Help stop the cuts to public employee retirement benefits in H59!
Please take a few minutes to email or call your state representative and senator telling them why you oppose this drastic cut to public employee retirement benefits, and asking them to show their support for public sector workers by telling their leadership that they do not support H59.
We need to keep the pressure on the Joint Committee on Public Service to send House bill 59 to study, rather than release it (as it is or even with revisions) to the binomo full legislature for a vote. If your state rep/senator happens to sit on this committee, even better! (To find out who your state senator and representative are and how to contact them,
go to www.wheredoivotema.com.)
And, if you need any inspiration for what to say, we’ve posted the written testimony that higher education workers submitted at the public hearing on October 31st. The hearing itself showed clearly that there is a great deal of opposition to the legislation as written. The hall was packed and the vast majority of the public workers who attended stayed to hear over 3 hours of testimony, further demonstrating the depth of their concern about H59.
While public opposition to the bill is clear, it is far from clear what the committee will choose to do with H59. Again, please do your part by contacting your representative and senator, and we will do our part by keeping you up-to-date on this issue.
We need to keep the pressure on the Joint Committee on Public Service to send House bill 59 to study, rather than release it (as it is or even with revisions) to the binomo full legislature for a vote. If your state rep/senator happens to sit on this committee, even better! (To find out who your state senator and representative are and how to contact them,
go to www.wheredoivotema.com.)
And, if you need any inspiration for what to say, we’ve posted the written testimony that higher education workers submitted at the public hearing on October 31st. The hearing itself showed clearly that there is a great deal of opposition to the legislation as written. The hall was packed and the vast majority of the public workers who attended stayed to hear over 3 hours of testimony, further demonstrating the depth of their concern about H59.
While public opposition to the bill is clear, it is far from clear what the committee will choose to do with H59. Again, please do your part by contacting your representative and senator, and we will do our part by keeping you up-to-date on this issue.
CALL your State Senator today! Oppose the Charter School Bill!
On May 21st, the MA House of Representatives passed House Bill 4091, An Act Relative to Improving Student Achievement. Despite its name, this bill would do nothing for student achievement – it lifts the cap on charter schools in “underperforming” districts in Massachusetts, opening the floodgates for private companies to come in and drain resources from school districts. A very similar bill is coming up in the Senate very soon, with the goal of lifting the cap of charter schools.
Please contact your State Senator and ask that he or she vote NO.
Outgoing MTA leadership has supported parts of the current bill, and some legislators are using this as a reason to vote for it. It’s important to call and let them know https://www.binomo-co.in that we believe that most MTA members do NOT support lifting the cap on charter schools.
Call your Senator today. Find your Senator at https://malegislature.gov/People/Search, then click on their name to get their phone number. Calls make a difference, especially calls from educators who have stories to tell!
If your Senator says they will oppose the bill, ask them to:
1) Please tell the Senate president Therese Murray that they do not support this bill, and
2) Please tell Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz (co-chair of the Joint Education Committee) that they do not support this bill.
If they hear opposition from enough of us, the Senate leadership could decide not to bring this legislation to a vote, which would be a HUGE victory for Massachusetts public school kids.
THANK YOU FOR ACTING TODAY!
If you’d like more information, keep reading…
What’s wrong with this bill?
-- Massachusetts has 76 charter schools already – the majority are in MTA school districts (the original charter legislation had a cap of 25 statewide). While individual charter schools may be wonderful, the system is broken. No new charters should be allowed until the well-documented problems are solved.
-- Charter schools are publicly funded but privately run. Funding for charter schools comes directly out of the home district’s budget. Only 63 percent of the promised reimbursements were in the budget this year, resulting in major cuts that hurt students. (http://www.citizensforpublicschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/CPS-report-online-draft-6-10-13_reduced_2.pdf)
-- Charter schools will cost Boston alone about $105 million after state reimbursements – funds taken directly away from public school districts. (http://www.doe.mass.edu/charter/finance/tuition/).
-- Charter schools are not democratic. They enroll far fewer English language learners, far fewer students with moderate to severe special needs, and far fewer students from very low-income households binomo india than the districts they come from.
-- The MTA’s own study concluded that charter schools were “segregating students based on language proficiency, special education status and poverty.” (http://massteacher.org/~/media/Files/cepp/charterschools0909.pdf)
-- Students who are disadvantaged remain in public districts, while the resources necessary to educate them are drained from public school budgets and handed over to charter schools. This is especially problematic in “underperforming” districts.
-- This bill creates a downward spiral: resources are diverted from public school districts, which makes it harder for them to educate all the children in the district, which worsens outcomes and leads to calls for more charter schools. We must stop the cycle.
What do we want?
-- Our public schools need adequate resources. If schools had a varied and diverse curriculum, full funding, small classes, and teachers with support, autonomy and job satisfaction, parents would not look for alternatives.
-- The funding formula must be fixed. If the state wants to create new schools, the funds cannot come out of an already strapped public school budget.
