Yesterday’s vote by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to approve two new charter schools and allow the expansion of three existing charters included one particularly noteworthy dimension: It marked the first time the state has authorized a charter school in Brockton. With the approval of new charter schools in Springfield and Brockton, […]
Charter schools
Posted inEducation, Politics, State House News Service
Charter battle exposes rift in teachers union
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE LEADERSHIP OF THE Massachusetts Teachers Association has vowed to fight a ballot initiative to expand charter schools with everything it has, but the issue has exposed strife within the union heading into new leadership elections in May. The MTA Board of Directors over the weekend backed away from a plan put […]
Posted inEducation
Why I sent my children to a charter school
I’VE LIVED IN BOSTON my entire life, but from first through twelfth grade I was bused as a METCO student to Newton. At the time it was difficult because my family was very poor and Newton is an affluent town. Also, my typical day began and ended with a long bus ride and I didn’t arrive […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
More charter schools are not the answer
IT SEEMS THAT the debate over charter schools is once again heating up in Massachusetts. Proposed legislation by Gov. Charlie Baker, a lawsuit on behalf of students denied charter seats, and an upcoming ballot question all seek to raise the cap on the number of charter schools in the state. Recently, I had the opportunity […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
Charter school chess match
With yesterday’s filing of a class-action lawsuit challenging state limits on charter schools, the debate over the publicly-funded, but independently operated, schools becomes a complicated chess match that will now play out on multiple levels. The suit, brought by three prominent Boston attorneys, was six months in the making. The trio of lawyers announced in […]
Posted inEducation
A provocative court challenge to charter cap
TWO MONTHS AGO, three prominent Boston lawyers made a big splash with news on the front-page of the Boston Globe that they plan to file a lawsuit challenging the state cap on charter schools. The suit has yet to be filed — the lead attorney in the case says it will be in the coming […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
The never ending charter school battle
A new chapter in the battle over charter schools opened last week on Beacon Hill, but the storyline of this long-running saga never really seems to change much. After a 2010 education reform law expanded the number of charter schools allowed in the state, advocates are back asking the state to allow more of the […]