New Bill to Lift Charter School Cap Gets Cold Reception from Governor

Written by Alison Bauter (Patch Staff)

JAMAICA PLAIN, MA - After a cold reception from the governor Thursday, Senators' latest plan to raise Massachusetts' charter school cap appears unlikely to proceed.

The gist of the bill put forward by Senators Thursday: Charter schools permitted in Massachusetts could expand, but only if more public school funding gets the green light, too.

At present there are three charter schools in Jamaica Plain - Match Next, Match Charter School and Roxbury Preparatory Charter School.

Statehouse News Service reports the new bill is contingent upon fully funding a new foundation budget formula for public schools, which would come to just over $200 million per year, starting in 2019. In exchange, the Legislature would approve a five percent increase in the charter school cap over the next decade.

The state's Republican governor, Charlie Baker, is in favor of lifting the cap that currently limits the number of Massachusetts charter schools. However, he said in a statement Thursday that the bill put forth by Senate Democrats would increase taxpayers' burden without solving the problem for students waiting to enroll in charter schools.

“While I thank the Senate for their work, the proposal offers no relief to 34,000 students currently on a waiting list to access high-performing public charter schools and the new mandates for local spending in this proposal could place a further burden on taxpayers," the statement said in part.

The bill is also a tough sell in the Democrat-dominated Legislature, which has tried to raise the cap but failed to reach an agreement before.

Looming on the other side of what could well be another uncompromising legislative debate are pro-charter advocacy groups pushing for a November ballot measure that would put the cap question before voters. If approved at the ballot, the measure could open another dozen charter schools in the state.

Currently, only about 8 percent of pre-kindergarten through 9th grade students outside of the Boston school system are enrolled in charter schools or on wait lists. Within the city education system, that number is 31 percent, according to data published by the Boston Foundation.