Thirty-one parent and community groups seek approval to open charter schools in Washington

Last week, Tuesday, October 22nd, was the preliminary deadline for parents, teachers, school principals and other community groups who wish to open a charter public school.  Because the required Notices of Intent had to be postmarked Tuesday, it wasn’t until Friday the state commission realized the full extent of the public’s pent-up interest.  By Friday, twenty-eight groups had filed notices with the state commission, and 3 additional groups had filed their notices with Spokane Public Schools. This makes a total of thirty-one groups as of June 26th, with the possibility remaining that the U.S. Postal Service will deliver a few more this week.

Washington’s new charter school law allows only eight charter schools to open a year; 40 charter schools over a five-year period. Now, before even one charter school has opened, plans to open charter schools across the state are well under way, from Seattle to Yakima, and from Longview to Spokane.

Below is the list of the 28 groups that have notified the state commission of their plans to submit a charter school application.  When the information is available, I will add the three groups who filed with Spokane Public Schools. Their applications are due November 22nd.

This inaugural list of 31 charter school prospects illustrates the variety of choices and possibilities that will be made available to parents as a result of Washington’s new charter school law.  These schools represent a wide array of diverse approaches to the challenge of educating children, especially disadvantaged and at-risk children, including the most cutting-edge of uses of technology and other successful practices in education. 

This report is part of WPC’s Initiative 1240 Follow Up Project.

Community       School Name           Students    School model

Yakima              Academy of Cont.Ed.   K-8th        Dual language

Clark County     Bilingual Charter         K-8th         Language immersion, Arts, Math and Science, Bilingual ELL

Seattle              CAL Academy              K-5th        College prep, Math and Reading

Enumclaw         Cedar River                 PreK-8th    Alternative, STEM, College Prep

Kent                  Excel Charter             6th- 12th   College Prep, STEM

Seattle              E.Y.E. Academy          6th-12th    Alternative, STEM

Yakima              Finnish First               1st-12th     Finland educational model, Career and Technical, Disability

Seattle              First Place School       K-5th         Arts, Blended Learning, STEM, Stabilizing Children with Extreme Trauma

Tacoma             Green Dot                   6th- 8th    College Prep

Sunnyside         Inspire School             K-5th        English Language Learners, Disability, Language Immersion

Toppenish         International Tech      PreK-12th  Alternative, Arts, STEM, Special Needs,  Language Immersion, Online Learning, College Prep, Vocational

Seattle              King County Academy  K-8th       Core Knowledge, Direct Instruction

Seattle              Out of the Box             5th- 12th Alternative, Arts, Blended Learning, Career and Technical, College Prep, STEM

Longview          Path to Success            K-12th     Blended Learning

Spokane           Pioneer School              K-4th       Highly Capable

Grays Harbor    Evergreen Leadership  6th-12th  Military prep

Seattle/TacomaCoral Science Academy  K-12th    College Prep, STEM

Highline             Rainier Prep                  5th- 8th  College Prep, STEM

Tacoma             SOAR Academy              K-8th      Arts, Blended Learning, College Prep

Seattle              Sports in Schools          10-12th   Sports based youth development model

Tacoma             Summit Public Schools    9th-12th College Prep, Blended Learning

Seattle              Summit Public Schools    9th-12th  College Prep, Blended Learning

Sunnyside          Sunnyside Charter         K-8th       Blended Learning, STEM

Tacoma              Tacoma Prep                  9th-12th  Arts, Blended Learning, Career and Technical, College Prep, Language Immersion, STEM

Statewide          The Education Academy K-12th     Blended Learning, Virtual, Distance learning

JBLM area          The Village Academy      PreK-8th   Alternative, Arts, Blended Learning, Disability, Language Immersion, Virtual

Seattle               Washington STEM          K-12th      Blended Learning