From The Seattle Times: Voters in Washington state apparently have approved Initiative 1240, which will allow up to 40 charter schools to open over the next five years. Washington would become the 42nd state in the nation to allow charters; Minnesota passed the nation's first charter-school law 20 years ago. Since then, close to 6,000 charters have opened across the nation. Supporters have declared victory; their lead stood at 50.8 percent Monday, only slightly below the 51.2 percent they had on election night. Opponents have not conceded, saying they will wait until all votes are counted. To prevail, they would need about 57 percent of the remaining 300,000 votes to go their way.
Earlier...
From
The Seattle Times: Supporters of a referendum to allow charter schools in
Washington state
are claiming victory, but opponents contend that the vote is too close to call. The proposal held a slight lead in the vote count, but officials says thousands of ballots have not yet been counted.
JULY 2012...from
The Seattle Times: The group working to bring charter schools to
Washington state
has spent about $6 a signature to get a charter-schools initiative on the November ballot. Filings with the Public Disclosure Commission say the “Yes On 1240” campaign raised $2.3 million and spent about $2.1 million to gather about 350,000 signatures. Initiative 1240 has not yet been certified for the ballot, but the Secretary of State's office says it looks as if supporters have gathered enough signatures.From
The Tacoma News-Tribune: Supporters of an initiative to bring charter schools to
Washington state say
they have turned in more than 350,000 voter signatures – more than 100,000 over the minimum required to have the proposal placed on the November ballot.
From
The Seattle Times: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates
has donated $1.05 million to support the initiative campaign pushing for charter schools in Washington state. A document filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission states that Gates has donated the funds to “Yes on 1240: Washington Coalition for Public Charter Schools.” Proponents are expected in the next few days to
turn in the signatures required to to get the initiative on the November ballot. The initiative would allow up to 40 public charter schools in this state over a five-year period.
