This evening the Newton School Committee is scheduled to discuss whether or not to support Ballot Question 2, which would authorize 12 new charter schools or enrollment expansion in existing charters in the state each year. Share your feelings about Question 2 here.
What your view on the ballot question to expand charter schools?
by village14 | Sep 19, 2016 | Newton | 22 comments
This is the second news story that I have seen that fails to mention the identity of the 4 school committee members who want to bring this to a vote. Does anyone know?
No on 2.
I would like to know the SC members names too. Why are they voting on this?
Jeffrey,
Here’s the play by play:
At our 9/7 meeting Angela Pitter Wright, Diana Fisher Gomberg, Ruth Goldman and Margie Ross Decter requested that we have a discussion of this item at our 9/19 meeting. A few of them expressed this very strongly. The discussion would be about whether the School Committee should take an advisory position on Question 2.
Ellen Gibson, Margaret Albright, Matt Hills and I did not want to discuss. I won’t try to represent my colleagues’ reasons but I don’t consider this to a matter that we as a body should weigh in on and I can share my thinking if you’d like.
However if I voted “no” to discuss we would have a 4-4 tie, the matter would die, and a topic of considerable interest to many of our public would disappear with the position of their elected officials unknown. I thought this was bad form for a public body so for this reason and in deference to my colleagues who wished to discuss, I joined them.
Last night, we discussed whether to take a position on Question 2 as a School Committee. This took place in front of a room full of tee-shirted or buttoned Yes or No on Question 2 advocates and we also heard from 14 citizens during public comment who weighed in about evenly.
Angela Pitter Wright, Diana Fisher Gomberg, Ruth Goldman, Setti Warren and Margie Ross Decter took the position that we should vote on a resolution that would recommend the rejection of Question 2. Ellen Gibson expressed an interest in a resolution that would reject Question 2 for specifically stated reasons while also stating that the Newton School Committee was agnostic as to the existence of charter schools. Margaret Albright, Matt Hills and I took the position that our committee should not make a recommendation at all on Question 2.
I expect a vote on a resolution regarding Question 2 at our next School Committee meeting on October 5th, although the wording has not been prepared yet.
Regards, Steve
Thanks Steve. I hope the SC can make an up or down vote on a political statement without deliberation. The SC is working on extremely important issues that directly affect students’ health, well-being, and education. A careful analysis of question 2 will be quagmire. Estimating the financial impact alone is a herculean task. Time is precious. Prioritize.
As an addendum to Steve’s statement, at this point in time 112 School Committees in the state have voted to support No on Q2, as well as a number of City Councils.
SCHOOL COMMITTEES:
Adams-Cheshire
Agawam
Amesbury
Amherst
Andover
Ayer-Shirley
Arlington
Ashland
Attleboro
Barnstable
Belchertown
Bellingham
Berkshire Hills
Beverly
Billerica
Bourne
Brockton
Burlington
Cambridge
Carver
Chelmsford
Chelsea
Chicopee
Clarksburg
Conway
Deerfield
Dennis-Yarmouth
Douglas
Dudley-Charlton
East Bridgewater
Everett
Fall River
Falmouth
Fitchburg
Framingham
Frontier Regional
Georgetown
Gill-Montague
Gloucester
Greenfield
Hamilton-Wenham
Hampshire Regional
Haverhill
Hawlemont Regional
Holliston
Holyoke
Hull
Kingston
Lee
Leicester
Lenox
Leominster
Leverett
Lexington
Longmeadow
Lowell
Ludlow
Lynn
Mahar Regional
Malden
Mansfield
Marshfield
Maynard
Medford
Melrose
Mendon-Upton
Methuen
Milton
Mohawk Regional
Monomoy
Narragansett Regional
New Bedford
Newburyport
North Adams
Northampton
Northbridge
North Middlesex
North Reading
Norton
Norwood
Orange
Oxford
Peabody
Pelham
Petersham
Pioneer Valley Regional
Pittsfield
Quincy
Revere
Rowe
Salem
Saugus
Savoy
Silver Lake Regional
Somerset
Somerville
Southborough
Southern Berkshire Regional
South Hadley
Springfield
Stoneham
Sutton
Taunton
Triton Regional
Tyngsborough
Upper Cape Cod Regional Tech
Wachusett
Ware
Wareham
Waltham
Webster
Westhampton
West Springfield
Whately
Whitman-Hanson
Williamstown
Wilmington
Winchendon
Winchester
Winthrop
Worcester
CITY/SELECTMEN/TOWN COUNCILS:
Boston
Cambridge
Deerfield
Dennis
Easthampton
Everett
Lowell
Lynn
Randolph
Taunton
Worcester
Rather than knowing how other elected boards have voted on this I’d be interested in following a discussion on this issue here.
