In Opposition to O'Malley's and Jackson's Charter Position

* The following is an open letter (to councilors George, Wu, Flaherty, Pressley and Zakim) and will be shared with www.universalhub.com

Dear Councilors,

I am writing to oppose Councilor O'Malley's and Councilor Jackson's proposal to stand against the charter expansion referendum in the State of Massachusetts. First, and most importantly, it is about our city's children.

After years of studying the issue, I have come to the conclusion that BPS does an outstanding job of educating our best students through our exam schools. BPS also does an outstanding job of educating our neediest students because it has the economies of scale and financial resources to provide special services. However, no person or system can be good at all things. BPS does not offer a satisfactory solution for a vast number of students who fall between Boston Latin and severe special needs which is why thousands remain on waiting lists for charter schools. As the Boston Globe points out in this morning's edition,

"A recent poll commissioned by the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association found that 75 percent of parents support allowing more charter schools in the state. Support, the poll found, was particularly strong among black, Latino, and low-income parents."

If forced to stay in the BPS system, these kids fall between the cracks instead. The charters are a needed outlet for this vulnerable middle segment of our population.

There are many needs at BPS. However, "more money" is not going to solve the problems that perennially perplex the system. While the number $1.03 billion is making the rounds in the school budget discussions, that is not a remotely accurate assessment of what we actually spend on education in the City of Boston. I encourage you to contact the finance department to double check my numbers, some of which are estimates as I lack full data on the City's website, but the actual amount of money we spend on our 53,530 students (per state DOE Profiles page - 2015-2016) is approximately $1.5 Billion - or 50% more than what is usually discussed. Making matters more interesting, enrollment is approximately 3% less than it was 5 years ago, yet we are budgeting for 5% more employees in the proposed (now approved?) 2017 budget.

All number in BILLIONS:

Operating Budget 1.027
External Funds .135
Capital Costs .065
Financing costs (est.) .020
Pensions - Teachers (est.) .238
Pensions - Others (est.) .060
OPEB - Retirees (est.) .020
Other school costs ????

GRAND TOTAL > $1.565 BILLION

This comes to approximately $30,000 per student, or almost double what we are paying to charters annually to educate our children. Note, this does not include an estimate for imputed rent on the 125 schools and other facilities that the city owns nor does it include millions that we spend on other youth programs that perhaps rightfully should be included as part of our education programs.

I will be happy to discuss this further with you at your convenience. However, I strongly urge you to share this information with Councilors O'Malley and Jackson if they feel that somehow we are not spending enough on education in Boston or that somehow charters are "robbing" our system of money when in fact we have one of the highest per capita rates of academic expenditure in the country, numbers that would actually be lower on average if charter students were to remain in or return to BPS.

Sincerely,

(name and address withheld from web publication)