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State education officials are considering waivers for proposed charters schools in Fitchburg and Brockton that were disqualified because the school districts where they would operate are no longer among the lowest performing in the state.
During a Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting, Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester said Tuesday said the board is looking at what state law will allow, and described it as an “evolving situation.”
As school superintendents from the two cities opposed the new charter schools, charter school advocates protested at the board meeting, hoping to convince the board to grant waivers for the proposed schools.
Parents from Brockton and Fitchburg held signs during the meeting that read, “My Child, My Choice” and “School Choice is the Right Choice.”
Education officials this month dropped from consideration the New Heights Charter School, of Brockton, and the Academy for the Whole Child Charter School, in the Fitchburg region, because schools in those cities, based on MCAS scores released in September, are no longer among the lowest performing in the state.
Superintendents from the Brockton and Fitchburg schools urged the board to stand by the decision to disqualify the charter schools, and recognize the academic gains in their districts that pulled them out from among the lowest performing schools in the state.
The superintendents said their school districts do not need charter schools.
Brockton Superintendent Kathleen Smith said, “Brockton is not the right place for a charter school.”
The changes the board made to the formula for determining school performance rankings recognize improvement in student growth, and were revisions educators sought for a long time, she said.
Spring MCAS scores and a new formula adopted in June by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education elevated both districts out of the lowest 10 percent in the state. Eight school districts moved up under the new formula. State law requires the first two Commonwealth Charter schools in any given year be licensed in the bottom 10 percent of school districts – Fitchburg and Brockton are the only current Commonwealth applicants.
The fact that the charter proposals were disqualified in Brockton and Fitchburg is not a “technicality,” Smith said, “That is the result of hard work.”
Fitchburg Superintendent Andre Ravenelle said his school system and Brockton school officials have done what state education officials asked of them by pulling out of the bottom 10 percent. If the state grants the waivers to the charters, public school teachers’ trust and confidence in the system will be compromised, Ravenelle said.
A waiver requires a vote from the board. Chester said the board will hear from school officials in Brockton and Fitchburg and charter applicants before making a decision. State education officials recently extended a deadline for final charter school application until Nov. 14, to give charter school operators time to possibly change their locations.
Michael Sullivan, one of the founders of the proposed New Heights Charter School, of Brockton, said “bottom line I never saw school choice or charter schools as a punishment for where charters are being implemented. Nor should a formula be a punishment.” Sullivan is a former state lawmaker who helped craft the 1993 education reform law that opened the way for charter schools.
Jennifer Jones, one of the founders of the Academy of the Whole Child in Fitchburg, said they hear from families throughout the region they want a choice for their children’s education.
“Even with the improvements, we have 60 percent of our third graders not reading at proficiency,” she said.
The proposed charters for Brockton and Fitchburg are the only applications for Commonwealth Charters that made it to the final round of consideration. Their disqualification means the state is not likely to approve any new Commonwealth Charter schools this year. Horace Mann charter schools differ from Commonwealth Charter schools, operating in cooperation with host school districts and requiring local school committee approval.
Chester described the situation as a “collision” of two state law requirements, adding he does not think lawmakers intended for a scenario like this.
“It is not at all clear to me that the statutory intent was that applicants should be denied going forward if there aren’t at least two in the bottom 10 percent,” Chester said.
Chester said state law tried to “thread a needle” between allowing an increase in charter schools in the state, while instituting controls around it to ensure the new schools serve the neediest students.
“And what we have this year is a collision of these two requirements, and again it is not at all clear to me that anybody anticipated or intended – the requirement that at least two be in the bottom 10 percent.”
The issue has weighed into the race for governor. Both Republican Charlie Baker and Democrat Martha Coakley in recent weeks asked the board to reconsider and allow the charter school applications to move forward. Coakley’s support for the charter schools raised the ire of union officials at the Massachusetts Teachers Association, who were was disappointed with her comments on the Brockton and Fitchburg charters.
Barbara Madeloni, the new president of the MTA, told the News Service Tuesday that the union still backs Coakley.
“We are strongly endorsing Martha Coakley for governor,” she said.
Madeloni said she spoke with Coakley about the issue, and said “one of the upsides of what we’re dealing with here is that it’s been an opportunity for her to really listen to educators about our concerns in a broad and deep way and we’re glad for that, and the conversations we’re having with her and her campaign.”
Madeloni said during the board meeting Tuesday that charter schools create a two-tiered education system that drains funds from traditional public schools, and she urged the board not to grant a waiver to the Brockton and Fitchburg charters.
“The bar to their approval is not a mere technicality, but is based on a decision to give some weight to growth scores – a decision that this board made after lengthy debate,” Madeloni said.
“To bow to pressure from the charter lobby and undo that decision would be a travesty that would make teachers and parents in public schools across the state feel marginalized,” she added.
