MTA Today - Spring 2017

Paid Advertisement
Charter expansion defeated in Pioneer Valley

After hearing strong opposition from educators in the Pioneer Valley, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education took the rare step in February of voting to reject a charter school expansion proposal supported by Commissioner of Education Mitchell Chester.

The BESE voted 7 to 2 on Feb. 27 against adding 452 seats to the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School in Hadley. Although the school could resubmit its expansion request in the future, educators from the region were elated by the vote.

MTA President Barbara Madeloni, flanked by MTA members who held up Save Our Public Schools signs at the meeting, joined education leaders from the region in testifying against the expansion, arguing that it was unjustified and would be harmful to local public schools.

At the same meeting, the BESE approved three new charter schools and allowed increased enrollment at several others.

The arguments against expansion mirrored those against Question 2, the ballot initiative defeated in November that would have lifted the state’s cap on charter schools.

Opponents described how expanding PVCICS would hurt already stressed local school budgets and provided data demonstrating that the charter school fails to serve nearly as many high-need students as the sending districts do. For example, Madeloni noted that 20 percent of the students in the Amherst-Pelham Regional School District have special needs, compared to just 6 percent in the charter school.

“Rather than rewarding this school
with an expansion,” she said, “this
board should launch an investigation
into whether it is violating the civil and
educational rights of its students.”
Dr. Michael Morris, interim
superintendent of schools for Amherst,
Pelham and the Amherst-Pelham
Regional School District, provided
additional data on differences in
demographics between his district
be transferring funds from more
underserved students to more
privileged ones, which is antithetical
to all notions of equity that we hold
sacred in the Commonwealth.”
Pelham School Committee Chair
Cara Castenson testified that doubling
the size of PVCICS could force the
closure of the only elementary school
serving her small town, which is one
of the highest-performing elementary
schools in the state.

“Were the school to be forced
to close, it would be a tremendous
loss to its students,” she said. “Our
school serves as the center of our
small semirural town. The school is
my children’s neighborhood. Many of
our town’s families moved to Pelham
specifically because of the school’s
small size and excellent reputation.”
Peter Gunn, an Easthampton
School Committee member, disputed
the claim that there is no harm to
students in the district public schools
because the money just follows the
students to the charter school. After
testifying that his district is losing
$313,000 to PVCICS this year, he said,
“I don’t know what we can save when
we only have one, two, four or five
students leaving from a grade. Other
than cutting hot water and toilet paper,
I don’t know where we can save.”
Normally, BESE members go out
of their way to say that it isn’t their
job to consider the impact of a charter
school on the local public schools.
In fact, BESE member Michael
Moriarty — who joined Secretary
of Education James Peyser in voting
for the expansion — said just that,
contending, “Charter schools should
be judged on their merits.” But in this
case, testimony about the impact on
the local public schools clearly seemed
to make a difference.

Gunn and Madeloni reminded the BESE members of the overwhelming opposition to Question 2 among districts affected by the charter school, with 78 percent of Amherst and Northampton voters opposing the ballot question and 76 percent of Easthampton voters doing so.

“Why did communities with the greatest experience with charter

Please turn to BESE/Page 21

Malden teacher Laura Vago, left, and her parents, Diane Mohney and John Vago, were among those protesting against the expansion of the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School at a meeting in February. The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted 7 to 2 against the expansion proposal.