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Supporters of public charter schools recently filed a ballot question for the November 2016 election that would allow for measured relief from arbitrary enrollment caps, and already local officials are warning of Armageddon.
Here’s the real crisis: There are 37,000 families across Massachusetts who are on waitlists to attend a public charter school. In Worcester, there are more than 700 on wait lists, and yet only 500 more charter seats are allowed. Providing considered relief from current caps would ensure that families continue to have fair access to high quality public schools in districts where options are limited and academic performance is uneven.
The proposed ballot question would allow the state to authorize a small number of new public charter schools each year, or charter expansions, in districts that have already reached mandated enrollment caps. These new public schools would be prioritized in the lowest performing school districts where waiting lists for charters are longest, and they would be subject to the same stringent accountability standards that have helped make Massachusetts charters the best in the nation.
Opposition to lifting the cap on public charters typically focuses on the financial impact on district schools, but fails to account for the fact that children who enroll in public charters are no longer in district classrooms.
The sole focus on numbers neglects to assess whether the money is yielding the kind of academic results Worcester families expect – and deserve – from their schools. No doubt Worcester has several high performing district schools, but if you are not lucky enough to enroll your children in West Tatnuk, Sullivan Middle, Worcester Arts Magnet or University Park (the city’s elite exam school), high quality options are not available to all residents in all parts of the city.
Worcester’s two charters provide additional high quality public school options for families from all over the city. Both Abby Kelley Foster and Seven Hills are rated as Level 1 schools – the highest rating under the state’s accountability system, which measures success at closing race-and-income-based achievement gaps. At both charters, 11% more African American charter students scored proficient or advanced in English compared to African American students in Worcester district schools; 17% more in math; 10% more in science. At both charters, 16% more Hispanic charter students scored proficient or advanced in English compared to Hispanic students in Worcester district schools; 20% more in math; 16% more in science.
The funding formula itself is simple:
Step One: Parents choose to enroll their children in public charter schools.
Step Two: Since the districts are no longer educating these students, the amount of money they would spend to educate them is reallocated to the charters. This is called charter “tuition.” The word causes some confusion about whether charters charge “tuition.” They do not. Charters are free, public, and open to all students.
Step Three: The state reimburses districts for six years after students leave: 100% reimbursement the first year, and then 25% in each of the next five years. So the district gets more than double its money back from the state over that six-year period. A 7th grader who enrolls in a charter will be going off to college by the time the reimbursement runs dry. It should be noted that this reimbursement has been fully funded every year since 2005, with the exception of FY 2015/2016, as the state wrestled with huge budget deficits.
As legislators debate the issue, and voters consider the ballot question, they should understand that the fiscal arguments against lifting charter enrollment caps are overstated.
In Worcester, 2,000 children currently attend local public charter schools. Yet, school spending in Worcester continues to climb. Worcester now spends more money per child ($13,500) than it did in 2005 ($11,118), while enrollment has remained flat over that time period. Total school spending has gone up from $295 million to $375 million since 2005.
Opponents forget that charter schools are public schools, so there is no loss of funding for public education in Worcester. The funds are simply allocated to a different type of public school that is still open to all students. Worcester’s charter schools operate independent of the city’s bureaucracy, but must answer to strict state accountability measures imposed by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Enrollment in charter public schools is determined by lottery.
Charter public schools have to stretch their education dollars further because they must finance their own facilities, while district schools receive generous subsidies from the state ranging from 50% to 80% of the total cost. Charter schools are not eligible to receive these subsidies and must secure financing on their own.
Public charter schools in Worcester have provided a high quality alternative to families across the city. Expanding charter opportunities in Worcester would help level the playing field for families who have not been lucky enough to land a seat for their children in either of Worcester’s charters or one of the high performing Worcester district schools.
Marc Kenen is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association