-- We need a fair and progressive revenue system in Massachusetts, in order to stop starving our communities and our schools of the resources they need.
What does the research show?
-- Research consistently shows that charter schools do NOT produce better results than public schools. Even the pro-charter CREDO report (funded by the Walton Family Foundation) found that outside Boston, charter schools do not have higher growth scores than district schools, and in many areas charters performed below districts. (http://www.citizensforpublicschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/CPS-report-online-draft-6-10-13_reduced_2.pdf)
-- A recent report by the Boston Foundation showed that charter school students in Boston were no more likely to graduate high school than public school students. (http://www.tbf.org/~/media/TBFOrg/Files/Reports/Charters%20and%20College%20Readiness%202013.pdf)
-- Opening new charter schools is a poor investment, especially given the state’s limited funds. Hiring more staff in district schools would improve education outcomes much more effectively.
-- Investing in quality preschool programs is a proven way to reduce the achievement gap, but tens of thousands of students are on waitlists for those slots. Preschool programs would be a much better investment than charter schools.
-- Our schools are cutting many programs we consider essential, including school buses, art, music, library staff, parent involvement programs – add your favorite program here. Meanwhile charter schools have gotten all of their money, with NO cuts, and still push out the kids who need the most help, sending them back to district schools.
-- Many urban charter schools report very high out-of-school suspension rates and continue to show much higher attrition rates than their district school neighbors.
-- Charter high schools with a large percentage of low-income students rank much lower on the SATs. Research indicates many students from high-scoring charter schools do not fare well in college. (http://www.tbf.org/~/media/TBFOrg/Files/Reports/Charters%20and%20College%20Readiness%202013.pdf)
-- Citizens for Public Schools (CPS) has shown that charter school teachers have much higher turnover rates than public schools, which hurts the quality of education. The average Massachusetts charter school loses over 40 percent of its teaching staff each year, compared to the state average in public schools, which is about 13 percent. (http://www.citizensforpublicschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/CPS-report-online-draft-6-10-13_reduced_2.pdf)
-- CPS found: “Perhaps most troubling for the sending school districts is the fact that they are responsible for fully funding the tuition for students to go to a school that the local district — and therefore the local community and its elected officials — have no say in, no oversight of, and usually, no contact with. Nor do districts have any part in determining the amount of tuition that they send to the charter, regardless of the district’s financial situation. In addition to paying the charter school tuition, the district must provide transportation to charter students on the same basis that it provides transportation to district students. Also, the obligation to pay for private day or residential services for special education students remains with the local district, not with the charter school. Finally, the district is required to take back all of the students who leave the charter school, whether voluntarily or because they have been pushed out by the charter because they did not meet the charter school’s “standards.” In a strange twist of the “free market,” the district is responsible for paying the tuition and other costs for schools with which they are competing.” (http://www.citizensforpublicschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/CPS-report-online-draft-6-10-13_reduced_2.pdf)
Call your State Senator: https://malegislature.gov/People/Search. Tell them educators in Massachusetts want them to vote NO on lifting the cap on charter schools.
If your Senator says they will oppose the bill, ask them to:
1) Please tell the Senate president Therese Murray that they do not support this bill, and
2) Please tell Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz (co-chair of the Joint Education Committee) that they do not support this bill.
If they hear opposition from enough of us, the Senate leadership could decide not to bring this legislation to a vote, which would be a HUGE victory for public schools.
On May 21st, the MA House of Representatives passed House Bill 4091, An Act Relative to Improving Student Achievement. Despite its name, this bill would do nothing for student achievement – it lifts the cap on charter schools in “underperforming” districts in Massachusetts, opening the floodgates for private companies to come in and drain resources from school districts. A very similar bill is coming up in the Senate very soon, with the goal of lifting the cap of charter schools.
Please contact your State Senator and ask that he or she vote NO.
Outgoing MTA leadership has supported parts of the current bill, and some legislators are using this as a reason to vote for it. It’s important to call and let them know https://www.binomo-co.in that we believe that most MTA members do NOT support lifting the cap on charter schools.
Call your Senator today. Find your Senator at https://malegislature.gov/People/Search, then click on their name to get their phone number. Calls make a difference, especially calls from educators who have stories to tell!
If your Senator says they will oppose the bill, ask them to:
1) Please tell the Senate president Therese Murray that they do not support this bill, and
2) Please tell Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz (co-chair of the Joint Education Committee) that they do not support this bill.
If they hear opposition from enough of us, the Senate leadership could decide not to bring this legislation to a vote, which would be a HUGE victory for Massachusetts public school kids.
THANK YOU FOR ACTING TODAY!
If you’d like more information, keep reading…
What’s wrong with this bill?
-- Massachusetts has 76 charter schools already – the majority are in MTA school districts (the original charter legislation had a cap of 25 statewide). While individual charter schools may be wonderful, the system is broken. No new charters should be allowed until the well-documented problems are solved.
