Study Finds Charter School Facility Funding Lags Far Behind Districts

Charter public schools are recognized as the state’s best tool to close race and income-based achievement gaps, but state policies put them at a disadvantage compared to district public schools when it comes to obtaining and financing facilities, according to a new study “An Analysis of the Charter School Facility Landscape in Massachusetts.”

As a result of inequitable state funding streams and roadblocks set up by cities and towns to prevent charter operators from buying or leasing vacant municipal buildings, charters must borrow hundreds of millions of dollars in the private market, raise funds from donors and parents, and reallocate operating funds that should be going to support educational programming. 

Click to read more ...

Legislation Filed to Lift the Cap on Charter Public Schools

Charter public school advocates, local business leaders and legislators have filed a bill that would eliminate all charter caps in underperforming districts and create more room to open new charters all across the state. This legislation is part of a comprehensive effort to build on the state’s two-decade-old education reform effort raising academic standards, strengthening accountability and increasing parental choice. 

The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Barry Finegold (D-Andover) and Rep. Russell Holmes (D-Mattapan) and targets 29 communities that rank in the bottom 10% in academic performance.

Right now, more than half of these districts are either at the cap or have room for only one more charter school. These include large cities and towns like Boston, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell, Chelsea, and Randolph, and several smaller communities in Central and Western Massachusetts.

This cap denies parents in those communities educational choice and should be eliminated.

The legislation would also address challenges in how charters obtain and finance school facilities requiring municipalities to make space in unused public buildings available to charters to purchase or lease.

The bill would also allow charters to voluntarily establish enrollment lottery preferences for neighborhood families and “high need” children, and also allow charters to create a common enrollment lottery for schools in the same city or town.

Click here to read the Boston Globe story.

MCPSA Statement on Selection of William "Mo" Cowan as Interim U.S. Senator

The Massachusetts charter public school community offers its congratulations to William "Mo" Cowan, former Board Chairman of Roxbury Prep Charter School in Boston, on his appointment as the state’s interim U.S. Senator.

Mo Cowan will become a strong voice in the Senate for urban education reform, helping President Obama pursue his agenda to foster charter school expansion in order to provide more high quality educational options for families across Massachusetts and the country.

He is a strong advocate for charter public school expansion and has been a member of the Massachusetts Business Leaders for Charter Public Schools, a group of influential business and community leaders that advocate for lifting arbitrary caps on charter schools.

As Chairman of the Board of one of the state’s most successful urban middle schools (Roxbury Prep), he understands the role that charters are playing across the state in closing race and income-based achievement gaps.

“With Mo Cowan as Board chair, Roxbury Prep became one of the highest performing public schools in Massachusetts, proving the racial achievement gap can be closed,” said Will Austin, the school’s Chief Operating Officer. “We are thrilled for Mo, and thrilled that the United States Senate now has his voice on the issue of education.”

Parents, Students Explore Options in Boston Area Charter Schools

Hundreds of Boston-area families recently attended the Boston Charter Public School Enrollment Showcase at Wentworth Institute of Technology to learn more about charter schools and fill out applications for the upcoming enrollment lotteries.

Several school leaders, current charter public school parents and students, and families who attended the showcase were interviewed by Boston Neighborhood Network news. Click on the video below to watch the video and learn about the education that one charter school student describes as focused on her future. 

The showcase provided parents and students with the opportunity to meet school leaders, faculty and current students from eighteen Boston-area charter public schools. Charter schools are tuition-free public schools that are open to all children in Grades K-12. Enrollment for each school is determined by lottery, which will be held in March.

Parents, Students Explore Options in Boston Area Charter Schools from Chris Lovett on Vimeo.

Lift the cap campaign launching soon

Later this month, the MCPSA will launch a legislative campaign to lift current caps on charter public schools. In 2010, the Legislature doubled the number of charters allowed in underperforming districts (reserving those new charters for “proven providers.”) But demand for charters is so high in these districts that space is limited again. Details of the new legislation will be announced soon.