The number of towns saying NO to Question 2 now exceeds 200 in Massachusetts.
Out-of-state billionaires have poured $20 million into the campaign to pass Question 2, which would cause budget cuts to the state’s public schools so that the charter industry could grow by 12 a year indefinitely.
School districts say no.
Mayor Walsh of Boston says no.
Senator Elizabeth Warren says no.
Save your schools: Vote NO.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is a good sign, here’s hoping it catches on nation-wide. Long overdue.
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On the other hand charter advocates say: 1) Question two will have no impact on suburbs; 2) 32,000
children are on charter school waitlists; and, 3) Charters do not select students, they’re chosen by lottery.
All lies.
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I wonder- 200 out of how many? Is 200 a large percentage?
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Just googled it: “According to the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, there are 312 towns and 39 cities spread across 14 counties within the state of Massachusetts.”
So 200 is huge!
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Mass. website says there are 404 school districts. More than half say NO
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The total # of MA districts according to DESE data for compliance monitoring is 427. Of those, 83 are charters (counted as districts) and 30 are Vocational/Technical/Agricultural regional schools fed by multiple districts.
That leaves 314 school districts in towns, cities or regions. Most (all?) of them would have a school committee.
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Thanks, Sally.
There has not been a single school committee that passed a resolution supporting Question 2.
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I would tend to look at it the other way, coming from a state that went absolutely ga-ga over charters and “flooded markets” with them in a blatant attempt to put public schools out of business- an attempt which failed, by the way, and they managed to discredit their whole “movement” by pursuing it.
I would suspect that the schools are higher quality BECAUSE OF the cap, in any event I’d certainly look at that as a possible contributing factor. The cap contributes to quality.
The states with the least regulation and most charter-crazed lawmakers have the lousiest charter sectors. Why don’t they research that? Because this is actually about ideology and opposition to labor unions?
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Also, good luck getting anyone in state government to focus on public schools again, Massachusetts.
Settle in for YEARS of charter, charter, charter. That’s how it goes in edreformland.
Ask Washington or Michigan or Ohio or Pennsylvania or Florida.
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It’s interesting that Marty Walsh says no. Perhaps he doesn’t want newcomers sullying his charter school’s rep?
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I posted Marty Walsh’s article opposing Question 2 a few days ago. His bottom line is that the cost of charters is unsustainable for the city of Boston is the cap is lifted.
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Here’s a report from the city of Boston’s Cjief Financial Officer on the impact Question 2 would have on the city’s finances – not good:
View at Medium.com
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It is fundamental to our ballot question process that the school committees and individual elected officials do not determine their communities’ positions on the issues being addressed. But, for those who care, in respect to elected officials, the House Chair of the Education Committee favors lifting the cap, the Senate Chair does not intend to publicly state a position. The House Speaker and and Speaker Pro Tempore have both come out in favor (the latter, Patricia Haddad, wrote: “Before I became a legislator, I was a public school teacher for 13 years. I was an active member of the local teachers union and served on my local school committee. I have a long record of advocating for our public schools. So, it may come as a surprise that I am also a staunch supporter of Question 2 on the Nov. 8 ballot to lift enrollment caps on public charter schools in the Commonwealth.” http://www.masscharterschools.org/media/news/guest-opinion-yes-ballot-question-2-stronger-public-schools)
My impression is that the Senate President opposes, and the Governor appears to support, lifting the cap.
Interesting to see that newspaper editorialists having examined the issue carefully, seem largely to be favoring a lift of the cap.
http://www.bostonherald.com/opinion/editorials/2016/10/editorial_yes_on_question_2
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinion/20161015/editorial-raise-cap-on-charter-schools
http://newton.wickedlocal.com/opinion/20161011/commentary-yes-to-more-charter-schools
http://www.lowellsun.com/opinion/ci_30320539/its-time-expand-bay-states-charter-schools-meet
http://baystatebanner.com/news/opinion/editorial/
As for Chiara’s thought: “Also, good luck getting anyone in state government to focus on public schools again, Massachusetts”, these words from the House Chair of the Education Committee may be reassuring:
“I do not believe that charter schools are the only answer, but they can be part of a comprehensive public education system that improves outcomes for all students. Even if the cap is lifted, we will still need to work together toward system-wide improvements. The goal of ensuring that every child in the Commonwealth has access to a high quality public school will not be achieved in November, but should this referendum pass, it would be a step in the right direction and one on which the Legislature will build moving forward.
“I ask you to join me in voting “Yes” on Question 2 so that all children will have the opportunity to access high quality public education regardless of where they live or what their parents’ income.”
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The Senate President Stan Rosenberg sponsored the RISE Act, which would have made charters more answerable to the public who pays for them. The charter industry didn’t like those provisions (not unlike what the NAACP has on its wishlist) and its answer has been this ballot question, brought to us by canvassers paid by the same charter industry to get the requisite number of signatures. Rosenberg opposed Question 2, as does Sen. Thomas McGee, who chairs the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
State Auditor Suzanne Bump is against Question 2, because the numbers don’t work and charter practices and policies are as transparent as mud.