-- Charter schools are publicly funded but privately run. Funding for charter schools comes directly out of the home district’s budget. Only 63 percent of the promised reimbursements were in the budget this year, resulting in major cuts that hurt students. (http://www.citizensforpublicschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/CPS-report-online-draft-6-10-13_reduced_2.pdf)
-- Charter schools will cost Boston alone about $105 million after state reimbursements – funds taken directly away from public school districts. (http://www.doe.mass.edu/charter/finance/tuition/).
-- Charter schools are not democratic. They enroll far fewer English language learners, far fewer students with moderate to severe special needs, and far fewer students from very low-income households binomo india than the districts they come from.
-- The MTA’s own study concluded that charter schools were “segregating students based on language proficiency, special education status and poverty.” (http://massteacher.org/~/media/Files/cepp/charterschools0909.pdf)
-- Students who are disadvantaged remain in public districts, while the resources necessary to educate them are drained from public school budgets and handed over to charter schools. This is especially problematic in “underperforming” districts.
-- This bill creates a downward spiral: resources are diverted from public school districts, which makes it harder for them to educate all the children in the district, which worsens outcomes and leads to calls for more charter schools. We must stop the cycle.
What do we want?
-- Our public schools need adequate resources. If schools had a varied and diverse curriculum, full funding, small classes, and teachers with support, autonomy and job satisfaction, parents would not look for alternatives.
-- The funding formula must be fixed. If the state wants to create new schools, the funds cannot come out of an already strapped public school budget.
-- We need a fair and progressive revenue system in Massachusetts, in order to stop starving our communities and our schools of the resources they need.
What does the research show?
-- Research consistently shows that charter schools do NOT produce better results than public schools. Even the pro-charter CREDO report (funded by the Walton Family Foundation) found that outside Boston, charter schools do not have higher growth scores than district schools, and in many areas charters performed below districts. (http://www.citizensforpublicschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/CPS-report-online-draft-6-10-13_reduced_2.pdf)
-- A recent report by the Boston Foundation showed that charter school students in Boston were no more likely to graduate high school than public school students. (http://www.tbf.org/~/media/TBFOrg/Files/Reports/Charters%20and%20College%20Readiness%202013.pdf)
-- Opening new charter schools is a poor investment, especially given the state’s limited funds. Hiring more staff in district schools would improve education outcomes much more effectively.
-- Investing in quality preschool programs is a proven way to reduce the achievement gap, but tens of thousands of students are on waitlists for those slots. Preschool programs would be a much better investment than charter schools.
-- Our schools are cutting many programs we consider essential, including school buses, art, music, library staff, parent involvement programs – add your favorite program here. Meanwhile charter schools have gotten all of their money, with NO cuts, and still push out the kids who need the most help, sending them back to district schools.
-- Many urban charter schools report very high out-of-school suspension rates and continue to show much higher attrition rates than their district school neighbors.
-- Charter high schools with a large percentage of low-income students rank much lower on the SATs. Research indicates many students from high-scoring charter schools do not fare well in college. (http://www.tbf.org/~/media/TBFOrg/Files/Reports/Charters%20and%20College%20Readiness%202013.pdf)
-- Citizens for Public Schools (CPS) has shown that charter school teachers have much higher turnover rates than public schools, which hurts the quality of education. The average Massachusetts charter school loses over 40 percent of its teaching staff each year, compared to the state average in public schools, which is about 13 percent. (http://www.citizensforpublicschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/CPS-report-online-draft-6-10-13_reduced_2.pdf)
-- CPS found: “Perhaps most troubling for the sending school districts is the fact that they are responsible for fully funding the tuition for students to go to a school that the local district — and therefore the local community and its elected officials — have no say in, no oversight of, and usually, no contact with. Nor do districts have any part in determining the amount of tuition that they send to the charter, regardless of the district’s financial situation. In addition to paying the charter school tuition, the district must provide transportation to charter students on the same basis that it provides transportation to district students. Also, the obligation to pay for private day or residential services for special education students remains with the local district, not with the charter school. Finally, the district is required to take back all of the students who leave the charter school, whether voluntarily or because they have been pushed out by the charter because they did not meet the charter school’s “standards.” In a strange twist of the “free market,” the district is responsible for paying the tuition and other costs for schools with which they are competing.” (http://www.citizensforpublicschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/CPS-report-online-draft-6-10-13_reduced_2.pdf)
Call your State Senator: https://malegislature.gov/People/Search. Tell them educators in Massachusetts want them to vote NO on lifting the cap on charter schools.
If your Senator says they will oppose the bill, ask them to:
1) Please tell the Senate president Therese Murray that they do not support this bill, and
2) Please tell Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz (co-chair of the Joint Education Committee) that they do not support this bill.
If they hear opposition from enough of us, the Senate leadership could decide not to bring this legislation to a vote, which would be a HUGE victory for public schools.
