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Home » CER in the News » Massachusetts Question 2: Voters consider expanding charter schools

Massachusetts Question 2: Voters consider expanding charter schools

SouthCoast Today
by Jennette Barnes
October 15th, 2016

Everyone believes in giving kids a great education. But how best to do it? Question 2 juxtaposes two claims to defend the best interests of young people and public schooling. And because Massachusetts is a national leader in education, what’s at stake is nothing less than the direction of American public schools.

Sponsors of the ballot question, which would allow more public charter schools to open, say it’s about equal access to a quality education for families desperate to escape poorly performing schools. They say charter schools have the flexibility to offer a longer school day and other changes that help disadvantaged kids.

Such changes usually require collective bargaining in the traditional public schools, but most charters are not unionized.
Almost 33,000 students are on waiting lists for charter schools in Massachusetts, according to Eileen O’Connor, spokeswoman for Great Schools Massachusetts, a ballot committee raising money to promote a “yes” vote.
“We believe that parents deserve the choice of what public schools to send their kids to,” she said.
[…]

Much bigger money is coming from political nonprofits, which are legally different from the 501(c)3 nonprofits most people know. Critics call them “dark money” groups, because they do not have to disclose their donors. One of the largest donors to Question 2 is the New York-based Families for Excellent Schools – Advocacy, which has funneled millions of dollars into the campaign. In Great Schools Massachusetts’ Sept. 9 filing alone, Families for Excellent Schools – Advocacy made 16 donations of between $250,000 and $500,000 each.

Groups that have endorsed Question 2 include the Massachusetts High Technology Council; Massachusetts Business Roundtable; Associated Industries of Massachusetts; Mass Technology Leadership Council; the Boston-based Alliance for Business Leadership; Democrats for Education Reform; Massachusetts Charter Public School Association; Washington, D.C.-based National Alliance for Public Charter Schools; the Center for Education Reform, also in D.C.; Virginia-based Commercial Real Estate Development Association; and a long list of individual supporters detailed at www.yeson2ma.com/coalition.

To read the full article visit southcoasttoday.com.