WHATELY — The pro-charter school expansion organization Great Schools Massachusetts has explained its position to the Select Board so town officials could hear both sides of the debate.
Selectman Jonathan Edwards said that about a month ago the board heard a presentation from Save Our Public Schools asking the town to oppose a charter school expansion referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Edwards said they asked Great Schools Massachusetts to present the other side of the issue to make an unbiased decision. The board did not vote to support either side during the meeting.
Save Our Public Schools is a grassroots organization opposing the upcoming state ballot question that proposes lifting the charter school cap by 12 additional schools per year.
“Charter schools are public schools,” said Shane Dunn, coalitions director at Great Schools Massachusetts and a Springfield school teacher. “I’m here today to talk about education choice and opportunities for families.”
Amanda Gauthier, founding director of Springfield Prep Charter School in Springfield, who presented with Dunn, said she has seen charter school students flourish, in contrast to their public school counterparts who have not.
She argued that lifting the cap will give more low-income and at-risk students an opportunity to receive a better education then regular public schools can provide. According to Gauthier, regular public schools are not as good as charter schools at least in part because of school district bureaucracy and too many students.
Charter schools are run independently of a town’s regular schools but are funded by money from the home districts of its students.
Opponents to charter school expansion counter that because the schools are publicly funded, lifting the cap will take much-needed money from public school districts, where the vast majority of students attend.
Even with the expansion, Gauthier said, only about 1 percent of students would be allowed to attend charter schools.
Save Our Public Schools’ website cites that with that low percentage, “this year alone, charter schools will siphon off more than $450 million in funds that would otherwise stay in public school systems and be used to improve learning for all students.”
“The reason this is on the ballot this fall is because there are a lot of families trying to get into charter schools,” Gauthier said, adding that there are about 32,000 students statewide currently on the charter school wait list.
“It’s very tough to go into schools every day where students are underperforming,” she continued. “It breaks my heart to see a family crying at a charter school lottery night – we’re not an equal commonwealth right now when it comes to education.”