Massachusetts Charter Public School Association

Marc's Blog

Dear Leaders and Friends,

posted 09/09/08

Obama, McCain, and the Clinton support charters. What's the matter with Governor Patrick?

September 9, 2008 - The Massachusetts Charter Public School Association today called on Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to join the presidential nominees of both parties and support the expansion of charter public schools.

Campaigning in Ohio today Sen. Barack Obama pledged to double federal funding for charter schools.

"I believe in public schools, but also believe in fostering competition among public schools," Obama said at a high school Dayton. "If we're going to make a real and lasting difference for our future, we have to be willing to move beyond the old arguments of left and right and take meaningful, practical steps to build an education system worthy of our children and our future."

Last week, Sen. McCain reiterated his support for giving parents expanded educational choices, including charter public schools.

Patrick's lack of strong leadership on charters is at odds with both Obama and Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, as well as former President Bill Clinton and NY Sen. Hillary Clinton - who all strongly support the expansion of charter public schools.

Its clear that something's missing in the education equation in Massachusetts. The charter public school program in Massachusetts is a national model that has provided educational opportunity and hope for a better future to tens of thousands of children across the state. This seems to be recognized everywhere but in the Governor's Office. Patrick‚s recent blueprint for education reform mentioned charters "only in passing."

The lack of support from the Governor's Office stunts charter growth and threatens their continued success. In many communities, including some of the worst performing districts, charter expansion is frozen by one of three caps the state has imposed on charters. Legislation to lift that cap is pending in the Legislature, but the Governor opposes it. Meanwhile, there are more than 21,000 students on wait lists - almost as many as are enrolled in the state's 61 charter public schools.

Gov. Patrick needs to take a more proactive, supportive stand on charter public schools. It's not enough to say you support charters; you must show leadership on important issues related to charters. Lifting the cap on charters in the most economically depressed school districts should be a centerpiece of the Governor's education reform agenda.

posted 06/30/08

Marc's take on the Readiness Project and Charters

During last week's rollout of the Readiness Project recommendations I received numerous emails asking, "what does this mean for charters"...So, for what its worth, here's my take. These reactions are mine alone and do not represent any official position of the MCPSA.

State of the movement:

First of all, charter school trustees, leaders, faculty, students, families and supporters should feel very very proud. Despite years of attacks by determined charter opponents from the school districts, we've been able to continue to grow at a rate of 3-4 charters a year with a number of our existing charters going through significant expansions. And, more importantly, the quality of our schools has continued to increase, with the number of schools accomplishing extraordinary performance increasingly annually. We now have charter schools in every major urban area at the top in their perspective city and a cadre of urban, suburban and rural schools leading the Massachusetts public education system through a new wave of innovation. In addition, while still a challenge for our schools, we have been able to crack the difficult nut of charter school facilities financing bringing into the market a significant number of lenders who just a few years ago wouldn't go near enterprises they found "risky". Many of our schools have moved into wonderful, permanent homes. Demand for our schools continues to be very high, waiting lists continue to grow and our support among the general public seems higher than ever.

We have won the debate on charter success:

While the Governor does not support charter school expansion as we know it, he has clearly embraced the charter school model as the template for his new "Readiness Schools." In fact, I can say with much joy and confidence that we have won the debate of "are charter schools successful?" The Governor and new Secretary of Education have stated in many different forums that charter schools are successful and we now need to take their success to the larger school district. So the debate has changed from "are charters successful?" to "what's the best way to expand this successful model?" This is a tremendous accomplishment and seismic shift in the debate and should not be lost or underestimated.

Readiness Schools: Districts on the spot and our path to raising the cap:

So, it is with great irony that we find ourselves in this new position: our Governor and Secretary of Education have embraced the charter school model yet have just released a 12 year plan for education reform and we're not in it. There is no way to paint a rosy picture on that cold hard fact. Hard to find a silver lining in that cloud. But, alas, don't despair, I believe that within the Readiness Report lies a huge opportunity for us.

