Baker lobbies to expand charter schools

Published 2:12 pm Tuesday, October 13, 2015

BOSTON – Gov. Charlie Baker is throwing his weight behind efforts to expand taxpayer funded charter schools, calling on lawmakers to ease a state-imposed cap on enrollment.

Testifying before a legislative committee on Tuesday, the Republican governor said Massachusetts’ charter schools are the “envy of the nation,” but the state needs to build on its progress by building new schools to meet the demand.

Annual charter school lotteries — where anxious parents and students are often turned away because of a lack of openings — show the disparities created by a state cap on student enrollment, he said.

“Everybody cries over charter school lotteries,” he said. “You either win or you lose. There is no in-between. Whether or not your number comes up is all about hope and opportunity, and for far too many children in Massachusetts, the answer to this very basic question about their education is no.”

Baker proposes easing the enrollment cap on the state’s 81 charter schools over several years, focusing only on the lowest performing school districts, while allowing a maximum of 12 new charter schools to be built annually.

Opponents say that will further siphon education funds from traditional school districts, many of which are struggling. They want the state to either keep the cap in place or impose a moratorium on new charters, while devoting more money and resources to traditional public schools.

“Charter schools are privately run institutions, separate from any democratic oversight by the communities they serve,” said Barbara Madeloni, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which opposes lifting the cap. “They are often opened against the will of the people in the affected cities and towns.”

Madeloni said Baker’s proposal exacerbates a “two-tiered system of education” that prevents struggling public schools from improving.

On Tuesday, the Joint Education Committee heard several hours of testimony from supporters and opponents of more than two dozen bills related to charter schools. Many bills seek to lift the enrollment cap. Others propose to tighten regulation and oversight.

Statewide nearly 35,000 students attend state-funded charter schools, including several in the Merrimack Valley and North Shore, according to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

More than 40,000 students are on waiting lists, according to the department, though education officials were accused in an audit last year of “overstating” those numbers.

Sen. Barbara L’Italien, D-Andover, a member of the Education Committee, said communities want more say in determining whether a charter is approved within their school districts.

“There are a lot of suburban communities that already do very poorly in the funding formula, and find that it’s an incredible challenge for them to be able to site a charter school,” L’Italien said during the hearing.

State law requires public schools to pay for the education of a child who transfers to a charter school for at least six years — one of the most generous reimbursements in the nation. Costs vary by district, but the average reimbursement is $12,296 per student.

In the past two years, the Legislature did not fully reimburse school districts that lost students to charter schools. It eventually passed a supplemental budget last year to narrow the gap.

That is fueling opposition to changing the cap. Opponents say the state cannot afford to send more students to charter schools.

The enrollment cap now varies by district; the most troubled school districts are prevented from spending more than 18 percent of their budgets on charter students. In better performing districts, like Salem and Andover, the expense is as low as 9 percent.

Rep. Paul Tucker, D-Salem, who also sits on the Education Committee, said he is concerned about how new charter schools will affect traditional schools that are struggling with limited funds.

“I’m not opposed to parents having a choice, but it can’t be at the expense of traditional public schools,” he said.

State Auditor Suzanne Bump, a Democrat, told lawmakers that charter schools lack accountability and pointed out that her office hasn’t been able to determine whether the state money they receive is spent as intended.

“After two decades and the transfer of millions of public dollars into the hands of private charter schools, there is little more than anecdotal evidence to support the contention that charter schools are better suited to meet the needs of students,” Bump said. “This debate is being determined by political power, and not evidence.”

Baker said the push to expand charter schools is being driven by demand from parents, not politics.

“We are the home of public education, and our charter schools have leveled the educational opportunity playing field for thousands of kids and their families,” he told lawmakers. “We should celebrate their success and seek to build on it. The kids deserve it. Their parents deserve it.”

Christian Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at cwade@cnhi.com