The Olympian had a good article over the weekend on the various ideas floating around about how to resolve the charter school situation. These include:

• Ask the Court to reconsider, which the attorney general is planning to do. This “is a long shot.”

• Amend the constitution.

• Make charters more like alternative schools, which are overseen by locally elected boards.

Of course, such an approach would subject the schools to state oversight and standards “that the initiative tried to avoid,” [UW law professor Hugh] Spitzer said.

• Use money from a separate account.

Spitzer said shifting the source of funding would retain the independence of charter schools, but could open up them up to another court challenge alleging that they don’t meet the constitutional requirement for a “general and uniform system of public schools.”

On the accounting point, the Supreme Court had said that charter schools can’t be funded through the general fund since the state doesn’t segregate funds that are constitutionally dedicated to the common schools. (This raises a number of questions about what exactly the state can fund, if that’s the case, as the dissent and an editorial from The News Tribune point out.)

On Twitter last week, Rep. Drew Stokesbary offered three paths that the Legislature could take:

• Amend RCW 84.52.067 to deposit collections from state property taxes levied for the common schools in a separate account rather than the general fund.

• Move the Charter School Act to a different place in the state code. It is currently codifed as RCW 28A.710, which is part of the title for “Common School Provisions.” Rep. Stokesbary suggests it could instead be its own title, or perhaps become part of Title 72 (State Institutions).

• Create a new funding formula for charters and amend RCW 28A.710.220(2) to reference it. Currently, it says, “According to the schedule established under RCW 28A.510.250, the superintendent of public instruction shall allocate funding for a charter school . . . .”

Would any of these actions pass muster with the Court? As the Olympian article notes,

House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan, D-Covington, said he isn’t sure whether the Legislature could fix the charter school system by merely passing a new law, or whether the process would require a constitutional amendment — something that requires the approval of two-thirds of the Legislature and a public vote. An amendment could be difficult to push through a politically divided Legislature, whose members are already weary after meeting for a record 176 days this year.

Gov. Inslee has said that he will not call a special session to deal with charter schools, though he may call one to work on McCleary issues. Opportunity Washington has more.