It is a great compliment to our schools that the Readiness Schools are an attempt to take the successful charter model and bring it into the school districts. While it looks great on paper to say, "let's give Districts the freedoms that charters have and watch them go!" those of you who have worked in a school district bureaucracy and/or labored to start and maintain a high-quality charter school know that the reality will be much different than the fantasy. It is very hard for me to envision school committees suddenly creating autonomous schools, stripping school superintendents from control, and taking away all the working conditions bargained over the last 50 years by the local teachers unions. In reality there will be tremendous resistance within the bureaucracy to such changes, and the pace of change, if at all, will be snail's. Perhaps I'm one of those "naysayers" the Governor referred to last week...or perhaps I'm a veteran of school and social change that knows that the school district system as we know it in Massachusetts is a dinosaur and needs to be overhauled before anyone can dream of it creating numbers of high quality, autonomous schools that put students before adults.

So here's the silver lining: the Governor and Secretary have said, "if the districts can't or won't make these reforms, then we will look outside the system". "Outside the system" means charters. Of course we are cynical about such statements, and know they aren't necessarily worth the paper they're written on (or teleprompters for that matter)! But this does provide us with a major opportunity.

If these district Readiness Schools can meet the same high standards that our charters do, and they can achieve the same success with students across the demographic and geographic spectrum that we do, if they can create autonomous successful schools that are closing the achievement gap, then more power to them, maybe we've done our job. Therefore, I think it is very important for the charter school community to fully engage with the administration in the development of the Readiness School model. It is our schools that hold the standard of quality and we must insist that quality be at the forefront of the creation of these schools: not political expediency to take the pressure of the charter school movement off of the school districts, or the Governor for that matter.

But if they don't, if they cannot measure up to charters, then we will have a powerful argument, and this administration's pledge to go to the Legislature and demand the cap be raised.

Next Steps:

If we are to engage with the administration to promote quality as the primary objective of these Readiness Schools, then we should propose some guidelines. Below are a few preliminary ideas. They are not the position of the MCPSA as of yet, just my initial thoughts, I'd appreciate feedback!

Initially we should insist on the following:

Readiness Schools should be created through an application process that embodies the rigor of the state charter school granting process.
Readiness Schools should be held to the same high standards of accountability, evaluation and inspection that charters are.
Readiness School founding groups should be required to study, visit and learn from our successful charters.
School Committees and Superintendents creating Readiness Schools should undergo mandatory training as authorizers conducted by the MA DOE Charter School Office and/or the National Association of Charter School Authorizers.

Please don't think that I'm naïve enough to think that in two years the Governor will look at the state of "Readiness Schools" and proclaim "its time to raise the charter cap!" He will not give up easily on this initiative and no matter how bad Readiness Schools turn out, there is no doubt that we will have a difficult time changing the Governor's mind about charter school expansion. He will stick to his guns for as long as he can, and he will not want to admit defeat, nor relish the charter school movement's expansion in the face of such a defeat. And even if we were to turn the governor around on raising the cap, we still face a determined MTA that still fights us at every turn and is as powerful in the Legislature as ever. They will not look kindly on our efforts to raise the cap regardless of what the Governor says. But the political ground has shifted and if we are strategic; if we continue to produce high quality schools that are closing the achievement gap, if we open our doors to district reformers engaged in the Readiness School formation process; if we continue to grow at a rate of 3-4 new charters a year, this new political dynamic will work in our favor.

Would love your feedback!

posted 06/11/08

Yesterday Secretary of Education-elect Paul Reville briefed me on a new initiative of the Governor that will be proposed in the Readiness Project report to be released on June 25th. Below is my summary of his briefing to me. The Globe story about the proposal will be sent in a separate email to follow

The proposal calls for the creation of "Readiness Schools" which is an attempt to bring important elements of the charter school movement to school districts across the state: autonomy, flexibility, choice, and teacher/administrative ownership of schools. Specifically, there will be 4 kinds of "Readiness Schools" proposed. Each of these kinds of schools will be authorized by the local school committee but will NOT need union sign-off. There are A LOT of details that need to be worked out, but here's the rough outline as explained to me by Secretary Reville. Most, if not all of these ideas would need legislation that the Governor will file inithe legislature in January, 2009.

4 Kinds of Readiness Schools

Teacher-led groups within the district can come together and form a professional practice and do a conversion or a new school. There will be some kind of teacher vote for conversion, but NOT a union sign-off. Would have a performance based contract with the school committee. A rubric for that contract would be developed by the state.
Supt./School Committee could designate a school to become a Readiness School. This would also require a teacher vote, but would have no union sign-off.
District could invite an outside educational provider from a list of providers approved by the state to manage a school(s). District would go thru an rfp process with approved vendors. No faculty vote or union sign-off
Where underperforming schools have hit the end of the accountability road, District would be obligated to hire an outside educational provider to manage these schools. This would be the only "obligatory" Readiness School.

