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Municipal Services Education board wraps up charter school hearings
On Dec. 14, the state’s education department wrapped up two weeks of public hearings on proposals for seven new charter schools that would open beginning next year.
The five well-attended hearings, held throughout the state, generally featured charter school proponents saying that their schools would be innovative and offer choices that local public schools do not. Opponents, meanwhile, questioned the ability of the proposed charter schools to deliver on their claims and pointed out that local public schools are already offering innovative programs that give parents choices.
Local public school advocates also warned that cuts in school aid due to new charter schools would undermine improvement efforts already under way in public schools that most local students attend.
The department will continue to accept comments by mail and e-mail until Jan. 4. The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is slated to vote to grant new charters at its February meeting.
At a crowded meeting at the Crane Public Library in Quincy on Dec. 14, supporters of the proposed 308-student Hanlin International Academy Charter School said it would provide an alternative to the local public school. The school would open its doors in September 2011, starting with 88 sixth- and seventh-grade students from Quincy.
Opponents of the proposed Hanlin School said that Quincy public schools are already having success in areas targeted by the charter school and that the proposed school would drain resources from the public school system, according to media reports about the hearing.
The seven new charter schools under consideration would be located across the state, with maximum total enrollment of about 2,000 students. If all seven are approved, more than $24 million would be deducted from local education aid payments to be paid to charter schools as tuition.
Under current law, new education aid deductions for a charter school are fully covered by state reimbursement, subject to appropriation in the state budget, with reimbursements declining after the first year.
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education reports that there are 62 charter schools operating in Massachusetts, including 55 private charter schools, called Commonwealth charter schools, and seven in-district Horace Mann charter schools. About 24,000 students are enrolled in charter schools statewide.
The following are the seven charter school proposals being reviewed by the education department:
• Discovery Charter School of Sustainability, Franklin County, K-6, 260 students
• Hanlin International Academy Charter School, Quincy, 6-12, 308 students
• Housatonic River Charter School, Berkshire County, 7-12, 240 students
• Leaders of Tomorrow Charter Public School, Worcester, 6-8, 270 students
• Lynn Preparatory School, Lynn, K-8, 250 students
• Road to Success Charter High School, Lynn, Peabody and Salem, 9-12, 400 students
• Spirit of Knowledge Academy Charter School, Worcester, 7-12, 275 students
Municipal Services Education board wraps up charter school hearings
Education board wraps up charter school hearings
On Dec. 14, the state’s education department wrapped up two weeks of public hearings on proposals for seven new charter schools that would open beginning next year.
The five well-attended hearings, held throughout the state, generally featured charter school proponents saying that their schools would be innovative and offer choices that local public schools do not. Opponents, meanwhile, questioned the ability of the proposed charter schools to deliver on their claims and pointed out that local public schools are already offering innovative programs that give parents choices.
Local public school advocates also warned that cuts in school aid due to new charter schools would undermine improvement efforts already under way in public schools that most local students attend.
The department will continue to accept comments by mail and e-mail until Jan. 4. The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is slated to vote to grant new charters at its February meeting.
At a crowded meeting at the Crane Public Library in Quincy on Dec. 14, supporters of the proposed 308-student Hanlin International Academy Charter School said it would provide an alternative to the local public school. The school would open its doors in September 2011, starting with 88 sixth- and seventh-grade students from Quincy.
Opponents of the proposed Hanlin School said that Quincy public schools are already having success in areas targeted by the charter school and that the proposed school would drain resources from the public school system, according to media reports about the hearing.
The seven new charter schools under consideration would be located across the state, with maximum total enrollment of about 2,000 students. If all seven are approved, more than $24 million would be deducted from local education aid payments to be paid to charter schools as tuition.
Under current law, new education aid deductions for a charter school are fully covered by state reimbursement, subject to appropriation in the state budget, with reimbursements declining after the first year.
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education reports that there are 62 charter schools operating in Massachusetts, including 55 private charter schools, called Commonwealth charter schools, and seven in-district Horace Mann charter schools. About 24,000 students are enrolled in charter schools statewide.
The following are the seven charter school proposals being reviewed by the education department:
• Discovery Charter School of Sustainability, Franklin County, K-6, 260 students
• Hanlin International Academy Charter School, Quincy, 6-12, 308 students
• Housatonic River Charter School, Berkshire County, 7-12, 240 students
• Leaders of Tomorrow Charter Public School, Worcester, 6-8, 270 students
• Lynn Preparatory School, Lynn, K-8, 250 students
• Road to Success Charter High School, Lynn, Peabody and Salem, 9-12, 400 students
• Spirit of Knowledge Academy Charter School, Worcester, 7-12, 275 students
Written by MMA Legislative Director John Robertson
