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New Schools To Add More Than 1,700 Seats in Springfield and Fall River
Zero New Seats for Boston; Fall River Reaches the Cap
BOSTON, MA – FEBRUARY 25, 2014 – The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) today approved two new Commonwealth charter public schools, in Springfield and Fall River. DESE also approved expansion of an existing Fall River charter public school, bringing that community up against the state-mandated cap on charter expansion.
The approvals mean that 1,713 new charter school seats would become available to families in those two cities.
At its meeting in Malden today. The DESE board voted to approve Argosy Collegiate Charter School, a school in Fall River that will focus on college and career readiness for 644 students in grades 6-12, and the Springfield Preparatory Charter School, a new school for 486 students in grades K-8 focused on literacy development and character education within a structured and rigorous learning environment. The board also awarded 583 new seats to Atlantis Charter School in Fall River, allowing it to add high school grades. Atlantic currently serves 795 students in grades K-8.
Boston was frozen out this year, having reached state-imposed restrictions on charter expansion. Fall River now joins Boston and Holyoke as communities that are now at the limit.
“The board’s approval of these new schools, and additional seats in Fall River, is good news for families in those two communities,” Marc Kenen, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association, said. “But, it is also a reminder that Boston and other communities are at their limit with no room for new charter public schools.”
Kenen urged the Legislature to move forward with a bill currently before the Education Committee that would lift caps that are preventing charter growth in underperforming districts that rank in the bottom 10% on MCAS. The legislation would also provide districts with more tools to turn around underperforming schools.
“Demand for educational alternatives is at an all-time high in Massachusetts,” Kenen said. “Charter schools have proven to be effective at closing the achievement gap, and yet the state is restricting their growth in the very communities where the achievement gap is widest. We have been working closely with the Education Committee and are hopeful that a bill will emerge soon that will provide more room for charter expansion in communities where it is most needed.”
Right now, more than half of the 29 districts that rank in the bottom 10% academically are either at the cap or have room for only one more charter school. These include large cities and towns like Boston, Fall River, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell, Chelsea, and Randolph, and several smaller communities in Central and Western Massachusetts.
Click here to read the Department of Education press release.