Under the Governor's proposal, in all these schools salary, benefits and grievance procedures for firing would stay the same under the existing collective bargaining contract while working conditions would become management prerogative.

Funding these schools would get a weighted average per pupil ˆ similar to ch. 70. based on demographics.

Governor's message is "let's give districts this autonomy and see if they can rise to the occasion. They've wanted to have the tools that charters have. Here they are."

Not sure what happens if districts don't participate, or aren't successful.

posted 02/27/08

Yesterday the MA Board of Education voted to approve 3 new charter schools: a Commonwealth charter serving Boston, a Commonwealth charter serving the Springfield region and a Horace Mann in Haverhill.

However, in an unprecedented move, the Board voted to reject the Department of Education's recommendation for a new commonwealth charter in the Brockton area to be run by SABIS educational management company. This was the first time in the history of the MA charter school movement that the Board rejected a recommendation from the Department for a new charter school.

posted 01/14/07

Here's an update on 2 major political issues brewing for charter schools.

Commissioner of Education search
Gov. Patrick's proposal for Reorganization of Education governance including the Board of Education

1. Commissioner of Education search:

The search for a new Commissioner of Education is scheduled to come to a conclusion this Thursday with a special meeting of the Board of Education. As you know, there are three finalists for the position: two of which are out of state and one in-state candidate. The Board held a public interview process last week where the Board and two advisory panels were able to interview the three candidates in front of the public and media. Meg Campbell from the Codman Academy Charter Public School in Boston and I represented charter schools on the advisory panels which also contained a number of charter supporters.

As I forwarded earlier today, the Boston Globe and Boston Herald have endorsed one of the out-of-state candidates Mitchell Chester from Ohio. The in-state candidate Karla Baehr, as is often the case, drew the most scrutiny from the media with a number of newspaper articles appearing during the past week focused on her performance as Superintendent of Wellesley and Lowell Public Schools. While the media coverage has certainly favored Chester's candidacy and disfavored Baehr, the final outcome of the search is by no means a certainty. The Board of Education consists of 9 members, two-thirds (at least 6) have to vote for a Commissioner and with the board split between remaining Romney appointees, new Patrick appointees and members there by position (Chancellor of Higher Education, Commissioner of Early Childhood Education, labor and student representative) anything can happen.

There's even the possibility that none of the three candidates could get 6 votes and the search started again. Unlikely but not impossible. But that leads me to the next item.

2. Governor Patrick's Education Reorganization Plan

Last Thursday at a breakfast sponsored by MASS INC., which I attended, Governor Patrick announced a plan for the reorganization of the governance system for education in the Commonwealth. He proposes to create a Secretary of Education whose primary mission would be to coordinate the three sectors of the education system: Early Childhood, K-12, and Higher Education. The Secretary would also funnel the annual budget proposals of the three areas to the Administration and Finance for presentation to the Legislature and be a voting member on the boards for each of the three sectors.

Most importantly for charter schools, the reorganization proposal also calls for the expansion of the Board of Education (as well as the other two boards). The proposal calls for increasing the number of members of the Board of Ed from 9 to 11. He also proposes replacing the spots on the board for the Chancellor of Higher Education and Commissioner of Early Education with one seat for the new Secretary of Education and one gubernatorial appointment. The proposal also calls for staggering the terms of the existing members of the Board so there is more regular turnover of members.

The potential implications of this proposal for charter schools are very significant. As you know, the Board of Education is the authorizer of charters and has final say over the granting of new charters, the renewal/revoking of existing charters and approving the regulations that govern charters. They can unilaterally impose a moratorium on the granting of new charters or the expansion of existing ones. They can change the rules governing the renewal of charters. Nearly all the power over charters rests with them.

During the first 14 years of the charter school movement in Massachusetts the Board of Education has had a large majority of pro-charter members. The Governor's proposal would give him the ability to immediately appoint three new members plus his secretary, then replace existing members as their terms come due. The ones whose terms would come due first are three pro-charter members. Therefore, immediately upon passage of this proposal by the Legislature (mid-March), the Governor would have a majority of members of the board be his appointments thus giving him "control" of the board. While it is by no means a given that his appointments would be anti-charter, his first two appointments, one the Chairman who has publicly acknowledged that he is "agnostic" towards charters and the other a well-known anti-MCAS activist does not provide much comfort to charter supporters.

