Submitted by Massachusetts Charter Public School Association

The Legislature's Education Committee this afternoon announced it would seek a one-week extension of the deadline to act on legislation to lift the cap on charter public schools. By legislative rule, all bills must be reported out by the end of the day tomorrow, or they die in committee. The extension would give the Committee until March 25 to draft a bill.

The legislation (S.235 and H.425) would lift the cap on charter enrollment in underperforming school districts and provide targeted interventions to underperforming district schools. The legislation is co-sponsored by Senator Barry Finegold (D-Andover) and Rep. Russell Holmes (D-Mattapan), and would allow charter schools to grow in communities that need them most.

Currently, more than half the 29 lowest performing districts in the state are either at the cap or have room for only one more charter. These include large cities like Boston, Holyoke, Fall River, Lawrence, Lowell, and Chelsea, as well as several smaller communities in Central and Western Massachusetts.

"We believe this is a positive sign that the Committee is intent on getting a bill done that will ensure that more children will have access to the high quality education that charter schools have been providing for more than 20 years in the Commonwealth," said Marc Kenen, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association. "We will continue to advocate for our schools and entertain reasonable compromise proposals that do not cause significant financial harm to our schools. We look forward to working with the Chairs of the Education Committee until a bill is sent to the full Legislature for a vote."

Kenen continued: "Charter school students in Boston, Lawrence and other urban areas, where charters serve a mostly poor and minority student population, are ranking among the highest in the state on MCAS. A recent Stanford University study concluded that Boston's charter schools were among the best public schools in the country. They found that, on average, Boston charter school students learn at double the rate of their peers in the surrounding district, achieving two years of academic progress in English and math for every year they're enrolled in a charter school. It's time to lift the cap on quality."