The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education made the right decision this week in rejecting a proposed expansion to nearly double the enrollment at the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School in Hadley.
In an unusual move, the board voted 7-2 Monday to reject Commissioner Mitchell Chester’s recommendation that PVCICS be permitted to increase its enrollment, which is now capped at 584, by up to 452 students. It was the first time since 2011 that the board went against the commissioner’s position on a new or expanded charter school.
Amherst and Northampton school officials mounted strong opposition to the proposed expansion, arguing, among other things, that PVCICS does not enroll enough students from lower-performing districts — one of the goals for charter schools.
The Amherst School Committee wrote in a letter to the state board: “Charter schools are public schools mandated to serve all students regardless of race, ethnicity, disability status or economic status, among other demographic indicators. PVCICS is currently not meeting that mandate.”
The Northampton School Committee also sent a letter stating that students with disabilities are underrepresented at PVCICS and that its cap should not be increased until the state adjusts the funding formula for charter schools.
State board members echoed those concerns in explaining their vote, questioning, for example, whether the charter school was drawing a sufficient number of students from cities such as Holyoke and Springfield rather than high-performing districts.
Question 2 on the Nov. 8 ballot, which voters rejected 62 percent to 38 percent, would have allowed the state to approve up to 12 new or expanded charter schools every year. In supporting that measure, we argued that charter schools add opportunities for a quality education to underprivileged students in urban areas such as Holyoke, Springfield and Boston where struggling public schools have left parents searching for other options.
We believe that if Question 2 had been approved, it would have had little impact on Hampshire County, where the waiting lists for charter schools are relatively short in a region with high-quality traditional public schools.
PVCICS submitted the only proposal for adding charter school seats in Hampshire County this year, and it did not make a convincing argument. The school already is permitted to add another 113 students to its current enrollment of 471 without exceeding the existing cap.
However, the charter school has nowhere to put additional students at its current campus on Russell Street in Hadley, according to executive director Richard Alcorn. He argued that having the flexibility to nearly double its enrollment would provide the financial stability needed to find another site for additional classrooms — although the school has not identified a specific location.
PVCICS needs to find quarters big enough to accommodate its current allowed enrollment — with room for growth — before it can realistically expect to attract additional students.
Area educators have raised questions about whether PVCICS is properly serving students with special needs amid reports that a disproportionate number of those children leave the charter school. In opposing the proposed expansion, Michael Morris, the acting superintendent for the Amherst-Pelham Regional School District, cited the number of students with special needs who return to Amherst schools from PVCICS.
In a letter sent Monday to the state education board defending the expansion proposal, Alcorn wrote that the “five-year average of the attrition of high needs students at PVCICS is below state averages.” However, more specific answers about why students with special needs leave the school are needed before its cap is adjusted.
Besides rejecting the PVCICS expansion, the state board Monday approved three new schools and increased enrollment at three other charters, most in urban areas of eastern Massachusetts.
Just one is in western Massachusetts — the Hampden Charter School of Science-West in Westfield, which will open in 2018 for 252 students in Grades 6 to 9, with growth to a maximum of 588 through Grade 12. Focusing on math and science, it will draw from Agawam, Holyoke, Westfield and West Springfield.
With its action this week, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education stayed true to a primary mission of charter schools — providing needed alternatives in communities with failing schools where parents cannot afford the private school options enjoyed by more affluent families.