According to Article 87 of the state Constitution, the Legislature has 60 days to vote yes or no on the Governor's proposal. If the legislature does not vote on it it becomes law. As I understand Article 87, the proposal may not be amended by the legislature. At the breakfast Governor Patrick indicated that he had already negotiated this proposal with the legislative leadership and media reports indicated the same thing. We should go on the assumption that it will become law in 60 days and the Governor will take "control" of the board of education shortly after that.

In a side note to the issue, during the breakfast Governor Patrick made a somewhat surprising comment about charters and MCAS. In response to a question from the audience about the re-authorization of NCLB legislation on the federal level, he responded this way as recorded by State House News Service

Patrick charged at preemptive defenses of charter schools or the MCAS test. "Grow up," he said, his voice rising. "We've been at this a decade and a half. We have to examine whether what we are doing we are doing as well as we can."

Not sure what prompted this but it sure created a stir...
that's it for now...

posted 09/26/07

Yesterday, 500 charter school parents packed a State House Legislative hearing on charter school legislation. Many of them from across the state Adams to Cape Cod and Boston to Holyoke testified to the committee. A great showing of satisfied parents to offset testimony of the Teacher unions' and School Committee, Superintendent and Municipal Association's representatives.

Earlier in the day the Massachusetts Business Leaders for Charter Schools held their first press conference.

posted 06/21/07

WBZ-TV did a great piece on the new Boston Public School Superintendent Carol R.Johnson. The piece focused almost entirely on Charter Schools in Boston. We have learned that Ms. Johnson is a supporter of charter schools and, in fact, her husband is presently a teacher in a Memphis Charter School (!).

Our fearless leader Spencer Blasdale MCPSA President and Director of the Academy of the Pacific Rim did a great job on camera in the piece. Here's a link to the tv clip.

www.wbztv.com/kellerblog

posted 06/13/07

As the school year winds down, there has been a flurry of political activity concerning charter schools. Here's a quick update. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Legislature:

The Legislature is nearing completion of the FY 08 State Budget. The conference committee (members from both the House and Senate) are working on their compromise document that will be then sent to the Governor for the fiscal year to begin July 1. For the first time in many years there was no attempt in either the House or the Senate to impose limits on the growth or funding of charter schools. This, I believe, represents a turning point in our long struggle to establish charter schools as a permanent fixture in the Massachusetts public education system. Its clear that our opponents felt they could not achieve anything by proposing limits on charter schools during the budget process.

However, this doesn't mean that they have given up, or that we have the support in the Legislature to further the growth of the movement. It seems clear that opponents have chosen to pursue a different path, putting their eggs in the "Governor's basket".

Governor Patrick:

Recently the Governor released a broad 10 year plan for public education in Massachusetts. This was a far reaching plan, a vision of the future that included, among other things, universal pre-K, full year Kindergarten and free Community College. At this stage he hasn't released a funding plan for accomplishing these admirable plans. The only mention of charter schools in his plan was to "to position and support charter schools, pilot schools, and traditional district schools so they are cooperative components of a comprehensive system. " In this plan the Governor proposed creating a blue ribbon commission to steer his efforts.

Yesterday the Governor announced his three "co-chairs" of this task force: Wheelock College President Jackie Jenkins-Scott, former Boston schools superintendent Thomas Payzant, and EMC Corp. chairman and CEO Joseph Tucci. In a statement released yesterday, Patrick's press office said the project's "leadership team" would "synthesize all action recommendations into a concise, coherent strategic-plan and will present the implementation plan complete with benchmarks, cost projections and timelines, to Governor Patrick no later than March 31, 2008.

I've had many questions in the past 24 hours about what these appointments mean for us. While its always hard to predict these things, my sense is that these are good appointments for charter schools and the future of education reform. Payzant, while not a supporter of charter schools during his tenure as BPS Superintendent was recently a member of a national commission that issued a far reaching set of recommendations that include implementing many charter-like ideas into the public education system. Freed from the constraints of his job, I believe that he will be open to charter schools as an integral part of the future of Massachusetts education reform. But that obviously remains to be seen. EMC Chairman Joseph Tucci is a very encouraging selection for charter schools and education reform. EMC has historically been at the forefront of support for Education Reform and Charter Schools and I expect that Tucci will be a forceful advocate for continued focus on choice, standards and accountability. Jackie Jenkins-Scott's views of charter schools are unknown, but she is well-known as an innovative leader in education and Wheelock College has historically been at the forefront of education innovation.

