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Are more charter schools headed for Somerville?

A proposal to change the state rules on where new charter schools can set up shop is attracting concern in Somerville because the city would have to pay for them.

On May 2, the Somerville School Committee unanimously passed a resolution against the proposal, and last Thursday, opponents of charter expansion held a forum to inform residents about what’s at stake.

“Passing the ballot initiative, with the resulting new charters, would lead to a rapid loss of funding in districts that have newly opened charters within or near their boundaries,” said Somerville parent Stephanie Hirsch.

Based on the experiences of districts under the current law, Hirsch said, a realistic scenario is that “In the third year after a new charter school opens, the Somerville Public Schools would have to find more than $1 million to cut. After about six years, we would close one or two elementary schools.”

The proposal is in the form of a statewide ballot question headed for a vote this November. It would allow up to a dozen new charter schools or charter school expansions, with as many as 9500 new seats every year, in addition to the new charter schools already permitted by state law.

Massachusetts law sets a limit on the amount that districts can be billed for charter school students. In most districts, including Somerville, the maximum is nine percent of the district’s total school spending. Somerville is one of just seven urban districts that are very close to the limit, so no new charter schools can be opened here. That would change if the ballot question passes.

The proposal would give preference to new charters in districts that are in the bottom quarter of the state’s test score-based rating system. Somerville is not in the bottom quarter, but with 12 new slots available every year in the few districts that are near their charter limits, one or more new schools in Somerville would be very likely, opponents warn.

The School Committee resolution May 2 noted that many charter schools avoid students who require more resources or are who don’t score high on state tests.

At the Thursday forum, ex-charter school teacher Amanda Patrick described how her former school’s student population differed from its surrounding district of Boston. She said her school educated proportionately fewer students requiring specialized instruction, including English language learners and students with serious disabilities. She also said that sometimes her school pushed students to leave as part of the disciplinary process.  Four times in two years, she was instructed to tell a family that their child would be expelled if they did not withdraw the child voluntarily.

Fania Joseph, a member of the Boston Public Schools Student Advisory Committee and a former student at a charter school, described disciplinary practices that pushed out many of her classmates at the charter school she once attended.

Ward 4 School Committee member Andre Green spoke of the importance of the public schools’ commitment to educate all children, and told his own personal story. As a child, he had to overcome a learning disability. A public school gave him the extra help he needed to become a successful adult.

“I’m the first to say that for all of our progress, Somerville schools are not where we need to be,” said Green. “But I’m also aware that we cannot get to where we’re going if our limited resources are taken away.”

The forum was sponsored by Progress Together for Somerville, the Somerville Teachers Association, the Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance, and Save Our Public Schools, a statewide group that was organized to oppose the charter ballot question. Contact progresstogether2016@gmail.com for more.

— Progress Together for Somerville