From: Citizens for Public Schools in Massachusetts:
Update: Senators to Vote Tomorrow on Charter Cap Bill!
We’ve learned that House Bill 4108, which would, among other things, lift the cap on charter schools in so-called “underperforming districts” is scheduled to come up at a caucus of Democratic senators Thursday (that’s tomorrow) at noon.
Votes can still change after that, but if you have an opinion on this and you haven’t talked to your senator yet, today would be an excellent day to call. Talking with an aide is fine too.
CPS’s June 2013 report, “Twenty Years After Education Reform: Choosing a Path Forward To Equity and Excellence For All,” includes a full chapter devoted to the facts on charter schools in Massachusetts. Click here to download the full report. (See Chapter 4 for information on charter schools.) Click here to download the executive summary.
The report found that Commonwealth charter schools have not contributed to equity of educational quality and resources:
Charter schools enroll a much smaller percentage of English language learners and students with significant disabilities than their sending districts.
A widely quoted study that favors charter schools shows higher scores only for specific grades (middle school) and student subgroups, but not for elementary or high schools, ELLs, or charter students in their first year.
Though a goal of the charter school movement was to spark innovation, urban charters have gravitated toward a “no excuses” approach, which means long hours in school, precise rules for behavior, and severe discipline for breaking even minor rules, such as wearing the wrong color socks.
Many urban charter schools report very high out-of-school suspension rates and continue to show much higher attrition rates than their district school neighbors.
While some charter high schools with a large percentage of low-income students score high on MCAS, these schools rank much lower on the SATs.
What’s more, research indicates many students from high-scoring charter schools do not fare well in college.
The average Massachusetts charter school loses one-third to one-half of its teaching staff each year, compared to the state average, which ranges from 13 to 22 percent.
Note: Proponents of lifting the cap on charters argue that charters don’t have greater attrition than district schools, but the data shows otherwise. Click here for a compilation of the data comparing Boston charter schools attrition rates with that of district schools.
Best regards,
Lisa Guisbond
Executive Director
Citizens for Public Schools
617-730-5445
lisa.guisbond@gmail.com
Citizens for Public Schools, Inc. | 18 Tremont St., Suite 320 | Boston | MA | 02108
“Teachers and staff members at a St. Paul charter school that has faced allegations of financial misdeeds and retaliatory employment practices voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to form a union.”
The move came while the school and its authorizer, Concordia University in St. Paul, were responding to state Department of Education demands to investigate and resolve claims of federal food-funding misuse and other allegations.
Then, in March, two teachers filed a whistleblower lawsuit claiming they’d been subjected to retaliation and discrimination — allegations the school has denied.
An independent investigation found Chang improperly directed staff members to enter or have students enter lunch codes for meals that were not eaten and encouraged staff to not report suspected cases of child abuse. While some complaints were not supported, the report concluded that Chang had threatened staffers and created an environment where workers were afraid to disagree with her.
Still, the school board fended off Concordia’s request to dismiss Chang.”
This is, of course, part of the reason labor unions came into being in the first place.
Worker protections OUTSIDE government are probably more important in our current lax state and federal regulatory environment where existing law simply isn’t enforced than they were 30 years ago.
http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/262795401.html
I sent about 5 emails to Gov. Patrick; I called the local Mayor’s office, Brian Dempsey’s office and my rep’s office (Ives)
I f you go to the NOW page , it will list all of the reps in your area
https://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5996/getLocal.jsp?zip=01832&zip4=
Call them… it’s not too late; I was told it is still in the “caucus”…this is noon on Wed…..
Ives’ office was very helpful; Gov. Patrick’s office you get absolutely no recognition that you have even called or emailed and they don’t both to take your name or where you live. When I write to Ed Markey or E. Warren i get back an acknowledgement (especially when it is a group petition)
jean sanders
haverhill MA
my email and telephone call to Governor Patrick and Brian Dempsey (ways and means)
quote: “who will be accountable? will you give Suzanne Bump 30 more auditors to do the work?
Will it be Suzanne Bumps’ office?
does the AG have responsibility if it is “non profit”? to oversee the charter schools?
As we have seen over the past few years the oversight at Division of Children and Families was neglible.
The oversight by M. Chester is pretty lousy; I took notes at a board meeting when he said “I heard rumors when I came to this state.”
Is this what you mean by accountability?
I refer you to the case of John Barranco who siphoned off millions in taxpayer dollars for his “special school”?
and co-opted the superintendents bypassing local school boards…. Only one superintendent received a $5,000 ethics fine.
at Fordham Institute, Petrilli’s and Finn’s friends say that some charters left town and went to Mayor Bloomberg’s more fertile territory because MA had a cap …
here is another statement from the F.I. page that it is ok to just let them grow “like topsy” and some will be “turkeys” but that is ok in the F.I. philosophy because they believe in destroying public education at any cost.
quoting from Fordham Institute article : “If Boston had no caps, I suspect there’d be more good charters here, even if some more turkeys had also opened. So Boston families probably were hurt, in net, by the Massachusetts cap. Meanwhile NYC families benefitted by the Massachusetts cap, by getting good charters that might have otherwise opened in Boston.”