Boston has had mayoral control of the schools since 1992. On November 2, the voters went to the polls and overwhelmingly supported the return of an elected school board. Mayoral control was sold as a “reform” panacea that would lead to higher achievement. It didn’t. Boston joins Chicago as cities where the public wants to abandon autocratic rule of the schools. The vote in Boston to restore an elected board went 4-1 in favor.
The newly elected mayor, Michelle Wu, said before the election that she would be open to a board in which a majority of members were elected, and some were appointed by the mayor.
The Question 3 ballot measure, which passed with 78.7 percent of the vote, was nonbinding, meaning it doesn’t carry legal weight. But councilors say it will prompt them to push for changes that will democratize school decision-making and empower communities of colorwho have long felt ignored by the appointed committee.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Will charter friendly (de)former supporters pour $$ into the elections and seize control, see LA and Denver, pro public schools have fought back, can elected school board voters be restricted to parents? Don’t seem to be any models to emulate …
Charter money pours into races for mayor when he or she runs them. NYC Mayor-elect Eric Adams got big contributions from charter billionaires. When there is an elected board, the charter cabal tries to put the people it likes on the board. Either way, money talks.
We already have a charter shill on the Boston School Committee. Lorena Lopera, whose day job is for the Walton funded Latinos for Education, was appointed by the current, acting mayor.
Of the five candidates for mayor, the charteristas’ favorite finished out of the running in September. Andrea Campbell took in big money – $125,000 – from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, for example. See the good professor, Mo Cunningham for more:
An elected school board cannot be restricted to parents, as all taxpayers contribute to our schools.
“a charter shill” —great name for these guys
Now return it to Lawrence MA
Lawrence does have an elected school committee – all other 350 municipalities do. The public schools of Lawrence, however are under receivership of the state. Since the elimination of Andrea Campbell, the privatizers’choice, in the primary, theBoston Globe and Commonwealth Magazine have been advocating for a takeover of Boston schools, despite a dismal record of state failure.
Michelle Wu, mayor-elect, published a 53 page policy for our public schools, yet Commonwealth claims it ain’t good enough. Nearly all the “experts” they cite are privatizers:
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/education/boston-mayoral-candidates-steer-clear-of-firm-goals-for-students/
And today, in the aftermath of the election, they’ve another opinion piece by a conglomerate of privatizers:
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/education/on-schools-bostons-new-mayor-must-meet-the-moment/
All Children Thrive (ACT Boston) is a non-partisan collaborative of non-profit and community-based organizations raising awareness of educational inequities in Boston and holding city leadership accountable for equitable opportunities and outcomes for all of Boston’s children. ACT Boston member organizations that are signatories to this commentary piece: Boston Opportunity Agenda, Boston Plan for Excellence, Boston Schools Fund, East Boston Social Centers, Educators for Excellence – Boston, The Education Trust, EdVestors, Generation Citizen, Latinos for Education, OneGoal, Propel America, SchoolFacts Boston, Steppingstone Foundation, The Teachers’ Lounge, Union Capital Boston, United Way of of Massachusetts Bay & Merrimack Valley and West End House. Learn more at actboston.org.
As my mother might have asked: Who died and left them boss?
“which passed with 78.7 percent ”
Yessss
Thank goodness it was not just 78.6%
That would have been very disillusioning.
It would be even better if the results were binding. At least they represent the pulse of the voters and can be used in the future to move Boston toward a democratically elected school board.
Anything (even the littlest thing) that moves Boston toward democracy (and away from the usual cronyism) is encouraging.
There’s a low bar for getting a non-binding referendum on the ballot: ten voters and approval of city council and mayor (the current mayor is acting). The push was completely low budget, grassroots. It requires state action for approval.
“The vote in Boston to restore an elected board went 4-1 in favor.”
This is what happens after voters give up their mandate to vote for representatives that answer to them, not CEOs, billionaires, frauds, cons, and corporate lobbyists.
But often when the voters wake up to the harsh reality of the mistake they made, of living in an autocratic-controlled city, state or country, it is often too late to reverse things.
Power corrupts and once an autocrat has that power, it isn’t easy for them to give it up.
Traitor Trump is the perfectly corrupted example of a power addict. The Traitor had already been a power addict for most of his life, and when he tasted power that he never imagined while living in the White House and pretending to be the president of a democracy, as a hard-core addict, he’ll do anything to get that power back even destroy the planet and all life on it.
That traitor isn’t the only power addict out there. The power addict list is way too long.
Unrelated news from Montana from our union president:
Montana’s Largest Union Condemns Threats Against School Employees
(MONTANA) – The Montana Federation of Public Employees (MFPE) expressed disgust and disappointment after news broke today that Target Range School District Superintendent Dr. Heather Davis Schmidt was forced to contact all staff, including MFPE members, regarding a threat of violence. This is not the first instance of harassment or threats directed at Montana school staff, superintendents, and school boards regarding policies put in place to protect Montana communities.
Dr. Schmidt’s email to staff reads:
“Several media outlets, including the Missoulian, reported on a community meeting held on Monday, November 1st. During the meeting the attorney who filed the lawsuit against Target Range School, Hellgate Elementary, and Missoula County Public Schools regarding our universal mask mandate made a threat to Superintendents, stating “shoot ’em.”
In the school environment we take all threats seriously, and I take this one seriously. I am in the process of making a formal complaint with law enforcement and the Missoula County Attorney’s Office.”
The threat was made during an event organized and promoted by Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen who has been using her elected office to stoke political divisions and undermine local control assigned to Montana’s elected school boards and health departments.
MFPE President Amanda Curtis issued the following statement in response to today’s news:
We’re disgusted. Montana’s public school employees dedicate their lives to Montana students and families and should not fear for their safety ever. Teachers and parents have a long history of working together in every Montana community to do what’s right for kids. Montana public schools have always been and must continue to be safe community centers. It is inexcusable for one of Montana’s top elected officials to dismantle our relationships and our sense of community to serve her own political agenda. Superintendent Artnzen’s weak apology comes too late and cannot undo the fact that she has been promoting division, conspiracies, and hatred for her own political gain. She should be ashamed of herself. Arntzen must immediately end her reckless political grandstanding and focus on bringing parents and educators together in collaboration moving forward.
There should be zero tolerance for threats against teachers.
The people who are making the threats should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. If a lawyer is found guilty of making such a threat, they should certainly be disbarred.
And if the Superintendent and other state officials won’t make the efforts to see that that happens, they should be impeached and removed from office.
These people are very brazen as long as they believe their actions will go unanswered, but they will go silent the second they know they will pay a personal price for their behavior. In fact, the latter is the ONLY thing that will make them change because they have no sense of civic responsibility.
I am very sorry to go off topic, but I was excited, thrilled to see what I just saw in an email from the NEA about “personalized” teaching machines. I read it here first! Thank you. Here it is from the NEA website: https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/far-reaching-legacy-first-teaching-machines
This deserves a check in the mail to the Network for Public Education. Action!
Very nice for the author, Audrey Watters, who is a straight shooters.
Very nice, yes, to see Audrey Watters in the NEA discussion.