Letter: Question 2 Contrary to the Commonwealth / SouthBerkshire.com

Charter schools are an expensive proposition in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with no oversight from our locally elected officials. This year over $400 million will be diverted from local school districts to fund these privately managed schools.

The broad coalition that has organized against this misguided ballot initiative speaks to its significance. Why would over 135 organizations including the Massachusetts Parent Teacher Association, the NAACP, and both major teachers unions (MTA and AFT) be against the proposal? Why have over 200 schools committees, 23 town boards and city councils, and 31 mayors said No On 2? It’s the simple truth. Passage of Question 2 would be a disaster for municipal finances and public education in the Commonwealth.

The most recent “Yes On 2” ads attempt to mislead our fellow citizens into believing that if you like your schools more charters won’t affect you or your kids. This is absolutely untrue. Do not believe the ads that claim more money will be put into public education with a yes vote.

In Massachusetts, when a student leaves a district, their funding leaves with them. How should a city or town budget address this when a class size goes from 25 to 24? Cutting $14,000, roughly the amount that follows in a single student from Pittsfield, isn’t so easy. Worse, if 100 students leave across a district, how can they absorb a $1,400,000 loss? Perhaps the city or town reduces services, increases class sizes, cuts a librarian, and puts off important maintenance projects, decisions that affect us all.

A mass expansion of charter schools would perpetuate a growing separate and unequal education system. We are currently comparing traditional public schools and charter schools on the same rating system that primarily uses test scores to determine how well the school is performing. We are not comparing the same things when our public schools serve greater proportions of severe special needs students, English Language Learners, and have substantially more regulations and oversight. The scales are tilted. Charters can throw out the kids they don’t want or worse put up barriers that make struggling students leave. Public schools cannot and should never do this.

The nation is watching Massachusetts. We cannot let corporate hedge fund dark money, which has funded approximately 80% of the $20 million campaign to lift the cap on charter schools, harm the nation’s #1 public school system. The broad coalition of parents, community members, and organizations are loudly saying No On 2 and we need you to join us.

Brendan Sheran is a social studies teacher at Pittsfield High School and president of the United Educators of Pittsfield