A REPORT OF THE MASS CHARTER SCHOOL TASK FORCE

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Massachusetts experiment with charter schools has created widespread controversy and mixed results. Created as part of the Education Reform Act of 1993, charter schools were meant to be laboratories of innovation that would demonstrate the power of suspending the bureaucratic and union rules under which school districts function, thereby producing exceptional results for children.

Ten years later, with only a few charter schools appearing to outperform their community’s public schools and many listed as underperforming, there are numerous questions that have been raised about their viability as a reform solution. In addition, it has become clear that charter schools drain valuable financial resources away from the sending school districts, making it even more difficult for the sending district to move reform forward.

The experiment with charter schools has been an expensive one. Since 1993, the state has invested more than $1 billion to fund charter schools and to partially reimburse school districts for the initial years of lost charter tuition. In addition, these small schools must maintain their own administrative, financial and capital operations. This significantly increases administrative overhead and takes valuable resources away from instructional services to children.

Complicating the experiment further has been the application and approval process for charter schools. The process has become highly contentious. The contentiousness creates a negative environment in which charter schools must operate and draws valuable time and resources from public schools combating the possibility of a charter school opening in or near their community.

The financial, educational and political tensions have been a destructive, rather than a constructive force for change and improvement. They have created a highly polarized environment in which it is difficult to realistically assess the problems with the experiment or the benefits of providing educational alternatives. After ten years of experimentation, the flaws within the initial legislation, regulations, and Department of Education implementation are apparent. If charter schools are to be a successful experiment, if school districts are to live with and learn from charter successes, and if the state is to provide policy guidance through legislation that will advance reform and student performance, it is now time to correct the flaws in the current financial and policy structure that support this experiment.

In the fall of 2004, the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents convened a working group of more than twenty active superintendents to discuss these issues and formulate recommendations to address the flaws in this aspect of education reform. After numerous meetings and review of data on charter school funding, policy, and performance, we believe that a workable charter school experiment may be able to succeed alongside the existing public school system. However, this will require that the state carefully study current charter school performance, restructure the financing of charter schools, and reform the policies and regulations that guide their development and implementation.

After extensive study, the MASS Charter School Task Force developed a detailed set of recommendations that can decrease tensions, advance reform, and help us learn from this experiment. This executive summary can only highlight the major recommendations.

Clearly the most contentious issue between public school districts and charter schools has been the issue of funding. The current funding system for charter schools excessively compromises school districts and serves to undermine rather than advance reform. In the area of charter finance, the MASS Charter School Task Force recommends that:

1. To address the financial issues created by the current charter funding system in which school districts carry the entire tuition burden, the state should restructure the financing of charter schools in a way that is consistent with the school choice program. The tuition paid by school districts would be a maximum of either $5,000 or 75% of per pupil spending of the sending school district. The state would provide the difference between the portion of the tuition paid by the school district and the full tuition calculated by the charter school tuition formula so that the state shares the financial burden of this experiment and cover the excess administrative costs created by charter schools. In addition, capital costs for charter schools should expenditure driven and funded directly from the state in a separate line item.

2. The state should improve the financial responsibility and accountability of charter schools by requiring charter schools to complete the standard end-of-the-year financial reports, comply with the uniform procurement act, assess cities and towns based on existing enrollment and formal registrations, and update waiting lists yearly using a standardized parental intent to register form.

3. There should be transitional financial assistance to school districts impacted by the closure or non-renewal of a charter school and the liquidated assets of that school be returned to the sending school districts.

In the area of the charter application and approval process, the MASS Charter School Task Force supports the set of internal Department of Education recommendations based on its review of this process in November 2004. However, additional steps are necessary in order that all parties feel heard, decisions are made without bias, community concerns are given appropriate consideration, and charters are approved that have the best chance of appropriately serving all students. Therefore, the Task Force offers recommendations to:

1. Reestablish the centrality of replicable innovation in the application and renewal processes; 2. Improve the ability of charter schools to attract and address the needs of children who need special education and English language learning services; 3. Ensure local engagement from the inception of the proposal; 4. Address issues related to where charters are situated; 5. Provide more accurate demonstrations of local interest; 6. Ensure information is provided to applicants and school districts in a timely manner; 7. Enhance fairness, transparency and accountability within the Department of Education’s review process; 8. Ensure unbiased and judicious decisions by the Board of Education; 9. Enhance financial transparency and accountability within the application process; and 10. Expand the data maintained by the Department of Education on student, teacher, and administrator attrition rates at charter schools.

Finally, an experiment in innovation and reform of this scale deserves continuing and thorough scrutiny to ensure that this is a worthwhile expenditure of scarce taxpayer dollars. The MASS Charter School Task Force recommends that before spending additional resources on charter schools, the state initiate a full and independent review of the effectiveness of our charter school policies and the schools themselves. This kind of comprehensive and independent study could provide powerful insights into how well charter schools are advancing reform in Massachusetts, how well they are serving Massachusetts children, and how well they are meeting the mission of replicable innovation defined for them in the Education Reform Act of 1993. In addition, this study could provide policy recommendations to improve the success rate for future charter schools and give the public confidence that their tax dollars are spent judiciously.

The Commonwealth has a rare opportunity to decrease tensions, advance reform, and continue to learn from the experiments and innovations we initiate. The MASS Charter School Task Force believes that charter schools can play a role in improving public education if we hold them to high standards of quality and innovation and ensure that they do not adversely impact children who remain in the public schools. MASS believes that the recommendations in charter school finance, in the application and review process, and in support of a thorough and independent review of charter school performance offered in this report will enable the state to accomplish that.