As Excel Public Charter School on the Renton/Kent border prepares to start it second school year Aug. 22, the constitutionality of charter schools across the state is in question again.

Several organizations and individuals, including El Centro de la Raza, the League of Women Voters of Washington, the Washington Association of School Administrators and the Washington Education Association, filed a lawsuit last week against the state in King County Superior Court.

Last year, after a similar lawsuit was filed the state Supreme Court declared the charter schools, which were approved by voters in 2012, unconstitutional and ineligible for common school funding.

Last spring, the legislature passed the Charter School Act which funds the schools through the Opportunity Pathways Account, which contains state lottery revenues not restricted to common schools.

The lawsuit filed Aug. 3 claims the legislative fix doesn’t go far enough to make the charters legal under state law.

“Charter schools do not meet the requirements for common schools because charter schools are neither subject to, nor under the control of, the qualified voters of the school district,” according to the lawsuit. “For example, voters do not have the right, through their chosen agents, to select and discharge teachers. Instead, a charter school board comprised of members appointed or selected under the terms of a charter application submitted by a private non-profit corporation has the authority to hire, manage, and discharge any charter school employee.”

The lawsuit alleges that the new charter school law, interferes with progress toward McCleary compliance, which requires the state fully fund education by 2018.

“Under the Supplemental Operating Budget enacted by the legislature earlier this year, the state will divert more than $19.4 million to charter schools during fiscal year 2015-2017,” according to the lawsuit.

In a statement, the Washington State Charter Schools Association said it was disappointed another lawsuit was filed.

“We are confident that the bipartisan law passed by the Legislature meets the constitutional threshold laid out by the courts,” the association said. “We are disappointed that any organization would be interested in blindly closing public school doors on students who are finally thriving. Our focus remains on ensuring that charter public schools continue to deliver excellent education and close persistent equity and opportunity gaps, not on playing games with special interest groups that seem determined to defend a system that we know is not working for too many of our promising youth. We are confident that Washington State now has one of the strongest charter public school laws in the country, and we are as determined as ever to keep fighting for Washington’s families and the high-quality public school options they deserve.”

The association said it plans to file a motion to intervene in the case.