By Ralph Carrero
Recently I had the privilege and honor to testify before the Joint Education Subcommittee of the legislature in support of the bills filed to raise the cap on charter schools in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In twenty years of implementation of public charter school law, this is the third time that I have testified.
This time around it felt much different; there wasn’t a motive of capturing and cashing-in on President Obama’s desire to expand charter schools by offering federal funds for those states that did so. Also, it wasn’t under the threat of a pending law suit filed by 12 to15 municipalities based on an inequitable funding formula for public education.
The difference was the undeniable twenty years of success and the overwhelming data that has demonstrated what charter schools have done to impact public education in Massachusetts. This time around there is an unwavering support of a Governor and a Secretary of Education who request that the cap be lifted in the 25% underperforming school districts. There is the support of the Race to the Top coalition. There is the support of the Boston Mayor-Mayor Walsh, who himself served on one of the twenty-year old successful charter schools in Boston. There is also the state wide-advocacy group for parents requesting opportunities for a charter experience on behalf of parents on waiting lists, and yes there is the pending law suit filed on behalf of five students who never got the opportunity through a lottery to enroll in a charter school. Lastly, now existing is the most powerful way possible-the voice of the people through a ballot initiative planned to be place for the November 2016 elections.
Twenty years of successful charter schools with so much more work to be done to ensure every child in Massachusetts has a quality public education that ensures their preparation for successful lives. If we are going to close the achieve gap for students of poverty, minority children, urban new immigrant children, English language learners, special education students, then our focus must be a collaborative effort, learning from the twenty years of success and the replication of the practices that have help close the achievement gap.
Our collective and collaborative focus must be to expand early childhood education — giving children of poverty a strong foundation in the early years, and teachers enough time to ready them for a rigorous curriculum. Our work has to focus on helping school districts with their “turnaround work” with underperforming schools and forming partnerships that allow for flexibility to implement reform initiatives. It also requires a commitment to supporting a robust state technology plan that will enable schools to restructure classrooms and schools to equip our students with the tools of tomorrow. It will require expanding teacher quality education programs in Higher Education, while continuing to align a state teacher and administrator evaluation system which is anchored in student performance. And yes, a state assessment system for all public school children. Performance can’t be improved unless it can be measured and monitored, only then can it be improved. This has to happen in an equable manner across public education in all schools and districts. This is our accountability to the public that funds our work as educators.
My experience this time testifying before the joint Education Committee was fueled with passion from years of experience and driven by the many voices of parents of children on waiting lists across my school district. They eagerly cling to prayers that one day soon they, too, will have the peace of mind and satisfaction to have children enrolled in charter schools. We as leaders can develop and agree on a plan to expand charter schools and reform underperforming schools, so children can prepare with quality education for successful lives.
Ralph Carrero is Director/Superintendent of Lawrence Family Development Charter School and Vice President of the Massachusetts Charter School Association.
