Michael Flaherty's position was outlined in the Globe today. He also opposes the five-zone proposal and supports charter school expansion.
On charter schools, the article says,
"Flaherty's support for more charter schools also runs counter to the position of Menino, who has long argued that the funding formula for charters is unfair. For each student who attends a charter school, a portion of state aid gets redirected from the city school system to the charter school. Boston is near the state's maximum limit of allowed in the city, and Flaherty said the city needs to convince the Legislature that it should raise the limit."*
More from Flaherty can be found at his campaign website in his education policy paper. The charter school position is copied below in it's entirety.
"Certainly, there are conflicting opinions as to what is the best strategy to ensure that our children receive a strong and quality education. But we all lose if we can’t come together to agree that no one approach works for every student. While the idea of school choice is often talked about, we shortchange that discussion when we can’t commit ourselves to the belief that real school choice can only happen when we allow money to follow the child. Michael supports continued investment in our city’s charter schools because he recognizes the valuable learning opportunities they provide to Boston’s students.
Many critics of charter schools have charged that the success in charter schools has more to do with demographics than curriculum design and implementation. However, a breakthrough January 2009 study by The Boston Foundation debunked the myth that high student performanceat charter schools is a result of student “pedigree” and not innovative teaching practices. The study controlled for the intangible factors of parent involvement and student motivation by tracking the MCAS scores over time of two groups of charter school applicants who either enrolled at a charter or attended BPS. The results revealed that the charter school students outperformed the BPS students, particularly in middle school math. Advocates for charter schools believe this study highlights that the curriculums and policies of charter schools – not student demographics – are the reason for high student performance at charters.
Many charter schools, including our own MATCH, the Neighborhood House Charter School and the national KIPPS schools have strong records of success. Ignoring the successes of these charter schools handicaps our ability to improve the quality of education available to Boston students. The city of Boston must work with the State Legislature to raise the current cap on charter schools so that underperforming districts such as BPS have the opportunity to expand parents’ choice of quality public schools."
The Globe's Scott Lehigh was high on Flaherty's education position (and not much else) in his column last week.
"Flaherty's support for more charter schools also runs counter to the position of Menino, who has long argued that the funding formula for charters is unfair. For each student who attends a charter school, a portion of state aid gets redirected from the city school system to the charter school.
Boston is near the state's maximum limit of allowed in the city, and Flaherty said the city needs to convince the Legislature that it should raise the limit."
*Note: The portion of aid that is redirected is the per pupil allotment that is attached to every student. Since BPS no longer is educating charter school students, their funding no longer goes to BPS. In fact, BPS gets partially "reimbursed" for 3 years after a student leaves the district and moved to a charter school."
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