Anyone have a strong opinion on this that they can share with those of us who are undecided?
I just wanted to inform the community that the Newton School Committee is by no means being asked to go out on a limb on its own. Many communities have already deliberated and voted on this issue.
For me, the greatest concern is that Question #2 allows for 12 new charter schools EACH year, with NO end point. That means in 5 years, we’ll have 60 new charter schools and in 10 years, we’ll have 120 new schools in Massachusetts. This is all without thought to how difficult it is to establish a new school, find a suitable space, hire staff, set up a curriculum, etc. Make no mistake – opening a new school is a massive undertaking.
To put this in perspective, charter schools began opening in Massachusetts in the mid 1990’s. In the 20 year period between then and 2016, 80 schools have opened in the state. This referendum will allow 120 schools to open in 10 years – 40 more schools in half the time! Is it possible to open so many schools in such a short period of time and do a good job of it? Who will be open the schools? Increasingly, the job has been taken over by large corporations, with the headmaster making a handsome salary.
At this point, 80% of the funding for the Yes vote comes from unknown out of state donors Last week alone, the Walton’s of Walmart fame (and low wage, no benefits fame) donated $1.8 million!
You asked.
Commonwealth Charter Schools are 501(c)(3) non profits paid for by public school funds. They are considered public schools but are accountable to their Board of Trustees and the state, not to the local public school system, school board or committee. They have different requirements for teachers, than public schools. Most do not require certification. Some charter school teachers now join the Teamsters union but most are not members of any union.
Charter Schools are given a lot of leeway in curriculum choice and other things. Students are chosen by a lottery but some schools pay $100 to recruit more students. Stories of 100’s of kids on a waiting list have been questioned as have their rankings. Schools close with no notice leaving their students without a school so they are assigned to public schools, who pick up their personal and educational pieces. No money comes back from the closed charter schools.
They provide minimal special ed services and only in a mainstream classroom. Students who need additional out-of-classroom services have to be withdrawn.
Charter schools are publicly funded per child but have a poor retention rate although the funds are not returned. They suspend students regularly, minorities more than whites. Students are bused to the charter schools they get into with the money coming out of the public school funds. As for their bridging the gap, the NAACP begs to differ.
The push to privatize schools, along with many other government services has been going on for a long time, believed to have begun with the Koch brothers and ALEC.
Many who support charter schools have good intentions and believe in this type of education reform.
Others have different motives. The push for a vote in Mass now is funded by hedge funds and corporate interests using “dark money.” They are using 501(c)(3)’s whose donations are tax exempt and are generally foundations with specific interests that cannot contribute to politics. They can contribute to 501(c)(4)’s, generally charitable organizations or PACS, who can contribute to politics, as long as those are not the main use of their funds. Their donations are not tax exempt but are anonymous.
Hedge Funds mostly exist to make a profit which they do big time on charter schools. The 39% tax credit for investing in charter schools in qualifying areas plus interest free profits leads to millions in their pockets.
Corporate interests, like the Walton Family and others, and Section 501(c)(4) non-profits, in addition to making money, want to exert control over educational issues and politics. By defeating unions, they think they can defeat the Democratic Party and at this point the campaign has been successful in creating a division.
I want this funding to stay in local public school districts to be used to help close the gap in education. These schools educate all kids, regardless of need. They need more money in impoverished areas to support bringing in good teachers and to provide services that help young people learn how to pull themselves out of poverty. Vote No on 2.
I did ask, thanks @Marti. Although next time remind me to ask you on Twitter!
Lol. I’m sure I could have cut it down a bit.
I can do wonders with 154 words using “lex parsimoniae” as my guide under the right curcumstances but prefer to follow “Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem” with blog comments when trying to explain a complicated position, particularly one that sounds good on the outside but is bigger on the inside.
Did I make any assumptions? 😉
Question 2 involves a lot details. Full disclosure–I, like almost everyone, do not know all of the details. The merits do not rest on what politicians think,who is funding it, or who is making money from charter schools. These are distractions. The big picture question is, “Should parents have the opportunity to make choices about where their children go to school?” Many people (and, for obvious reasons, unions and school district officials) are saying, “If the parent can’t afford to move or pay private school tuition, NO.” Philosophically, I disagree.
