The state Supreme Court on Friday ruled the charter school law approved by voters in 2012 is unconstitutional.
In a 6-3 decision, the majority ruled that Initiative 1240’s designation of charter schools as common schools violates the constitution.
And it also invalidated provisions in the initiative giving charter schools access to state funds earmarked for common schools. Combining those factors dooms the entire act, the majority concluded.
Writing separately, three justices said the law is valid. They agreed with the majority that charter schools cannot be defined as common schools and cannot receive money from any fund set up exclusively to support common schools.
But the trio contended there are plenty of other pots of state money that can be used to legally support charter schools. Hence the law should not be thrown out, they wrote.
You can read the decision here.
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