But we'll have to wait and see how it plays out....other members of the commission have yet to be announced.

Board of Education:

Last week Governor Patrick made his first appointment to the Board of Education filling the designated "parent" slot of the 9 person Board. By law one of the seats must be appointed by the governor from a list of three submitted by the state Parent Teacher Association. This seat has been open for quite some time because former Governor Romney refused to accept any of the three names previously submitted by the PTA. The appointed member was Ruth Kaplan. Kaplan is presently a member of the Brookline School Committee (though she has to resign in order to serve on the Board of Education) and a co-chair of a coalition of groups opposed to the MCAS graduation requirement. This appointment has created quite a stir within the education community. In his announcement of the appointment the Governor reiterated his support for the MCAS graduation requirement so there's alot of head scratching going on about this move. Lots of hypothesis floating about what his intention is, but I'll leave it to you to ponder. The Globe weighed in today with an editorial critical of the appointment.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/06/12/patrick_fumbles_a_test/

Though I've found no public comments by Kaplan about charter schools, the Brookline School Committee has a long history of being a vocal opponent to charters. The Board of Education is now full and charter supporters still have a solid majority, but should any of the existing members resign, or when their terms end in upcoming years, the support on the Board that we've taken for granted could be in jeopardy. And while there's been no formal proposal from the governor, there has been lots of talk about a reorganization of the Board....we're watching these developments very carefully.

Boston Globe:

Many of you are aware that the Globe, through reporter Maria Sacchetti, has been conducting extensive research into the enrollment practices of charter and pilot schools. Sacchetti has talked to nearly all our schools and is focusing on our emphasis on educating parents about the charter school choice as part of the enrollment process. We understand the article, if there is one, to still be in the future, we don't believe its publication is imminent. In the meantime, we've been doing extensive advocacy with the Globe about the direction of their charter school coverage, encouraging them to be more proactive in covering the wide range of success stories in charter schools. This is obviously an ongoing effort that we will continue to put a lot of time into.

Marblehead:

As many of you know, the Marblehead Charter School has been going through a very tough time this spring with their story finally breaking onto the front page of the Globe this past Saturday. Without going into the sordid details, I wanted to let you know that our position is, and always has been, to support the Board of Trustees of our schools in whatever way we can. We do NOT support individuals, especially when there is conflict within a school. We do not take sides and stay out of internal school conflicts and support the officially recognized Board in their efforts to guide their school. In the case of Marblehead this is what we are doing, providing advice and support to the Board as they move through this very difficult situation. Be happy to talk to folks offline about this if you'd like more info...

Charter School National Recognition:

Recently a number of our schools have received national recognition for their academic success. Sturgis Charter Public School in Hyannis was named by Newsweek as one of the 100 best high schools in the country. Roxbury Prep, MATCH and Excel from Boston were named by the Center for Education Reform as three of the top 52 charter schools in the country. Congrats to these schools.

I'm sure there's more, but trying to keep this somewhat brief....be in touch if you have questions...

Marc

posted 03/22/07

Today in an unequivocal decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that School Committees have no right to challenge the granting of a Commonwealth Charter School in court.

The decision in a case of Hudson School Committee et.al. vs. the MA Board of Education and the Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School of Marlborough, the SJC ruled that:

"Our review of the language and purpose of the charter school statute, its administrative scheme, and other pertinent considerations, satisfies us that the Legislature did not intent that school committees, in these circumstances, should be able to seek judicial review of the Board's [of Education] decision to grant a charter for a Commonwealth charter school. The statutory and regulatory scheme clearly discloses that, in the case of Commonwealth charter schools, the Legislature intended that school committees have a very limited role in the charter school process. This limitation appears in the very first provisions of the charter school statute where the definitions distinguish between a Commonwealth charter school and a Horace Mann charter school...The Legislature expressly states that a Commonwealth charter school is to operate 'independently of any school committee.'...In contrast, the Legislature has expressly subjected Horace Mann charter schools to school committee approval...The distinction has legal significance"

Congratulations to AMSA and thanks to Hanify and King for writing the Association's friend of the court brief.

posted 02/27/07

YES! Last Friday Governor Patrick signed the supplemental budget which includes our provision for hold harmless funds for charter middle school tuition lost as result of changes to the Chapter 70 formula last summer. It is now LAW. This will provide approximately $4 million to 42 out of 51 Commonwealth charters.

posted 01/25/07

Things have gotten off to a slow start in the new Legislative session and the new Patrick Administration. The Legislature doesn't have committee chairs or committee assignments yet and the Patrick Administration is still getting settled into their new offices. But despite the lack of concrete activity on Beacon Hill, the Association and our charter school allies have been very busy putting in place the various components of our advocacy campaign for 2007. We are pleased that our efforts and allies have expanded and our plan of action is coming together very nicely.