State Attorney General Maura Healy on Question 2: “I oppose this effort to lift the cap because I think it doesn’t do what we need to do to really address the educational needs of people in this state, and in particular students who are in predominantly lower income communities.”
http://news.wgbh.org/2016/10/17/local-news/cage-free-ballot-question-ag-maura-healey-sides-birds
And both Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Ed Markey oppose Question 2.
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Here’s a list of organizations and elected officials publicly opposing Question 2:
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thanks, Christine, for all the work you are doing….
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IT’S UP TO EACH OF US NOW AS INDIVIDUAL CITIZENS TO SPREAD THE WORD to our state and local lawmakers and social media friends everywhere because they need to know right now that the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Education has issued a warning that charter schools posed a risk to the Department of Education’s own goals. The report says: “Charter schools and their management organizations pose a potential risk to federal funds even as they threaten to fall short of meeting the goals.”
The report documents multiple cases of financial risk, waste, fraud, abuse, lack of accountability of federal funds, and lack of proof that the schools were implementing federal programs in accordance with federal requirements.
Throughout our nation, private charter schools backed by billionaire hedge funds are being allowed to divert hundreds of millions of public school tax dollars away from educating America’s children and into private corporate pockets. Any thoughtful person should pause a moment and ask: “Why are hedge funds the biggest promoters of charter schools?” Hedge funds aren’t altruistic — there’s got to be big profit in “non-profit” charter schools in order for hedge fund managers to be involved in backing them.
And even the staunchly pro-charter school Los Angeles Times (which acknowledges that its “reporting” on charter schools is paid for by a billionaire charter school advocate) complained in an editorial that “the only serious scrutiny that charter operators typically get is when they are issued their right to operate, and then five years later when they apply for renewal.” Without needed oversight of what charter schools are actually doing with the public’s tax dollars, hundreds of millions of tax money that is supposed to be spent on educating the public’s children is being siphoned away into private pockets.
One typical practice of charter schools is to pay exorbitant rates to rent buildings that are owned by the charter school board members or by their proxy companies which then pocket the public’s tax money as profit. Another profitable practice is that although charter schools use public tax money to purchase millions of dollars of such things as computers, the things they buy with public tax money become their private property and can be sold by them for profit…and then use public tax money to buy more, and sell again, and again, and again, pocketing profit after profit.
The Washington State and New York State supreme courts and the National Labor Relations Board have ruled that charter schools are not public schools because they aren’t accountable to the public since they aren’t governed by publicly-elected boards and aren’t subdivisions of public government entities, in spite of the fact that some state laws enabling charter schools say they are government subdivisions.
Charter schools are clearly private schools, owned and operated by private entities. Nevertheless, they get public tax money. Moreover, as the NAACP and ACLU have reported, charter schools are often engaged in racial and economic-class discrimination.
Charter schools should (1) be required by law to be governed by school boards elected by the voters so that they are accountable to the public; (2) a charter school entity must legally be a subdivision of a publicly-elected governmental body; (3) charter schools should be required to file the same detailed public-domain audited annual financial reports under penalty of perjury that genuine public schools file; and, (4) anything a charter school buys with the public’s money should be the public’s property.
NO FEDERAL MONEY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO GO TO CHARTER SCHOOLS THAT FAIL TO MEET THESE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OF ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE PUBLIC. Hillary Clinton could, if elected President, on day one in office issue an Executive Order to the Department of Education to do just that. Tell her today to do that! Send her the above information to make certain she knows about the Inspector General’s findings and about the abuses being committed by charter schools.
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Yes, 200 is huge. There’s also the fact that there have been ZERO Yes on 2 school committee resolutions passed to date!
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Vote No on #2. I try to knock on 50 doors in a two hour period each day. It’s surprising how many households do not have working doorbells. Anyway, I have picked up 3 anecdotes that might be of interest …. (a) Lawrence has a “hybrid” portfolio of schools. One teacher received a $15,000 raise: I don’t have more facts but I would assume this is a “free market incentive”? Another teacher in Lawrence said that one of the schools is using corporal punishment.
This anecdote comes from a community just south of Lawrence on the 495 highway. A dad said “My daughter is a psychologist in a charter school and she says the practices are harmful to students; to whom would she report this?” Technically, the Commissioner and the DESE would be the answer but that would lead nowhere as they are planting these schools and have an allegiance bias. Also, the teacher has to protect her job and not be seen as “a loose cannon” in these districts/charters. I suggested that she join up with the Federation for Children with Special Needs to build some allinces; another option is to find the child’s sending district and contact the local superintendent. One must be wary of losing the job if you make an official complaint (or even start to dig for the evidence on these anecdotes). I sent the dad a Diane Ravitch article; a Jan Resseger article and a Mercedes Schneider article (he gave me his email willingly) I hope he will read this blog and come to an awareness of what is going on and also feel less isolated.
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