Advocates in the final stages of securing a ballot question that could lift the cap on charter schools in Massachusetts are already looking months into the future.
Public Charter Schools for MA has reserved $6.5 million in television advertisements for the fall, spokesman Jim Conroy said last week. The organization is pushing for a Nov. 8 ballot question calling for the addition of 12 more charter schools per year anywhere in the state.
After Great Schools Massachusetts turned in 20,000 signatures Wednesday — nearly double the required amount — to the secretary of state’s office, the final step to getting the question on the ballot is complete, according to a statement from spokeswoman Eileen O’Connor.
Great Schools Massachusetts is a statewide coalition of parents, community groups, public charter schools, education advocates and members of the business community, according to the statement.
“Along with numerous public polls, this is further evidence of the strong support from voters in the Commonwealth to expand access to high quality public charter schools,” O’Connor said in the statement.
Now it is up to the secretary of state’s office to announce the questions officially on the November ballot in the coming weeks.
According to State House News Service, it appears the charter school question will be put before voters along with a proposal to legalize the possession, growing and eventual sale of marijuana, a proposal to require Massachusetts farmers and grocers to ensure egg-laying hens, veal calves and pigs have enough room to move around, and a proposal that would allow the Gaming Commission to request applications for a slots parlor next to a horse track.
A final round of 10,792 signatures was due to the secretary of state’s office Wednesday from campaigns that already collected at least 64,750 signatures to put proposed laws before the Legislature.
The reserved advertising spots will air on six Boston television channels beginning Sept. 20, seven weeks before the election, POLITICO reported last month. Advertising space is reserved on WBZ, WFXT, WCVB, WSBK, WHDH and WLVI, according to POLITICO.
According to Conroy, the advertisements will be produced by SRCP Media of Washington, the firm responsible for the “Swift Boat Veterans For Truth” campaign against John Kerry in 2004.
“We chose SRCP primarily because they had the most experience on ballot initiatives, including education reform,” Conroy said.
Reserving airtime months in advance is normal, Conroy added, especially when the campaign will have to compete for space with the presidential race and gubernatorial and senatorial races in New Hampshire this election season.
Save Our Public Schools, a grassroots organization of parents, educators and students across the state is pushing back against the ballot question, saying it could lead to the end of public education in the state. The Massachusetts Teachers Association is one of the supporters of the campaign.
Barbara Madeloni, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, said Friday morning her organization has contributed $9 million to the campaign against lifting the cap, though she expects to be outspent by Public Charter Schools for MA.
“This ballot question is the beginning of the end of public education,” Madeloni said. “We have to win. Public education in Massachusetts, the birthplace of high quality universal education, would be undone in a short time if this were to pass.”
Madeloni said the funds were generated from the 110,000 members of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. The anti-charter school group plans to engage voters by having conversations, canvassing, holding forums and launching a media campaign with television advertisements, although the amount spent on TV ads is to be determined.
Madeloni said she trusts voters will vote against the ballot question when they understand the damage it could do to public education in the state.
Northampton Mayor David J. Narkewicz has spoken out in favor of keeping the cap on charter schools in the state. At a Save Our Public Schools forum that drew some 150 parents and educators last month, Narkewicz pointed to the budget, saying outgoing charter school tuition hurts already underfunded public schools in the city. In the current fiscal year, 202 students leaving the district to attend charter schools will take $2.2 million with them in tuition, according to Narkewicz.
For comparison, Narkewicz said, the city’s four elementary schools serve between 230 to 330 students and have annual budgets of $1.7 million.
Others at the forum said charter schools are not public schools, saying they create a two-tiered education system and are not truly public because they do not have to follow rigid state curriculum and policies.
But Marc Kenen, executive director of the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association, disagreed. Charter schools are public schools, Kenen stressed.
“It’s not a question about whether we’re public or not,” Kenen said last week. “It’s written in the law.”
Kenen told the Gazette in June that parents are demanding choice when it comes to schools for their children, and the flexibility that comes with charter school education is a benefit to education in the 21st century. He cited the 32,646 students on Massachusetts charter school waiting lists for the coming school year, saying even lifting the cap will not fully satisfy the demand.
Of the wait-listed students, 819 are waiting for admittance to the four charter schools in Hampshire and Franklin Counties, according to June data from the Massachusetts Department of Education. As of March 15, Hilltown Cooperative Charter Public School in Easthampton has 274 waitlisted students; Four Rivers Charter Public School in Greenfield has 86; Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School in Hadley has 116; and Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School in Hadley has 343 wait-listed students, according to the report.