As always we will be dependent on the advocacy of the 20,000+ charter school families across the state. As the legislative session unfolds, we will be in touch with concrete action steps for you to take. And, starting today, we will be providing regular updates about charter school politics.

posted 12/06/06

Last night in Millbury the PreK-12 Education Working Group of the Deval Patrick transition team held the first of three public meetings to receive input into their work. Here's a brief report:

Four out of 12 members of the Working Group were present: Co-Chair, Dennis Berkey, President, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Margaret Blood, President & Campaign Director, Early Education for All, Dr. Charles Conroy, Executive Director, Doctor Franklin Perkins School, Henry M. Thomas III, President & CEO, Urban League of Springfield. (I assume they are spllitting up the three sessions).

50 people attended, 40 spoke.

The Working Group began by sharing the four principles guiding their work:

Increase Access to Early Childhood Education
Increase Time for Learning
Eliminate Achievement Gaps No Matter the Cause
Champion Innovation in Public Education

these sounded good to me!

There was alot of input about Early Childhood education, need to improve teacher quality, Chapter 70 funding, and MCAS. The public input about charters was as follows:

Representative of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents (Sheldon Berman) spoke very briefly in support of their proposal to change the charter school funding formula to the school choice formula ($5,000 limit for districts, rest in line item). Bent over backwards to say how much they accepted charter schools as part of the education landscape. Funding was the problem.
Representative of the Massachusetts Municipal Association (Norton Town Manager) spoke in support of the Superintendent's Proposal. Again, very clear that they supported charter schools, but that they shouldn't be funding them at "150%" of the per pupil" (!)
Representative of Holyoke Community Charter School did a great job explaining that Holyoke was at the cap and kids from their school (K-8) had no alternative to Holyoke Public High School. Need to raise the cap in Holyoke! Lots of clapping by audience
Parent from Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School in Marlborough talked about the importance of charters in creating efficiencies through competition.
Parent from Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School in Worcester advocated raising the cap so that more families would have the opportunity that his family did (6 out of 8 children in the charter school!). Well received by audience.

Overall, a very good tone for us. Audience seemed supportive. None of the group members spoke or responded except at the end, the chair summarized the feedback as, among other things, "concerns about all areas of education funding" and "support for charter schools".

Tonight the tour stops in Newton. I suspect it will be a much larger turnout...

posted 10/03/06

Great news from Washington.

On Friday, September 29th the United States Department Of Education announced that the Massachusetts Charter Public School Assocation has been awarded a three year, $2.3 million Charter School National Activities grant. The project is entitled "Keeping the Promise: the Massachusetts Charter School Dissemination and Replication Project". The grant was one of 6 awarded nationwide out of 34 applications.

The project is to identify 15 high quality Massachusetts Charter Schools serving students at educational risk in high need communities to analyze and document the common elements of success using print, video and the web to disseminate findings nationally and to facilitate replication by transforming these schools into laboratories for charters, charter developers and district schools identified in need of improvement, corrective action or restructuring.

posted 09/21/06

General Election campaign begins!

Only one day into the general election campaign for Governor and already charter schools have become a major issue. The general election campaign for Governor began in earnest yesterday with Lt. Governor Kerry Healey, Republican candidate for Governor releasing a 50 point plan for her campaign. Among those points is a call to lift the cap on charter schools. Faced with such strong support for charter schools, it will be very interesting to see how Deval Patrick approaches this issue. Will he continue to take his approach during the primary that he supports charter schools, but wants to change the funding formula? Or will he shift in response to Lt. Governor's strong position on lifting the cap?

