SOUTH DEERFIELD – The Frontier Regional School Committee has unanimously passed a resolution to support keeping a cap on the number of charter schools in Massachusetts.
With the vote, the school joins the school committees of Conway, Deerfield, Rowe and Whately in support of the cap, as well as more than 50 other school districts across the state in opposition to a bill that would allow the state to build an additional 12 charter schools per year.
The Senate passed a bill in March to put the charter school debate to a public vote later this year.
Right now, there are 14 charter schools in western Massachusetts, of a total of 80 statewide.
Charter schools are publicly funded, specialized public schools that have their own trustees and different governance rules than their traditional public schools governed by local school committees.
The vote comes about a week after the Deerfield School Committee decided the same thing June 8.
According to a news release from Save Our Public Schools, an organization created to oppose the charter school bill, “the Frontier Regional School District is losing $507,482 to charter schools this year, after state reimbursements.”
Those who oppose the bill say that by creating more charter schools, public funding will be taken away from public schools, where it’s needed most. Those who support charter school expansion argue that the schools offer opportunities to students who wouldn’t have the opportunity to receive a specialized and good education otherwise.