Growing Number of Communities Pass Resolution Against Raising Massachusetts Charter School Cap

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Category: Charter School Resources

Last Updated: November 8, 2016

The following Massachusetts school committees have passed a resolution in opposition to MA Ballot Question #2, which would raise the charter school cap:

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Charter School Funding Update

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Category: Charter School Resources

At a recent Citizens for Public Schools Forum, MASC Past President and current Arlington School Committee member Paul Schlichtman gave a detailed presentation on the crippling financial impact of charter schools on public school districts and followed with a discussion on the status of the proposed charter school legislation currently under debate in the legislature and the pending ballot question.

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MASC Releases Statement on Charter Reform Bill

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Category: Charter School Resources

MASC has released a statement on Senate Bill 2203, "The RISE Act":

Read the news release

Here is the a statement from the Senate and additional information about the legislation:

View Senate Information

Novick Reports: Joint Committee on Education Hearing

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Category: Charter School Resources

The Joint Committee on Education held a public hearing yesterday. The focus was on the ballot initiative questions (one on Common Core and one on the charter cap lift), though they also took public testimony on bills regarding summer learning, mental health, and a line item allocation for Wilmington. Read the full liveblog (of a hearing that lasted seven hours).

The summer learning item had a solid group of public testimony including several mayors and former Secretary of Education Paul Reville. There was much discussion of this as a way of equalizing student access to enrichment.

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Charter School Waiting Lists Significantly Overstated

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Category: Charter School Resources

Citizens for Public Schools, a nonprofit education advocacy organization, has released an analysis of the charter school waitlist numbers showing significant exaggeration in pro-charter groups' previous claims.

Highlights:

• Seven schools included in the DESE total are not Commonwealth charter schools
• Many students on waitlists may no longer want to attend charter schools
• Of students on the waitlists, most are not there due to the charter school cap
• 2000 students on waitlists are supposedly waiting for 10th, 11th and 12th grade seats
• Many students who apply to charter schools choose not to attend when offered seats

Fact Sheet: The #TruthAboutCharters

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Category: Charter School Resources

Need a useful guide to some of the key facts and fiction about Massachusetts charter schools? MASC's new fact sheet uses data from the MASC Who is Being Served by Massachusetts Charter Schools? Report as well as State Auditor Suzanne Bump's 2014 audit of DESE oversight of charters (pdf).

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