By Gwen Davis

It is official: West Seattle’s first charter school will open soon.

The school will be constructed at the north edge of Arbor Heights, on the Freedom Church/Jesus Center property at 9601 35th SW. The existing building will be redeveloped, and additional construction will commence to accommodate future expansion. The school is slated to open in 2016, and will eventually ramp up to 400 students.

The school is supported by the Washington Charter School Development (WCSD), a subsidiary of the nonprofit Pacific Charter School Development (PCSD).

Reportedly, WCSD is under a contract to buy the entire 2 1/3-acre Freedom Church site. The county values the land at $3.2 million. The sale is expected to close in three months. PCSD is working with the Gates Foundation to open other charter schools in the state.

Additionally, the school’s operator will be Summit Public Schools. According to PCSD, Summit Public Schools plan to open more charter high schools in the International Chinatown District and Tacoma, which will open next fall. WSCD reportedly bought the Asian Resource Center in the International Chinatown District for $4 million.

Summit Public Schools will still need to apply for permission to open the West Seattle charter, according to Kym Michela at Michela Communications, the PR firm on record for PCSD. The next application period opens in Feb.

Wash. voters authorized creation of charter schools two years ago with a slim margin. Advocates had been trying to get them passed for nearly two decades. So far, 10 are approved and one is open.

Charter schools are controversial. They receive tax money, but are independent of the public school system so don’t have to follow the same curriculum, testing and policy regulations that public schools do, nor are they curtailed by system bureaucracy. Advocate’s say these schools are a common-sense alternative to the failing public school system, where graduation rates and student achievement are disturbingly low, especially among low-income, minority and special education students.

However, opponents point out that nationally, charter schools have not fared any better than public schools, and often do worse. In the meantime, charters suck money out of the public schools, which are already majorly underfunded.

So far, charter schools in this state are off to a rocky start.

Seattle’s first charter school, First Place Scholars, which opened in the Central District this past Sept. has already been placed on probation for violating its charter and is at risk of being closed. Since Dec. it lost its special education coordinator, principal, board president and half of the rest of the board.

It doesn’t have a special-education teacher for the roughly two dozen students who need those services. Not all staff had background checks.

The Washington State Charter School Commission is confident the school can turn itself around. But if it doesn’t it might be closed.