Politics & Government
'The Senate Took a Significant Step Toward Improving Public Education': Sen. Chandler
Sen. Harriette Chandler announced that the Senate passed education reform legislation.
WORCESTER, MA — With a pending question that may make it to the ballot this November, the Massachusetts Senate is casting a wider net on the issue of addressing charter schools with a new bill.
Senator Harriette L. Chandler, D-Worcester), announced that the Senate passed An Act enhancing reform, innovation and success in education (The RISE Act) on Thursday. A group of senators, appointed by Senate President Rosenberg, crafted the bill in January.
The bill focuses on reform, transparency, admission and retention of students, funding, and the charter school cap. One specific provision of the bill allowed for local approval, requiring that a school committee, town meeting, or other elected municipal governing body vote to approve the use of local funding for a potential charter school in the area, said an announcement from Sen. Chandler.
“The Senate took a significant step towards improving public education by passing a bill that increases public school funding and ensuring that municipalities that do not wish to have new charter schools do not have to pay for a single one,” said Chandler in a statement. “There were enough positive aspects of this bill that if it were signed as written today, would bring innovation and much needed resources to our schools. I am hopeful that this bill relieves the ballot initiative, as it strikes a better balance.”
The potential ballot question this November would involve whether or not to raise the current cap for the number of charter schools in the state, the current cap at 72 Commonwealth Charter Schools and 48 Horace Mann Charter Schools.
Chandler said the bill allows for a lift in the cap, but "puts district schools and charter schools on a level playing field." The bill keeps the current cap, but increases school spending for charter schools from 18 to 23 percent for low performing districts over the next ten years. It, too, eliminates the cap on charter schools that serve at-risk students.
The bill, said the announcement, also seeks reforms beyond charter schools for the betterment of the over 90 percent of public school students in Massachusetts that are not enrolled or seeking seats in charter schools.
The Senate also adopted an amendment to the bill that requires charter schools to abide by the same procurement requirements that traditional public schools follow, as well as to increase data reported by DESE to include English language learners.
The bill requires a paradigm shift in how charter schools admit students, said the release, by implementing a district-wide lottery, an opt-out provision for parents, or unified enrollment system to all students of each district.
The bill now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration.
Photo via Shutterstock
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
