Our curated collection of the latest resources and updates on charter school issues in Massachusetts
MassBudget has released a great brief explaining how funding works for Charter Schools in Massachusetts and how it interacts with traditional school district funds. This is an excellent resource for those who are interested in understanding this issue.
Read the ReportLast 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:
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.
MASC has released a statement on Senate Bill 2203, "The RISE Act":
Here is the a statement from the Senate and additional information about the legislation:
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.
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.
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).