Madsen and state Supreme Court need timing lessons

In the Oct. 21 editorial recommending voters “stay the course” with the Supreme Court, the Olympian Editorial Board references the 2015 charter funding decision and notes the timing was regrettable because the Court released its decision the Friday before school began -- implying that a weekend was not ample notice for kids and their families.

In fact, the decision timing was even more jarring. On the afternoon of Sept. 4, as the court released their decision that charter schools were not common schools, many of the students directly impacted by this decision had just completed their third weel of school (Summit Sierra High School, in Seattle, started Aug. 17 2015).

It’s amazing how the court had nearly a year to deliberate the case but somehow still couldn’t release their decision in enough time to give ample, respectful notice to students and their families.

The real question is whether the court decision was indeed “unfortunate” as Madsen claims, or whether what the Olympian calls a “regrettable display of horrendous timing” was instead an effort orchestrated by the WEA to punish families who had already committed to the charter option.

This story was originally published November 6, 2016 at 3:24 PM with the headline "Madsen and state Supreme Court need timing lessons."