It also requires all charter approval or denial decisions to be made in a public meeting, with written reasons for any denials.

Statute defines a charter contract to be a fixed term, renewable contract between a charter school board and an authorizer that outlines the roles, powers, responsibilities, and performance expectations for each party.  It also requires such contracts to contain a performance framework that details the academic and operational performance indicators, including all those included in the model law.  

The initial contract must be granted for a term of five years.

Statute requires that authorizers collect and analyze data to support ongoing evaluation according to the performance framework in the charter contract (including financial accountability). State law provides authorizers with specific authority to conduct oversight activities needed to fulfill its responsibilities. 

Statute requires authorizers to notify their schools of any perceived problems and provide them with reasonable opportunity for the school to remedy the problem.  Statute allows authorizers to take appropriate corrective actions short of revocation as needed. 

State law requires each authorizer to submit an annual report to the state board of education that includes the academic and financial performance of all their operating charter schools; however, they are not specifically required to produce an annual school performance report for each school.

Statute requires each of the model law elements for this area, including the requirement for authorizers to issues school performance renewal reports and the requirement that schools seeking renewal must apply for it using renewal application guidance provided by the authorizer. 

State law requires authorizers to have clear criteria for renewal and nonrenewal decisions and to base decisions on evidence in accordance with the performance framework set forth in the charter contract. 

Statute requires charter contract renewals to be for five-year terms, although it allows the authorizer to vary the term based on the particular circumstances of a charter school. 

Statute notes that a given charter may not be renewed if, at the time of the renewal application, the school’s performance falls in the bottom quartile of schools on the state’s accountability index (unless the school demonstrates exceptional circumstances that the authorizer finds justifiable).  

State law requires authorizers to provide schools with timely notification of potential revocation and due process, including the requirement to conduct a public hearing.  It requires all charter renewal, non-renewal, and revocation decisions made in a public meeting, with authorizers stating reasons for non-renewals and revocations in writing.

Statute requires authorizers to develop a charter school termination protocol to ensure timely notification to parents, orderly transition of students and student records, and proper disposition of public funds, property, and assets.

Washington statute allows for non-profit educational service providers (ESPs) to provide substantial educational services, management services, or both, but specifically states that these must be non-profit entities. 

For those schools proposing to use such ESPs, state laws requires them to include in their charter application evidence of the ESP’s success in serving student populations similar to their targeted population, including evidence of past performance and their capacity for growth. 

Within their application, statute requires them to provide a term sheet setting forth the proposed duration of the service contract, including things like the roles and responsibilities of the school board and the service provider, the scope of services, the performance evaluation measures and timelines, the compensation structure, the methods of contract oversight and performance, and the conditions for renewal and termination of the contract.  Statute also requires them to disclose and explain any existing or potential conflicts of interest between the charter school board and the proposed service provider.

Statute describes charter schools as independently managed public schools operated by qualified nonprofit organizations.  It provides that such schools function as a local education agency and are governed by a board of directors appointed or selected under the terms of their charter application.  It states that such boards have clear statutory authority to operate a fiscally and legally autonomous school, including things like receiving and disbursing funds and entering into contracts.

Washington law provides that charter schools are open to all students and that students must be selected by lottery if more students apply than a school can accommodate. 

It requires conversions schools to provide sufficient capacity to enroll all students who wish to remain in the school. In addition, it requires all charter schools to give enrollment preference to siblings of already enrolled students.

Statute indicates that charter schools must comply with all state statutes and rules made applicable to the charter school in the schools’ charter contract and are subject only to the specific state statutes and rules identified in the charter law.  It states that such schools are not subject to and are exempt from all other state statutes and rules applicable to school districts and school district boards.  It also provides that they are also exempt from all school district policies except those made applicable in the school’s charter contract.

Charter schools are not exempt from the state teacher certification requirements, except they may hire non-certificated instructional staff of unusual competence and in exceptional cases.

Statute indicates that any bargaining unit(s) established at a charter school must be limited to employees working in the school, and must be separate from other bargaining units in school districts, educational service districts, or institutions of higher education.  It also provides that any charter school is a separate employer from any school district.

Statute provides that a single charter contract may govern one or more charter schools and that a single charter school board may hold one or more charter contracts.  It also provides that each school must be separate and distinct from any others and must report its performance as separate schools, being held independently accountable for its performance.

Statute notes that a charter school is eligible for state or district-sponsored interscholastic programs, awards, scholarships, or competitions to the same extent as other public schools. 

No provision explicitly allows charter school students in schools no providing such activities to have access to them at non-charter public schools for a fee or by mutual agreement.

Statute notes that charter schools function as a local education agency and are responsible for meeting the requirements related to individuals with disabilities.  There are no provisions regarding low-incident, high cost services.

Statute provides that the state superintendent of education shall allocate funding for a charter school including general apportionment, special education, categorical, and other non-basic education monies, and such allocations are to be based on the statewide average staff mix ratio of all non-charter public schools from the prior school year and the school’s actual full-time equivalent enrollment.  

It provides that categorical funding must be allocated based on the same funding criteria used for non-charter public schools.  For charter schools authorized by a school board, it provides that allocations to the school are to be in the same manner as other public schools in the district. 

It also states that conversion schools must be provided local levy monies approved by the voters both before and after the conversion state-up date. However, state law states that new charter schools are not eligible for local levy moneys approved before the state-up date of the school (unless the local board is the authorizer), but after their start-up date, they must be included in the levy planning, budgets, and funding distribution in the same manner as other public schools in the district

Statute requires that allocation for pupil transportation is to be calculated on a per student basis based on the allocation for the previous school year to the school district in which the charter school is located. 

While it appears that this law has many of the model law components related to equitable operational funding, there is no evidence yet of the actual level of equity once implementation of such elements occurs.

Statute provides that charter schools are eligible for state matching funds for common school construction.

It also provides that charter schools have the right of first refusal to purchase or lease at or below fair market value a closed public school facility or property (or any unused portions) located in a school district from which it draws its students if the district decides to sell or lease such facility or property.

Statute includes charter schools as members of relevant state retirement and health care systems (as long as the department of retirement systems receives determinations from the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Department of Labor that such participation does not jeopardize the status of the state’s retirement systems).