Charter-school law benefits private interests

Contrary to The Seattle Times editorial [“Union should drop suit to block charters,” Opinion, Jan. 9], I support the Washington Education Association and any organization that challenges the constitutionality of the charter-school initiative recently adopted by Washington citizens.

The U.S. Constitution guarantees citizens in every state a “Republican Form of Government” [Article IV, Sec. 4]. This is a government in which sovereignty is vested in the people or their elected representatives.

The charter-school initiative creates a new state agency, a nine-member “charter school commission” of unelected, litmus-tested partisans not accountable to the citizens of this state, nor to the representatives we elect to oversee public-school matters.

The arrangement ensures that the private management of public schools will serve private interests. To guarantee public accountability, public schools should be publicly managed and serve the public interest.

--Tom L. Carter, Ed.D., Kenmore