This past Tuesday, the Committee voted unanimously (with one absent) to send the following letter advocating keeping the charter school cap:
Dear Senator Lewis,
Representative Brodeur, Senator Chang-Diaz, Representative Peisch, and all
Members of the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Education:
In keeping with
the recent NAACP and Mass. Lawyers’ Committee charter cap lawsuit, the Melrose
School Committee urges you to maintain the current cap on charter schools in Massachusetts. According
to a recent Boston Globe article, reporter Allison Pohle states: "charter
schools divert millions of dollars from traditional public schools each year,
but serve far fewer students with disabilities and who are English language
learners, as well as impose
harsher discipline on students of color." The inequity in the funding formula and the inequity in
addressing the educational needs of students with disabilities and those who
are English language learners need to be resolved fairly before any lifting of
the cap.
While charter
schools provide a valid educational alternative to families seeking a quality
education for their children, they do so at the expense of funding for
traditional public schools and in the absence of equal accountability and
access for students of color, English language learners, and students with
disabilities. Until charter schools are required to be as publicly accountable
as traditional public schools, until they are required to meet the needs of all
students, and until an equitable funding formula is created, there should be no
lifting of the charter school cap. Only when these inequities are resolved will
charter school education be free of the devastating polarization it has caused
communities.
In support of
this plea, we attach the recent article by reporter Allison Pohl of the Boston
Globe, and the 2012 NAACP Resolution on Charter Schools.
Thank you for
your consideration of this important matter.
Sincerely,
Margaret
Driscoll, Chairman
Melrose School
Committee
cc: Melrose School Committee
Superintendent Cyndy Taymore
Melrose Board of Aldermen
The NAACP
Resolution on Charter Schools: Segregation is Not Innovation
In a process
established by the NAACP Constitution, this resolution was adopted by the
delegates to the 101st Annual Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, during the
legislative session in July, 2010. It was subsequently ratified by the NAACP
National Board of Directors at its meeting on October 15, 2010. This resolution
is now the policy of the Association, and is “binding on the Board of
Directors, the Executive Committee, the Officers, and all units.”
WHEREAS,
charter schools are public schools which were originally designed to explore
new approaches to educate students; and
WHEREAS,
in some cases, charter schools have become a school model that is used to
segregate students; and
WHEREAS,
charter schools have too seldom informed the education community regarding
innovative instructional strategies that accelerate academic achievement in the
general population of students; and
WHEREAS,
the Center for Research in Educational Outcomes (CREDO) which examined charter
school data in fifteen (15) states and the District of Columbia confirmed that
only 17% of the charter school students in the study outperformed their peers,
while 46% performed no better and 37% performed worse; and
WHEREAS,
charter schools operate more autonomously than traditional public schools in
the use of funds, adherence to state laws and school policies, selection and
removal of students, and the selection and removal of staff, thus creating
separate and unequal conditions for success; and
WHEREAS,
charter schools draw funding away from already underfunded traditional public
schools; and
WHEREAS,
the NAACP recognizes that at best, quality charter schools serve only a small
percentage of children of color and disadvantaged students for whom the NAACP
advocates relative to said population left behind in failing schools; and
WHEREAS,
the NAACP recognizes the urgent need to provide quality education for all
children, not only those fortunate enough to win lotteries to attend existing
quality charter schools; and
WHEREAS,
the NAACP is committed to finding broad based, effective solutions for
immediate implementation to improve the quality of public education for all
children.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP will strongly advocate for immediate,
overarching improvements to the existing public education system; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NAACP rejects the emphasis on charter schools as
the vanguard approach for the education of children, instead of focusing attention,
funding, and policy advocacy on improving existing, low performing public
schools and will work through local, state and federal legislative processes to
ensure that all public schools are provided the necessary funding, support and
autonomy necessary to educate all students; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the NAACP will urge all of its Units to work to
support public schools throughout the nation to educate all children to their
highest potential.
Roslyn M. Brock Leon Russell Benjamin Todd
Jealous
Chairman Chairman President & CEO
National Board of Directors Committee on Resolutions
Chairman Chairman President & CEO
National Board of Directors Committee on Resolutions
Boston.com Staff
| 01.28.16 | 3:21 PM
The New England
Area Conference of the NAACP and the Massachusetts Lawyers’ Committee, as well
as seven Boston Public School students, announced Thursday that they have moved
to intervene with a pending lawsuit that looks to lift the state cap on the
number of charter schools.
A motion to
intervene is filed by a party other than the plaintiffs or defendants who has a
vested interest in the subject matter of the case. In this scenario, the groups
are getting involved because they say charter schools divert millions of
dollars from traditional public schools each year, but serve far fewer students
with disabilities and who are English language learners, as well as impose harsher
discipline on students of color.
“We’re not
anti-charter school at the Lawyers’ Committee,” said Matthew Cregor, education
project director of the lawyers’ committee for civil rights and economic
justice. “But we have to wonder what would happen to students of color, english
language learners, and students with disabilities who are not being served by
schools if the cap was lifted. We need to hear from students who attend
traditional public schools in this case.”
The plaintiffs in
the case, which was filed in Suffolk Superior Court September 15, 2015, are
five anonymous students who did not secure charter school seats during the
school lottery. Instead, they were assigned to traditional Boston public
schools that the state classified as “underperforming.” They are suing the
state to lift the cap.
The lawyers in the
case, William Lee, Michael Keating and Paul Ware, said in a statement that they
filed the suit to lift the cap to ensure greater access to public charter
schools, which have a proven record of providing quality education to students
across Massachusetts, including students of color.
“This lawsuit has
never suggested that lifting the charter cap will solve every problem facing
the public education system,” they said. “Efforts to address other systemic
issues, however, should not come at the expense of thousands of students who
are being denied access to charter schools because of the state’s arbitrary
cap. We should be promoting charter schools, not trying to limit them.”
Juan Cofield,
president of the New England Area Conference of the NAACP, said the
organization wants to see students provided with the greatest education that
our resources will allow.
“We firmly believe
that setting up a separate system is destructive to the notion of providing the
best education for all students,” he said.
Gov. Charlie Baker
filed legislation in October that would lift the current cap of 120 charter
schools statewide. The bill would allow 12 new or expanded charter schools each
year in districts that score in the bottom 25 percent on standardized tests,
including Boston.
“The thing is, the
plaintiffs’ goals are really not that different than the goals of the state’s
Secretary of Education Jim Peyser, or other defendants,” Cregor said. “That’s
why we think the court needs to hear from public school students who are
affected by funds that are diverted away from public schools.”
When a student
enrolls in a charter school, state law requires that the public school district
in which they reside pay the student’s tuition costs. The state is then
supposed to reimburse that cost.
But that doesn’t
always happen. The lack of charter school reimbursements are a main cause of
the $50 million Boston Public Schools budget gap for this coming school
year, according to
school officials. This year’s reimbursements covered less than half
the cost of students who left the district, leaving a deficit of $18.6 million.
Baker proposed a new
plan to reimburse districts for funding lost to charter schools,
which would double the amount districts receive in the second year from 25
percent to 50 percent of the lost tuition.
“But that doesn’t
cover the cost of lost tuition,” Cofield said. “Even if one hadn’t seen the
numbers on discipline, the governor’s plan is evidence that this will continue
to be a problem, and more charter schools would only make it worse.”
Last fall,
Attorney General Maura Healy moved to dismiss the lawsuit to lift the charter
cap. That motion is currently pending. If it fails, Cregor expects the next
hearing will happen in the spring.
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