Why would wealthy charter school supporters be spending big bucks to defeat the chief justice of the Washington state Supreme Court? In September, the court ruled that charter schools are unconstitutional because they are governed by appointed — rather than elected — boards and therefore are not “common schools” eligible for state education funds. The state legislature earlier this year passed a bill that would keep charter schools open in the state by funding them in a different way than before. For years now, wealthy proponents of school choice and corporate school reform have spent a good deal of money to fund like-minded candidates and referendums wherever they happened to be across the country. Most of the cash is coming from Connie Ballmer, a philanthropist married to former Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer, who gave $500,000.

Source: Washington Post August 01, 2016 18:37 UTC