PUBLIC COMMENT OF TIM NICOLETTE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MASSACHUSETTS CHARTER PUBLIC SCHOOL ASSOCIATION, BOARD OF ELEMENTARY & SECONDARY EDUCATION MEETING

Good morning, Chair Craven, members of the Board, Acting Secretary Kershaw, and Commissioner Martinez. My name is Tim Nicolette, and I am the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association.

First, I’d like to thank former Secretary Tutwiler for his deep commitment to advancing educational quality in the Commonwealth. And congratulations to Salem Schools Superintendent Dr. Stephen Zrike Jr. on his new leadership role. We look forward to working together. 

We are strong supporters of evidence-based literacy practices and grateful for the work the department is doing to support schools and educators to ensure they have the resources and supports to successfully implement these practices.  We ask that when the department administers future grants that charter public schools are equitably represented.

I am also here today to celebrate the renewals of 12 of our member schools. 

Charter public schools are an integral part of the Commonwealth’s public education system – helping to ensure that all children have access to a public school that meets their needs and enables them to thrive. 

The charter public school model is defined by significant autonomy and rigorous accountability. Charter renewal is a central part of accountability. Every five years, your department  considers a school’s academic outcomes, organizational viability, responsible use of public funds, enrollment patterns, and faithfulness to the terms of its charter. Our schools are held to the highest standards of any public school in the Commonwealth. It is these exceptionally high standards that ensure charter public schools are delivering high quality educational opportunities that make a positive impact. 

Each of the schools being renewed this cycle is leveraging their autonomies to meet the unique needs of their students. We have a wall-to-wall early college model that offers all students an opportunity to earn an associates degree along with their diploma; a national Blue Ribbon School, where Black and brown students are achieving at the top of the state; an alternative school that reengages youth who have dropped out, are parenting, or have otherwise disengaged; and a whole-child community school that offers comprehensive food, healthcare, and housing services, ensuring children have what they need in order to show up ready to learn. 

We are grateful that families continue to see tremendous value in charter public school options. Our enrollment has remained strong, growing more than 4% over the past few years. We now have more than 46,000 students, with an additional 21,000 on wait lists. More than three-quarters of these children identify as students of color, 56% come from low-income families, 36% do not speak English as their first language, and 18% have identified disabilities. 

Thank you for your service on behalf of children and families. We look forward to continuing to work together to strengthen public education in the Commonwealth

Every student deserves the opportunity to receive a high-quality public education. And we know a one-size-fits-all approach to education simply doesn’t work. Charter public schools enable families to decide which public school is the right school for their child, whether that is a traditional public school, a vocational technical public school, or a charter public school. 

I am here today to stand alongside teachers, families, students, and alumni in opposition to several bills, including H.540. You have a full list of these bills. These bills would hurt schools, weaken our public education system, and ultimately, harm children. 

Some of the bills before you today would not only hurt high-performing schools; these bills would close them. Massachusetts law already limits how much funding can flow to charter public schools and therefore how many children can attend our schools. Some of the bills before you today would lower these caps even further. Funding for our schools would be cut by up to 72%. 22,000 children would be forced out of their schools. 

Such significant funding cuts are not financially sustainable. Charter public schools all across Massachusetts would be forced to close. Teachers would lose their jobs, and children would be removed from the schools they love – schools where they are thriving.

When we find something that works in public education, we should support it – not hurt it. 

At a time when public education and many of the communities we serve are already under siege, these bills exacerbate those attacks. We ask you to firmly reject them

Thank you.