Education coalition sues Washington state

education programmes harder than traditional schools, violating the state constitution, eLearnMore reveals.

Members of the Washington Families for Online Learning filed the lawsuit in King County Superior Court this week.

It alleges that lawmakers last year cut Alternative Learning Experience (ALE) programmes, which includes K-12 online education offered by dozens of school districts, an average 15% more than traditional schools, Education Week reports.

They said a state Supreme Court decision issued last month reinforced their decision to sue. The court ruled that the state is failing to meet its constitutional duty to provide a basic education to all the state's children.

Legislators have cut about $1.8 billion from K-12 for the 2011-13 biennium, The Seattle Times notes.

Traditional public schools were also hit with cuts, including a 1.9% reduction in teacher salaries, a 3% reduction in school administrative staff and the suspension of Initiative 728, which reduced K-4 classes in 2000.

Previously, traditional public schools and online schools received about $5 000 per student per academic year in funding; now, online schools receive an average of $4 250 per student - 15% less.