On Thursday, May 12 at 7-9 p.m. at the Somerville Visiting Nurses Association assisted living facility, parents, educators, students and community leaders from Somerville will discuss the potential impact on Somerville of the proposed ballot question that would lift the existing cap on the number of charter schools in Massachusetts and drain millions more in taxpayer money from Massachusetts’s public schools every year.

Somerville will lose $6,950,298 to charter schools in the current school year – fiscal year 2016. A total of $408,672,674 is being diverted to charter schools statewide, with money withdrawn from 243 local school districts. The ballot question would take more taxpayer money from Massachusetts public schools – as much as $100 million more every single year – and divert it to charters that are not held accountable to the local communities they serve.

WHO: Parents, educators, students and community leaders

WHAT: Somerville Community Forum to discuss impact of charter schools

WHEN: Thursday, May 12, 2016, 7-9 p.m.

WHERE: Community Room, Somerville Visiting Nurses Association assisted
living facility, 259 Lowell Street, Somerville