I am a firm NO to charter schools. Charter Schools can pick the best and the brightest students, and then use that information against the public schools – look how we score better!
Public Schools MUST accept any student in their district. EVEN if the student requires ELL classes and doesn’t speak English. The public schools must accept every child, regardless of special needs (dyslexia, blind, deaf, students who have complex medical needs). The public schools can not dismiss a child for low performance or failing. Charter Schools cherry pick and then say how much better their students are and want more money. You can’t compare the two types of schools, because one school admits only a few students and one school admits anyone.
The last time the ballot initiative was raised the issue was “quality.” That did not get it on the ballot. This time around it’s “choice.” This time it’s backed by powerful interests out to make scads of money and attempt to crush unions and privatize as much as they can. It got on the ballot. Go figure.
Jeffrey Pontiff says “who is funding it doesn’t matter.” It does when educating students is not the primary concern – making money is.
Voting on a “choice” philosophy without attempting to understand the ballot question, is a big problem. Choice in and of itself does not help anyone. It matters what the choices are. Having good regulated public schools who can be held accountable by elected officials is a much better choice than corporate schools whose curriculum isn’t public.
Students are selected by a lottery. Afterward any students who need help outside the classroom, learning, emotional and disability difficulties and ELL students, are weeded out and sent back to their public schools whose funding was used on the charter school. Some choice.
It matters that the NAACP finds charter schools to be tools of segregation and does not support the idea that education gaps are closed by switching to charter schools. The charter schools retention rate matters.
Newton Mom. I think someone is feeding you wrong information. If a MA Charter School has limited space, students are selected based on a random lottery. There are no exams or cherry picking.
This comes back to my big picture question. Even if you were correct (which you are not), I still don’t know why you would take the position of forcing a kid to a specific school just because her parents are poor. Some poor parents with bright children might want the opportunity (like rich people) to send their child to school with other bright children.
Jeffrey, as I said above after students are selected by a lottery, only mainstream students doing well stay in charter schools. As Newton Mom says, the students who do not fit that category, students with leaning, emotional or disability difficulties, ELL learners and underperforming students are kicked back to their public school. So yes this “forces” them to a specific school – their public school whose funding has been cut and used on the charter school. That is not choice.
Being “poor” doesn’t preclude children from being “bright.” Their environment and fear can help keep it hidden though. Your last paragraph blows my mind – that is the opposite of choice.
MA could adopt the magnet school philosophy, used in CA and CT and other states, instead of that of corporate charter schools. Magnet schools are true public schools accountable in the same way as local public schools. They are a true choice.
It also means that students who arrive during the school year aren’t admitted to a Charter.
It also means that foreign students whose parents don’t know to apply, don’t go to the Charter School.
As soon you cherry pick (i. e. don’t accept all students) you are no longer a public school. If you can excuse entry to a child due to special needs, then you aren’t a public school and you should not receive public funds. To me, a public school educates any student from that district that walks through the door. The Charter School is always going to look better on paper, because there is a small (if any) population of students that need SPED, ELL and other services.
I don’t like that the Charter School can publish test results against the city/town charter school and say that they are doing a better job educating students. In reality, the charter school population is not the same population that attends public schools. Until Charter Schools have the same percentage as SPED students/ELL students with complex learning needs, then Charter Schools can compare scores. But right now Charter Schools do not serve all students from the district.
We are going to have to agree to disagree on this issue.
Jeffrey – If you look at the data on the Mass. DOE website, you will see that when students leave a charter school, they are not replaced with another one from the so-called waiting list. Why is that? In fact, we have many slots available for students who want one if the charter schools replaced students who return to the district schools. That does not happen.
What Marty, Jane and Jeff said.
I’m a staunch believer in public education as the stepping stone for social mobility in our community and country. However, every time I hear a fact-based debate, the argument for more charter schools wins. I really don’t believe that well-intentioned but detached rich privileged liberals in communities such as Newton should be telling struggling, low-income families with no option for their smart, striving kids( other than charters) that they should stop selfishly focusing on their own children’s futures and think instead about the greater good, big societal picture and how this affects kids with learning disabilities, etc. The rich, privileged Newton activists will never have to make that choice. Kids with learning disabilities will always be protected by federal law. It’s kids with talent born into the wrong zip code, but perhaps not talented enough to get a full ride at a ritzy private school or ride a bus for 2 hours to be in METCO who have their futures squashed by things as they are. I regret that this is being settled in a ballot initiative, but that only reflects a failure by our elected government and a frustration among citizens. The status quo cares more about increasing teacher benefits than accelerating student opportunity and achievement. So if my vote for more charters sends a signal that educators need to think more about educational outcomes, decreasing the achievement gap and offering more middle class and below kids a ticket to something greater, so be it. A lot of people feel that way. Nobody personalizing this to affect their own children would vote to favor a common good that leaves deserving students in the dust. By not accepting compromise, this has become a ballot initiative. When you vote, err on the side of children.
