Back in January (2019), I asked the Chair to include a discussion item on our agenda: that the Board consider the financial impact/s of new and/or expanding charter school/s on a district/s.
In response to my request, the Chair asked the Department *to provide a framework for the discussion* (agenda is HERE; briefing is HERE, #5).
At our regular meeting next Tuesday, March 26, Deputy Commissioner Jeff Wulfson is expected to present "an overview of the structure and operation of Massachusetts law with respect to the awarding of charters, funding of charter schools, and school finance generally".
He'll be joined by Senior Associate Commissioner Cliff Chuang, of the Office of Charter Schools and School Redesign, and General Counsel Rhoda Schneider.
At last month's BESE meeting, Vice Chair James Morton's comments resonated powerfully:
"Morton, the president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Boston, said he was “deeply troubled by the dilemma that I think we get placed in every time there’s a charter proposal in front of us.”“We find ourselves in a position of diverting resources from one opportunity to another without ever really addressing the underlying issue, which is finding some other source of funding for charter schools so that we can have both our public school children getting what they need ...,” he said. “It’s going to get pretty close to the moment where I vote against anything until we deal with that underlying issue, and I think that moment is today.”(Katie Lannan reporting for State House News Service, I first saw the article in Salem News, also South Coast Today: https://www.salemnews.com/news/board-of-ed-opts-against-approving-new-charters/article_6dba535a-2f01-11e9-a490-777d672eb1f4.html)
I can't think of another thing the BESE has within its purview that doesn't take financial impact into consideration. The November 2016 Charter School Ballot Question 2 decision resulted in voters overwhelmingly opposed to charter school expansion by a vote of 2:1; much of that decision had to do with the financial impact of charters, especially in communities experiencing the reality of decreased funding for traditional public schools due to the presence of charter schools in their region or district/s.
The discussion being had now in communities and in the Legislature, concerning improving School Finance, vis-รก-vis the Foundation Budget Formula, is in recognition that we've been short-changing for years those who need it most, especially in Gateway Cities—students in Special Education, English-learners, and economically disadvantaged students among them.
We're more than 25 years on from the promises made in the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993. I believe that a discussion of the financial impact of charter schools on sending districts is the next honest conversation we need to have, especially now that we understand* how urban and rural school districts are negatively and deeply impacted by the charter school decisions of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
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Image credit: Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts' Celebration of State Primary Endorsees, September 19, 2016 ~ mas
* There's also THIS and THIS from MassBudget.
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Image credit: Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts' Celebration of State Primary Endorsees, September 19, 2016 ~ mas
* There's also THIS and THIS from MassBudget.