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 […]
Charter schools
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Charter question defeat presents new challenge
IT’S A NEW YEAR and the people of Massachusetts have spoken. On Question 2, a ballot initiative which would have given urban students more charter public school options, the electorate said no. […]
Posted inEducation
Charter backers get schooled
NEARLY A YEAR AGO, charter school proponents threatened to force a statewide debate on education issues by mounting a ballot campaign lift the cap on charters schools. Be careful what […]
Posted inEducation, State House News Service
After charter defeat, Baker looks to close achievement gap
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE REJECTED BY THE voters in his bid for an expansion of charter school access, Gov. Charlie Baker said Wednesday he will explore other means of reducing […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
The shock heard ‘round the world
DONALD TRUMP WAS elected president, upending the expectations set by virtually every poll going into Tuesday’s election. He won despite alienating and attacking everyone from Hispanics to Gold Star families, […]
Posted inEducation
Suburbs and the charter school question
HINGHAM DOES NOT look much like the sort of place where a charter school is likely to pop up. While charters schools in Massachusetts are concentrated in lower-income urban communities with struggling district schools […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Pro-charter vote doesn’t diminish district commitment
ON NOVEMBER 8, I will vote yes on Question 2, the referendum that would allow for controlled expansion of charter schools in Massachusetts. I have always embraced any social invention, […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Real Democrats support charter schools
WITH JUST DAYS until America selects a successor to President Obama, a longstanding kerfuffle has broken into the open on his longstanding, crystal clear opposition to artificial caps on public charter […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Charter school question at the wire
The vitriol and division that have been the hallmarks of the presidential race nationally have found their way to the state ballot question in Massachusetts on expanding charter schools. The […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Charters offer high-quality choice
MY SUBURBAN FRIENDS are asking for my stand on Question 2. I tell them my “yes” vote is based on one critical measure: There are simply not enough high-performing district […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Charter narrative gets story wrong
A narrative is like a room on whose walls a number of false doors have been painted; while within the narrative, we have many apparent choices of exit, but when […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
A vote for students
AT THE OUTSET, I make two admissions: I am not a fan of making public policy via ballot initiative and my children currently are enrolled in private, independent schools. I […]
Posted inEducation
Charter showdown
IN NOVEMBER, MASSACHUSETTS voters will have their say on a ballot question that would allow up to 12 new or expanded charter schools each year above the existing state cap […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
The missing piece of education reform
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS ago a broad coalition of legislators, business people, education experts, and state officials put together and passed a wide-reaching education reform law. That law reflects a set of […]
Posted inEducation
Charter cap debate clouds original intent
PROMOTING INNOVATION WAS the original purpose of charter schools. As first envisioned by union leader Albert Shanker and others, charters would benefit the educational system as a whole by serving as […]
Posted inEducation, The Download
The charter funding debate
The impact of charter schools on district school budgets has become a central point of contention in the debate over Question 2, the November ballot question that would allow an […]
Posted inThe Download
Charter school math
It’s unlikely to change many minds because, like who won the presidential debate, facts mean little when it comes to perception and opinion. But a new study by the Massachusetts Taxpayers […]