KarenN,
A yes vote creates 12 charter schools per year, good or not, with no end point. It is an up and down vote by voters who mostly don’t understand the complicated issues behind the charter school decisions. It is too complex to be on the ballot. It’s is not about choice.
A No vote creates a “pause” for the legislature and others to continue to study and evaluate MA charter schools, determine the facts on their successes and failures, and make the complex decisions on how to move forward. Black Lives Matter and the NAACP support that “pause,” along with many others whose studies show they do not contribute to closing the education gap.
I don’t know what fact based arguments you’ve had but
most people I have heard from, who are planning to vote yes, are doing so because they believe in “CHOICE.” Choice sounds good so, yeh lets go with choice.
I really don’t believe “well intentioned detached rich liberals… ” or conservatives who know nothing about the ballot initiative concerning charter schools or much about charter schools themselves understand what ” … struggling low income families … ” want or the choices they need. But that doesn’t stop them from telling these families what choices they should be offered.
You are the second person I have heard who wants more charter schools because they only teach “bright” kids. So you want 12 new charter schools created per year endlessly for bright, low income kids who have no learning, emotional, disability or disciplinary issues, speak English as their first language and perform well without help. I guess you don’t know that kids with the above are also bright and talented. Kids with Asperger’s, ADHD, traumatic childhoods, dyslexia, developmental delays or who are learning English, etc. are just as likely, if not more likely, to be gifted than any other population.
Charter school students are selected in a lottery (choice?) after which those listed above are kicked back to their local public school. (choice?) Their public school’s funding has been used to fund the charter school. No reimbursement. Charter schools do not replace the students they signed up, were paid for and subsequently sent back to public school. So yes, the struggling public school with no extra funding will take the students and try to furnish them with the services they need to succeed. How exactly do schools that only teach kids who can learn easily contribute to closing the education gap? Nonsensical thinking.
NO, those kids with the difficulties listed above don’t receive the services they need because they ” … will always be protected by Federal Law.” Charter schools are not required to provide services. The quality of services public schools provide depend on funding but that funding is going to the charter schools. It takes a parent with the time to be engaged with their children’s work to request testing, go to IEP meetings and keep up with their homework.
Have you given any thought to the fact that a very large percentage of Newton residents are struggling, low income families? Do you know the income status of every Newton residents speaking about charter schools and advocating a NO vote?
I have heard no one say low income families living in depressed areas should think about the “societal good.” They don’t have time. They work hard and hope that a good education will help their children live easier lives than they have. All of their children, not just those who learn easily and have no problems.
I have nothing but admiration for those who have studied this question deeply and reached a reasoned conclusion one way or the other. So I mean no disrespect when I say, nevertheless, it doesn’t belong on the ballot, and its presence there makes me angry. It’s too complicated an issue for a simple yes or no answer, and if adequate plans and protections were in place to cover either outcome, it wouldn’t have come to this. We elect representatives to deal with the hard questions. It’s not my job to work them out, and a shot in the dark at the ballot box is no way to craft good public policy.
I agree with Amanda. Ballot issues are not how to approach something as complex as educational policy, but this reflects how politicized the process has become. And it’s not going to become depoliticized until we ban teachers unions and these charter school companies from contributing to the campaigns of legislators.So, in a lot of ways, this ballot question puts the decision-making in the hands of the voters because their representatives did not make a decision.Unfortunately, I don’t think that voting NO will be acknowledged as people calling for a “pause”. It will be seen as validation for the way things are and no change at all. Things don’t change at the pace of the rest of the world in education. Just look at Newton. My kid’s in his second year of college and we still don’t have full day kindergarten even though the majority of parents polled wanted it. And the charters don’t have to just be about “bright kids”. They can also be tickets out of failing educational cultures and practices for any level kid. Or the opportunity to study math & science with teachers who could theoretically be paid more than in a public school because a charter could recognize that — big radical thought here — that a physics teacher should make more than other teachers if the market for qualified candidates demanded it. Research says that we should have early education for all, more instructional hours, etc., especially for kids who come from disadvantaged families and communities –but these changes aren’t happening fast enough for voters.