What did your legislators and governor do between April and August this year? They passed many acts, including a budget, permanent tax increases, a two-day tax holiday, raises for judges — and a long list of local bills dealing with things like water storage in Fall River, police detail work in the town of Harvard, and sewer easements. Over a dozen acts created sick leave banks for specific state and county workers.
Some of these statutes had merit, others were debatable or even wrong-headed.
But something is upside down when our legislators won’t find the time to debate and pass a law that would ensure that families in 29 troubled urban school districts can send their kids to good schools.
As state government slept, a very important thing happened in Boston: The last charter school seat available under the current cap was filled. For months, a bill that would lift the charter cap in Boston and other low-performing school districts has languished.
The need to enact the legislation is clear. A Stanford University study published earlier this year found that Boston charter schools are doing more to close achievement gaps than any other group of public schools in the country. Each year, the typical Boston charter student gains the equivalent of over 12 months of additional learning in reading and 13 more months in math.
But we have long known about the opportunity Massachusetts charter schools provide. A 2009 Boston Foundation report found that Boston charter schools dramatically outperformed both district and pilot schools (semi-autonomous district schools created in response to charters). It found that the academic impact from a year spent in a Boston charter was comparable to that of a year in one of the city’s elite exam schools and, in middle school math, equivalent to one-half of the achievement gap between black and white students.
MCAS results tell a similar story. Many inner-city charter schools outperform even affluent suburban schools.
For more than 15 years we have seen a parade of charter school alternatives, all designed to placate adults in the public education system, achieve results that pale in comparison to those delivered by charters.
In Boston most of the city’s top-tier mayoral candidates support charter school expansion. They know that few things would do more to reduce unemployment, attract middle-class families to the city and cut crime than high-quality public education.
To make progress on those issues, Boston’s next mayor needs the Legislature and governor to wake up from their summer slumber.
On charter schools, the questions have been answered. It’s time to act.
Jim Stergios is executive director of Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based think tank. Talk back at letterstoeditor@bostonherald.com.
