Written Testimony for the Joint Committee on Education, Concerning Bill H3928, “An Act to Allow Fair Access to Public Charter Schools”

Dear Joint Committee on Education:

I am the parent of a 3^rd grader that attends a Boston Public School, the Ellis Mendell K-5 in Roxbury.

On Tuesday, February 23^rd I attended a meeting of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. They were voting on approving some new charter schools and on the expansion of some others.

Tito Jackson, the Education chair of the Boston City Council, and Michael O'Neill, the chair of the Boston School Committee, both testified before BESE asking them not to add 1119 additional charter seats to Boston as the proposed seats would remove another $17 million from Boston Public Schools. The $17 million will be in addition to the $120 million BPS already sends to commonwealth charters.

People from Brockton were also testifying at the meeting. They were trying to prevent a new charter school from opening up. To me, Brockton sounded to be doing really well. It sounded like people are going to Brockton to study how they have turned their schools around. The people testifying said that if the charter school opened Brockton Public Schools would lose $8 million a year. They said that this would completely pull the rug out from under them and destroy everything they had worked so hard for.

BESE eventually deliberated. They even brought up the subject of “impact” and should they take that into consideration?

The following are some of Tracy Novick's notes from that discussion:

So I'm assuming that no one does an impact study? Really? Someone needs to do an impact study, because there's definitely impact.

As it stands now, the state can come into a district, one that's doing everything right, one that's doing great with what they have and tell them “we're putting a new school in to your district, we're going to make you fund it in addition to your existing school(s), and you have no say about it and there's nothing you can do about it.”

Am I wrong to think this is insane(?) to rip millions and millions of dollars away from existing district schools in the name of helping children?

What these policies are actually doing is hurting thousands of children's chances at receiving a good education by defunding existing schools. It's crazy. It's wrong, and it harms children.

I'm asking you to stop this. Please vote no on Bill H3928. We need legislation that takes into account the impact of forcing new schools into districts. No more imposed, unasked for, unwanted schools. 

Separate and Unequal - Boston's Two School Systems

Originally a Facebook post, reprinted here with the author's permission.

After reading all the Charter school articles and comments and pushes for them, as a Boston Public School special education teacher I want to say my piece. I will preface it with the fact that a few of my friends have children in charter schools and they are excelling. The school is fully supporting their needs and it's been the best experience of their lives.

That's the glitz of it. It absolutely works for some families and I do not want to take away from that.

But

I teach at one of the poorest schools in the city. Highly SPED populated and ELL populated. 30-40% parent participation on a good day. 20%(give or take) living in foster care, group homes or distant relatives. These students biggest concerns are where they will sleep and/ or what they will eat more so than how they will prepare for the MCAS.

The first 20-30 minutes of each day I spend figuring out who is hungry, who hasn't slept, who experienced abuse the night before, who has drama with their family or friends and that is just the cusp. I then start the lesson with my special education students that are at all different levels and hope that they retain what I'm teaching despite the stress they have on them.

These kids wouldn't be allowed in the charter school. I realize I will get an influx of comments because I said "not allowed". Of course they may get in to the schools but they will not last. Behaviors and special needs are not prominent in those schools (yes they are there but no way as high in comparison with the public schools but we can agree to disagree).

Because of all this I am so overwhelmingly saddened by the budget cuts that are continuing to happen at our schools. I am saddened by the lack of support from the community and former students of Boston Public Schools. We need to fight. I need to fight. You need to fight. Even if you are for charter schools, realize that they aren't for everyone and certain populations NEED the public schools. I am a product of both catholic and public Boston schools.

The battle is so tiring. I will fight for my kids, our kids but I need help.

Lisa Bello Jonxs, BPS Teacher