One thing is sure, charter schools will be at the forefront of the campaign. We will continue our efforts to educate all the candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor on the importance of charter schools, how essential it is to ensure stable and adequate funding for charter schools, and lifting the cap so that more families have the choice of charter schools in their communities. We will continue to keep the charter school community abreast of the developments as we move towards the November 7th election.

posted 09/15/06

Countdown to primary day:

With only a few days until the Democratic primary for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, much focus has rested on charter public schools. In an attempt to help charter school supporters understand the positions of the various candidates the MCPSA has published the results of our candidate survey on charter school issues. These results are posted on this site.

As you'll see, the campaigns of Chris Gabrieli, Tom Reilly, Kerry Healey and Grace Ross responded to the survey. The campaigns of Deval Patrick, Christy Mihos, Deb Goldberg and Tim Murray did not respond.

You can see the results here.

posted 08/31/06

Yesterday the Massachusetts Department of Education released a new study of the academic achievement of charter schools vs. the sending districts. This was the first independent study comparing the two since the beginning of the charter school movement. Below is the Boston Globe article from today about the study. You can read the Executive Summary of the study here:

http://www.doe.mass.edu/charter/reports/datastudy/summary.html

Here's the Globe article:

On exam, charter schools get edge
MCAS scores buck a national trend

By Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff | August 31, 2006

Massachusetts charter school students are performing as well as, or better than, their counterparts in regular public schools, in contrast to a recent national study, according to a state report released yesterday.

About 60 percent of the charter school students fared about the same as their peers in regular schools on state MCAS exams in English and math, while 30 percent performed ``significantly higher," according to the study commissioned by the state Department of Education. About 10 percent of the charter schools fared worse.

The study provoked mixed reviews amid debate over the future of charter schools. Last week, a report, which focused on a sampling of the nation's charter schools, found that on average, fourth-graders in regular public schools outperformed charter school pupils in reading and math on a national exam.

In the Bay State, charter school proponents hailed the state's study as proof that the experimental public schools are working and deserve to be expanded. Lawmakers created the experimental public schools 13 years ago to find new ways to boost student achievement. Now the state's 57 charter schools -- with two more opening this fall -- have more freedom than regular schools to set longer school days, establish a creative course of study, and assign staff members where they are needed. Most teachers work outside the union.

``Too often the question of whether or not charter schools are successful becomes a politically-charged debate," David P. Driscoll, state education commissioner, said in a statement. ``We chose to have this analysis done to put an end to that debate once and for all."

Anne Wass, the new president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which opposes charter schools, said the study was flawed because the charter schools' demographics didn't necessarily mirror the cities they are in.

``It doesn't put an end to the debate on charter schools by any means," Wass said of the study.

Jeff Wulfson , associate commissioner of the state Department of Education, said the findings show that charter schools outperform regular public schools, even when demographics are taken into account. For example, the study found that students in Boston's charter schools, including black and Hispanics who have scored lower in the past, performed significantly better than students in regular public schools.

``There's been a lot of resistance to people learning from charter schools," Wulfson said. ``This report shows that there are a significant number of high-performing charter schools, and therefore, we should be trying to learn what they're doing."

The study, conducted for the state by the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment Inc., examined the test scores of 52 charter schools in existence from 2001 to 2005. Four charter schools were excluded because they served students from multiple towns or did not have test scores available.

Paul S. Grogan , president of the Boston Foundation, which finances some charter schools and regular public schools in the Boston area, said the state's findings show that the Legislature should lift a spending cap on charter schools. He credits the charters with spurring Boston to experiment with pilot schools, which give teachers and principals more flexibility than regular schools.

He said Massachusetts charter schools might fare better than others nationally because the state provides strict oversight. ``We're going to continue to go through a period of many dueling studies and warring interpretations," said Grogan. ``At a minimum I think we can be assured that the charter school experiment in Massachusetts is going pretty darn well."

Charter schools account for about 20,000 of the state's 972,000 students, about 2 percent overall.

posted 05/02/06

The past two weeks have been a watershed for the charter school movement. First a new poll comes out that shows 68% of the public supporting charter schools. Then 3 out of 4 major gubernatorial candidates come out in support of charters. Followed by an unprecedented mobilization of charter school parents in support of our highly successful efforts to decisively defeat the school districts' latest attempt to cripple our funding.

Perhaps in the weeks to come there will be a shift in the legislative debate to how can we support and nuture our charter school movement since its so highly successful and in demand. We'll see.

posted 05/01/06

Very late last Thursday night, WITHOUT A VOTE, the Massachusetts House of Representatives rejected the Blumer amendment 1520 calling for a new charter school funding formula.

