Some district public school leaders and union officials are seizing on the fact that charter school waiting lists are double counting some kids, thereby overstating the demand for seats at charters, public-funded schools that generally operate independent of school districts. That some students appear on more than one waiting list has been a fairly well-known secret. But the Globe plays a story explaining this hitch atop its front-page today, complete with expressions of outrage from the usual suspects: a district superintendent, the head of the state superintendents association, and the leader of the Boston teachers union.
There are more than 53,000 students on waiting lists for Massachusetts charter schools, a number that has quadrupled over the last decade. There are clearly some students being counted several times, as families can put their child on waiting lists at several oversubscribed charter schools. Charter school critics say the inflated waiting-list figures are being used to push for a raising of the state cap on charter schools.
But if there’s blame to be assigned, it’s state education officials, not charter school leaders, who are responsible for the distorted waiting-list figures. The Globe reports that a 2010 law that raised the cap on charter schools also called for the state to gather names from charter schools of all those on their waiting lists and then scrub all duplicate entries from the list. State officials say the understaffed charter school office has not done this, but they hope to have an accurate waiting-list count by next year.
“Is the demand truly 50,000, or is it 10,000 students applying to five schools each?” Medford school superintendent Roy Belson asks the Globe. Belson makes a good point, but it’s probably not the one he intended.
The waiting list brouhaha is in some ways an act of deck chair rearranging on the Titanic. What is sinking is the effort by district school leaders and teachers unions to discredit or hold back the effort to expand the school choices the charter school movement has brought, particularly to poor families trapped in low-performing urban districts. Whatever the true size of the waiting list, parents are clearly eager for what charter schools are offering.
While the evidence on student achievement at charter schools nationally is mixed, the charter school sector in Massachusetts has been recognized as among the country’s strongest. A recent report from a Stanford University research group that has been the most authoritative source of data on charter school performance sheds new light on this. The study shows that Massachusetts charter schools are three times more likely to significantly outperform traditional public schools in math and reading than to have to significantly lower scores. Looking only at Boston charters, the researchers found that 83 percent of charters outperform district schools, while none significant lag their district counterparts. The authors said the average growth rate in reading and math in Boston charter schools was the largest of any city or state they have examined.
It would be valuable to know whether the true unmet demand for charter seats is 10,000 as opposed to 50,000. But it’s hard to see how that change in the literal bottom line would alter the figurative one: Lots of families — many of whom probably can’t afford to exercise the option to move to a higher-performing suburban district — are making a loud statement about their wish for a choice beyond that of their district school.
–MICHAEL JONAS
BEACON HILL/MASSACHUSETTS
Former state transportation secretary Jim Aloisi and Pioneer Institute’s Charlie Chieppo discuss the transportation finance showdown in a new CommonWealth “Face to Face” video.
Rick Holmes, the editorial page editor at the MetroWest Daily News tees up the politics of the transportation battle that will play out this week on Beacon Hill.
Inspector General Glenn Cunha warns Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua that he shouldn’t continue paying police officers who are not working and facing criminal charges, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
A proposal to allow undocumented people to obtain drivers licenses is under consideration on Beacon Hill.
The Berkshire Eagle makes the case for stronger state gun laws.
An influx of immigrants, centered in Suffolk and Middlesex counties, is responsible for the state’s population gain from 2010 to 2012.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
An East Boston critic of Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua is arrested for vandalizing the mayor’s truck and causing $2,500 in damage, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
In a devastating pulling back of the curtain on the behind-the-scenes ways of Mayor Tom Menino, Globe columnist and editorial writer Larry Harmon explains how he and others became “dead” to the city’s grudge-holder-in-chief.
Meanwhile, the Globe’s Sean Murphy and Scott Allen look at the no-bid deal the city gave mayoral friend Joe Fallon to develop a parcel on South Boston waterfront.
Plymouth Town Meeting representatives voted to take $1 million from past budget surpluses to create a stabilization fund in anticipation of the day when the Pilgrim nuclear power plant shuts down and the town loses the $10 million in annual payments.
CASINOS
David Nunes, one of the investors in the Foxwoods/Milford proposal, has been “stripped of his authority” by his partners, but still remains the biggest shareholder.
The Boston Herald notes that Springfield should use an override to adjust property taxes and forgo a proposal before the Legislature which would add a possible casino to its total tax levy and raise property taxes for everyone else. The paper also stresses that its up to the gaming commission to decide whether commercial casinos should be allowed into the mix for a license in Southeastern Mass.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
Gun control may not be dead. Meanwhile, Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy likens the National Rifle Association’s CEO Wayne LaPierre to a clown in a circus, Politico reports.
INTERNATIONAL
Margaret Thatcher died this morning at 87 and the Weekly Standard is ready with an obit, an appreciation and a look back at the relationship between Ronald Reagan and the Iron Lady. Mark Feeney has this obituary in the Globe.
ELECTIONS
Civic entrepreneur and veteran nonprofit leader Bill Walczak throws his hat in the ring and shakes up the race for mayor of Boston.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker talks hope to Lynn audience, the Item reports.
Rep. Dan Winslow, the Norfolk Republican looking to seize the GOP nomination for the US Senate, proposes a national lottery to provide money for grants and merit scholarships for high school students. One of his primary opponents, former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, gets a half-hour in the chair with Keller@Large..
The Globe profiles Democratic Senate hopeful Stephen Lynch.
Write-in candidates in Westport have the edge for the positions of fish commissioner, commissioner of trust funds, and a seat on the Housing Board with no candidates on the ballots for any of those slots.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
High-speed Internet service debuts in smaller Western Mass. towns and The Berkshire Eagle applauds its arrival.
A survey by the Chronicle of Philanthropy shows that 70 percent of charities are predicting a rise in donations in 2013.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Massachusetts ranked sixth in the nation last year in solar installations, spurred mainly by the fact the state has the country’s eighth-highest electricity rates.
Dry and windy conditions around the region have contributed to a number of brush fires and some towns are putting a clamp down on outside burning to lower the risk.
The Cape Cod Times notes that NStar should show some goodwill to bring along Sandwich residents upset about a proposed natural gas line.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
A check of sex offender addresses in Lowell finds no danger to day-care facilities, the Sun reports.
Lynn police say the rise of prostitution on the city’s streets is a reflection of a drug problem, the Item reports.
MEDIA
The Newspaper Association of America finds the revenue picture for America’s newspaper is not as bad as thought once secondary business ventures are included, Poynter reports.
