LAST MONTH, the Supreme Judicial Court dismissed a challenge to the Commonwealth’s charter school cap, ruling that the education clause of the Massachusetts Constitution does not provide students a right to attend public charter schools. Arguing that Massachusetts’s cap on charter schools violated their right to a quality education, plaintiffs who had unsuccessfully entered charter […]
Charter schools
Posted inEducation
Charter ruling a step backwards
THESE WOULD BE the best of times for Boston public charter schools were education policy decisions driven by evidence. Boston’s charters are nationwide models and uniquely successful at closing pernicious achievement gaps. But in education politics, where “momentum” is too often the benchmark, charter skeptics are crowing about the loss of a ballot initiative to expand school […]
Posted inThe Download
Charter ballot money is fuel on ed debate fire
When asked a year ago about the propriety of the chairman of the state board of education donating $100,000 to the campaign to raise the cap on charter schools in Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker deemed the matter a “nothingburger.” He may have been right. It turns out that donation was just the lettuce, tomato, and […]
Posted inEducation
Pro-charter school group hit with record campaign finance fine
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE PROMINENT NEW YORK education group that financed the bulk of last year’s failed ballot campaign to expand charter schools in Massachusetts has agreed to pay the largest fine in state campaign finance history to resolve questions over whether it participated in a scheme to conceal the identities of well-heeled donors. […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: YIMBYs take on NIMBYs
It has become almost axiomatic that communities will resist new housing development projects. They will generate unbearable traffic! There isn’t enough parking here! They’ll hurt property values! The developer wants to cram in too many units! The list of horribles is endless, but the response can usually be summed up with one word, which is […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Download
Targeting charters
One has to wonder at what point charter schools will no longer be the education lightning rod. Long the target of union and administrator angst for what they perceive as drawing on tight public resources, charter schools have been attacked from all angles since they came into being as part of the Education Reform Act. The […]
Posted inEducation
Haverhill teachers union rejects charter renewal
AFTER MONTHS OF ACRIMONY in Haverhill, the city’s teachers union voted Thursday to block the renewal of the Silver Hill Horace Mann Charter School, dealing a crushing blow to faculty and families at the K-5 school who say it had become a model of creative, quality education in the city. Members of the Haverhill Education […]
Posted inEducation, Politics
Revisiting the Question 2 messaging battle
CONFUSION IS THE ENEMY if you’re trying to build support for change. Local media still matters. And when it comes to education, voters will trust the word of their local school committee and their children’s teachers over that of their governor – even one who is rated the most popular state leader in the county. […]
Posted inEducation, The Back Story
DeVos selection roils reform sector
THE BATTLE OVER President Trump’s pick for education secretary, Betsy DeVos, had teachers unions, public school advocates, and many on the political left in high dudgeon. DeVos’s record of support for charter schools and voucher programs, and her lack of any experience in district public schools, made her the target of the most organized effort to […]
Posted inEducation
Will state embrace innovation school zones?
THE HIGHLY CHARGED DEBATE over charter schools last fall ended with a resounding statewide vote against significant expansion of the public, but independently operated, schools. What the vote did not answer is what else might be done to improve education for those who have most often sought seats at charter schools – students stuck in […]