The amendment was not brought to the floor for a vote or debate. It died in the backroom behind closed doors sometime after midnight. At this point we don't know what, if anything, was discussed or if any deals or further accomodations were made. Hopefully we'll find out more today.

What we do know is that the outpouring of advocacy from charter school parents got their attention. All day yesterday many Representatives, including many who have opposed charter schools in the past, were notifying me of their opposition to the bill. By the end of the day over 1100 parents had sent emails through our website this week and hundreds more had sent them on their own, made phone calls or visited the State House.

Please send a thank you today! A quick email or phone call to say, "Thank you for opposing Blumer 1520 and supporting charter public schools"! It would go a long way. I'll be asking the parents as well.

posted 04/19/06

The Superintendents' proposal for a new charter public school funding formula has been submitted as an amendment to the House Budget. It is amendment 1520, filed by Representative Deborah Blumer (Framingham).

This amendment will likely be voted on by the House sometime the week of April 24. It is critical that we call or write our legislators and tell them to vote against Amendment 1520.

The easiest way for parents to contact their legislator is by signing up on our website: advocacy.masscharterschools.org

posted 01/25/06

Governor Romney released his FY 07 State Budget Proposal (House 2) today. The big education news is a proposed 5% increase in Chapter 70 funding, double what he proposed last year. Here's an intitial charter review:

1. The two District charter reimbursement line items are funded at 96% (facilities) and 94% (100-60-40) according to DOE estimates

2. As part of the underperforming school "turnaround" proposal, reconstituting as charters is one option presented

There is no language about lifting the cap on charter schools because he put our proposal in the Ed Reform bill that Romney submitted at the end of next year which is still alive as a piece of legislation.

As you know, the Legislature is not bound by House 2 in the drafting of the state budget, House 2 does open debate on it. The budget process now moves to the House Ways and Means Committee who is charged with drafting a proposal for the consideration of the full House of Representatives. This usually takes place in March-April.

posted 01/23/06

In today's Boston Globe it was announced that the City of Fitchburg has decided to adopt the Boston Pilot School model in a new middle school to open next fall, and in a new high school to open in 2007. As you know, the Boston Pilot model is based on the charter school model: giving schools more control over budget, schedule, staffing, and curriculum in exchange for greater levels of accountability. This is another exciting example of how the existence of charter schools is having an impact on the entire system of public education. Here's the link to the article:

http://www.boston.com/news/education/

posted 01/21/06

The National Public Charter School Alliance, a relatively new national organization, released a report today concerning charter school caps across the country. In the report they highlight Massachusetts. Below is the story about the report covered on today's State House News Service. At the end is a link to the report itself.

CHARTER SCHOOL CAPS HURTING STUDENTS AND FAMILIES, REPORT SAYS:

Massachusetts imposes more restrictions on its charter schools than any other state in the nation, according to a report released today that calls for the state to lift its cap on charter schools. According to the report, state-imposed caps are "leaving thousands of families stranded in failing schools with no other options," and stifling the growth of charters." If we are to continue to close the achievement gap in Massachusetts and create real opportunity for children, the cap on charter schools must be lifted ˆ now," said Nelson Smith, president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, which released the report Wednesday morning.

The report, "Stunting Growth: The Impact of State-Imposed Caps on Charter Schools," urges states to lift caps on charter schools and recommends several steps for doing so. According to the report, Massachusetts is one of eight states where charters had reached their cap on enrollment at the beginning of the school year. Roughly 21,000 students currently attend charter schools in Massachusetts; 15,000 students are on waiting lists. Massachusetts caps at 120 the number of charter schools that can be open in the state, restricts the percentage of student population that can attend charters, and limits the amount of money that school districts can appropriate for charter schools at 9 percent of its net school spending. According to the report, roughly 150 of 500 districts are currently at that limit.

The cap on charter schools has divided the Massachusetts Legislature in recent years, with cap opponents calling for the state to embrace new experiments in public education and supporters cautioning that lifting the cap makes it more difficult to shore up traditional public schools. Gov. Mitt Romney, a charter school supporter and advocate of lifting the cap, had his veto of a moratorium on new charter schools upheld last year by the House. He delivers his final State of the State address tonight.

http://www.publiccharters.org/issuebriefs/caps.pdf
(Note this link is a PDF and you will need Acrobat Reader to view it.)