ICYMI: “Please Join Me and Vote ‘Yes’ On Question 2” says Gov. Charlie Baker in New Television Ad

The Yes on 2 campaign launched its sixth television advertisement, “Imagine”, featuring Governor Charlie Baker.

WATCH “Imagine”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRN9JgtewlY&feature=youtu.be

In “Imagine”, Gov. Baker urges voters across Massachusetts to put themselves in the shoes of parents whose children are stuck in failing school districts. The ad focuses on the overwhelming demand for public charter schools in the state’s lowest-performing school districts, and the lack of impact that the cap lift will have on suburban districts where schools are high-performing.

If passed, Question 2 would allow the state Board of Elementary & Secondary Education to approve up to 12 new charter schools, or expansions of existing schools, with preference given to lowest 25% performing districts. Nine communities that have reached their cap on charter enrollment, or have room for only one additional charter school, would be impacted by Question 2: Boston, Chelsea, Everett, Fall River, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell, Springfield and Worcester. Question 2 will have no impact on 96% of Massachusetts School Districts.

BACKGROUND:

32,000 students stuck on waiting lists for public charter schools. Many Massachusetts students who wish to attend a charter school are unable to do so due to a lack of a sufficient number of available seats in existing charter schools. There are 32,646 Massachusetts students are on waitlists for admission to charter schools, according to figures released in June 2016 by the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

http://www.doe.mass.edu/charter/enrollment/fy2017Waitlist.html

Question 2 will help students in communities where there is extraordinary unmet demand for public charter school options. Question 2 would allow for up to 12 approvals each year of either new charter schools or expanded enrollments in existing charter schools (but not to exceed 1% of the statewide public school enrollment), with priority given to schools serving students in the lowest performing 25% of school districts statewide.

Source: http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elepdf/IFV_2016.pdf

As of 2016, just nine Massachusetts communities are either at the cap or so close to the cap that it is not possible to open new charter schools These communities include: Boston, Chelsea, Everett, Fall River, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell, Springfield and Worcester.

Source: MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Charter schools serve students who mostly reside in a handful of communities that are home to the weakest performing schools, whereas the majority of Massachusetts school districts send virtually no students to charter schools. Massachusetts has 351 cities and towns and 294 different school districts, yet most charter school students come from just a handful of communities, whereas most districts send less than one percent (or even none at all) of their students to charter schools. More than 60% of all charter school students come from just eight communities: Boston, Springfield, Lynn, Lawrence, Lowell, Chelsea, Fall River and New Bedford.