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BOSTON — More than 1,600 students applied to the Community Day Charter School in Lawrence for next year, but most will be turned away.
It’s become a familiar story amid the soaring popularity of the taxpayer-funded alternative schools.
“There’s usually only a few openings every year and very little turnover,” said Sheila Balboni, executive director of Community Day, which teaches children in preschool through 8th grade. “Most families will end up on waiting lists. There’s always a lot of disappointment.”
Tens of thousands of students apply for coveted seats in Massachusetts’ 81 public charter schools every year, only to land on lengthy waiting lists because of an enrollment cap set by the state. Supporters of expanding charter schools are pushing to ease those limits or even eliminate them, arguing that the schools are performing well and deserve to grow to meet demand.
Gov. Charlie Baker has thrown his support fully behind efforts to lift the cap, calling it a priority for his administration.
“Research has proven time and time again that charter schools do a terrific job of serving many of the children who have been left behind by previous efforts to improve the quality of education,” Baker told reporters last week.
The first-term Republican has aligned himself with advocates who recently launched a campaign to win support from policymakers and the public. His support for lifting the cap puts him at odds with the powerful Massachusetts Teachers Association, which opposes the changes.
And policymakers on Beacon Hill can’t even agree on the numbers. The Baker administration rolled out new waiting list estimates on Thursday, showing nearly 34,000 students statewide. A previous estimate by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education put the number at more than 37,000. Meanwhile, critics say those numbers are not accurate.
The wrangling comes as lawmakers debate a proposal by Baker to license up to 12 new charter schools every year. Priority would be given to the lowest-performing 25 percent of school districts, or about 70 districts.
Pro-charter school activists are working to put a question on lifting the cap on the 2016 ballot if lawmakers fail to act.
Opponents say expanding charter schools will further siphon limited education funds from traditional school districts, many of which are struggling. They want the state to either keep the cap in place or impose a moratorium on new charters, while devoting more money and other resources to traditional public schools.
Misleading data?
What’s more, they say the Baker administration is misleading the public with inaccurate waiting list figures.
“It is shameful that Gov. Baker is manipulating data and pushing an agenda to steer already limited state resources away from public schools and into the hands of privately run charter schools,” said Barbara Madeloni, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the state’s largest teachers union.
The accusations follow comments last week by State Auditor Suzanne Bump who said Baker “misstated” the findings of an audit conducted by her office that concluded the waiting list numbers– estimated by the state at 40,376 in 2013 – were not accurate because students apply to different charter schools, which often “roll forward” wait list entries from prior years.
Bump said the lack of complete and accurate data has skewed the debate over lifting the charter school enrollment cap.
“When incomplete information is presented as fact, as is the case by this campaign, policymakers are not afforded the ability to make unbiased decisions and the public is misled,” Bump said in a statement.
Money competition
Massachusetts currently has 83 charter schools — including several in the Merrimack Valley — with about 34,000 students statewide. By comparison, there are about 1,800 traditional schools with roughly 922,000 students.
Charter schools are public schools funded through the same pool of tax revenue as traditional schools, but run by a private organization.
Unlike regular public schools, charters are allowed more flexibility with curriculum, class size and the length of the school day. They are tuition-free and select students from nearby school districts, with admission determined by a lottery system.
State law requires public schools to pay for the education of a child who transfers to a charter for at least six years — one of the most generous reimbursements in the nation. Costs vary by district, but the average is $12,296 per student.
Charter school reimbursements are fueling opposition to lifting the cap. Opponents say the state simply can’t afford to send more students to charters.
In the past two years, the state Legislature did not fully reimburse school districts that lost students to charter schools but eventually passed a supplemental budget last year to narrow the gap.
School districts paid about $411 million in charter school tuition payments in fiscal year 2015, according to state budget figures. The districts were entitled to $76.5 million in reimbursements, but only received $41 million.
The enrollment cap now varies by district; the most troubled school districts are prevented from spending more than 18 percent of their budgets on charter students. In better performing districts the expense is as low as 9 percent.
Sean O’Neil, executive director of Salem Academy Charter School, was given approval by the state last year to increase enrollment from 372 to 480 students — up to 18 percent — but has more than 100 students still on a waiting list.
The academy, which teaches grades 6 to 12, added 50 students in the current year and will add another 50 next year.
“The lottery is not a happy event for most people,” O’Neil said. “We see people leave in tears, and it’s disheartening.”
O’Neil supports lifting the cap, but said the divisive debate has students and their families caught in the middle.
“One of the things many people lose sight of is that these are public schools and public school students,” he said. “Whether it’s a charter or a district school doesn’t really matter. These are students who are entitled to a free public education and should have a choice about where they go.”
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for the North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at [email protected].
Students on Charter School Wait Lists, by City/Town (as of 2015-16 school year):
Boston 12,075
Lawrence 1,783
Lynn 599
Haverhill 500
Newburyport 302
Salem 154
Amesbury 114
Methuen 84
Marblehead 37
Newbury 53
Peabody 47
West Newbury 35
Salisbury 25
Swampscott 10
Beverly 15
North Andover 11
Andover 6
Rockport 3
Danvers 3
Gloucester 1
Hamilton 1
Ipswich 1
Total statewide: 33,903
Source: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2015-16 school year
