To the Editor:
As we approach Election Day, I’ve been troubled by some of the discussion around Question 2 on charter school expansion. My hope is that you will vote “Yes” to expand opportunity for thousands of students on waitlists for a better education.
My passion for education began when my wife, Liz, taught in Atlanta with Teach for America. It was there that I saw just how much of an impact education has on a child’s life – and just how unjust our education system can be. With all due respect to my wife, it was clear the school was failing its students when parents were fighting to have their kids in Liz’s class when she had only six weeks of teacher training.
When Liz returned to Boston, I learned that the Boston Public Schools suffer from similar problems, and that students suffer as a consequence. The results from the district are staggeringly bad. In Boston alone, district enrollment declined by 4.5 percent over the past six years while the annual district budget increased by over 23 percent in the same period. This equates to an additional $192 million per year, yet that increase in funding has not translated into meaningful improvements in academic outcomes.
When Liz went to work at The Edward Brooke Charter School, I studied the school and other charter schools in Boston, and I found high-achieving schools outperforming wealthy suburban towns. At Boston’s charter schools, kids graduate at high rates and embark on a path of educational success. Boston’s charter schools outperform their district peers by 20 percent across the board.
If passed, Question 2 would permit the expansion of charter schools in Massachusetts. I have friends in both district and charter schools, and this is not intended to be an attack on teachers in the districts, whom I know work tirelessly. The fact remains, however, that too many children in Boston and cities around the commonwealth attend failing schools. Meanwhile, we know that charter schools work to close the achievement gap. If this kind of injustice were happening to our kids in my town, my family would have the flexibility to leave the system. Families living in Boston don’t always have that choice, so Question 2 is an effort to change the system.
This ballot question will only impact nine cities where families are clamoring for a better education. In other words, my vote in leafy Dover is going to impact the schoolchildren and families of Boston, Chelsea, Lawrence, Lowell, Springfield, Fall River, Everett, Worcester and Holyoke. Why should I and my neighbors justify denying the choice of a high-quality education to these families? This is the greatest civil rights embarrassment of our day.
My great grandfather, Kivie Kaplan, was president of the NAACP during the civil rights era. He used to say that education is a person’s greatest asset because it can never be taken away. I urge you to vote “Yes” on Question 2 to provide families in Boston and other urban communities with a better option. Now is the time to act!
Jacob M. Grossman is chair of The Brooke Foundation, a Trustee at The Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology, and co-president of The Grossman Companies.
