Called to order
7:09 PM.
MEMBERS ATTENDING: Steve Blesofsky, Debby Blumer, Pat Dunne, Jerry Desilets,
Bill Haberman, Donna Howland, Ruth Litter, Barbara Magovsky, Stephanie
Mercandetti, Betty Muto, Lyn Safian, Norma Shulman.
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS ATTENDING: Kathie McCarthy, Rosalie Cotton, Bob Edwards, Mat
Helman, Terri Micciche, Rochelle Sivan, Karen Spilka, Nancy Coville Wallace.
OTHERS SIGNED IN: Pam Richardson, Carlos Cunningham, H. Gendreau, John Kahn,
Walter Foster, Albert Cullen.
MINUTES (Norma Shulman): Motion to accept the April minutes – approved.
Motion to accept March meeting minutes – approved (quorum not present in
April).
TREASURER’S REPORT May report approved. April reported submitted by Bill
Haberman, information reported by Norma Shulman in April - approved (quorum not
present in April).
Cash on hand 4/6/03 $658.12
Deposits (dues) $15.00
Interest $0.00
Subtotal $673.12
Expenses (meeting room) $0.00
Cash on hand 5/4/03 $673.12
3 still owe dues for last year. 10 owe dues for this year. There are 18 paid
associate members.
Announcements:
…
MW Alliance is meeting now at the
Framingham Library and looking for new location for future meetings. State
Committee is bringing the McGovern-Dukakis hearing to Framingham on June 14 at
noon for discussion of Convention reform. Submit comments in writing or by
email.
… Bob Edwards reminded us that he is
supporting a bill to promote bicycle helmet safety.
… Stephanie Mercandetti just completed
the Walk for Hunger before coming to the meeting! Norma is going to be doing
the one-mile Against the Tide swim for the Breast Cancer Coalition in June.
Both are opportunities to support the respective organizations.
Old Business:
Mat applied to the State Committee for a grass roots grant to support the
establishment of the website submitted. The grants will be announced at the
convention.
Arthritis Walk – Sunday, May 18 is the Metrowest Arthritis
Walk. They offer a 3.1 mile or 1 mile walk around Tercentennial Park.
Registration begins at 10:30, walk begins at noon. Barbara Magovsky has a team
to walk 1 mile. Needs one more for the team. We can use a few more people to
represent the DTC. Contact Barbara (bmagovsky@msn.com or 872-2103) to
join a team or for more information. Karen Spilka and Debby Blumer are honorary
co-chairs of the event. Arthritis Foundation 617-244-1800 and www.arthritis.com.
Even if you don’t walk, you can make a pledge.
This is the last meeting of the season. The date/place of the
September meeting to be announced. The Convention is June 7 in Lowell.
Alternates and delegates should be getting a mailing.
DISCLAIMER: These
notes of the program are snippets of what was said. The numbers and other facts
are as accurate as I could get while trying to capture as many of the points as
possible. This is not intended as a transcript – only as an attempt to share
the general discussion for those who missed it.
Speakers: Robert Kaufman, Executive Director,
Framingham Community Charter School, and Pam Richardson, Framingham School
Committee, Co-Chair of the Charter School Funding Subcommittee of the Alliance
for Educational Equity.
Introduction: This program is intended as an educational forum – Debby Blumer
will explain her moratorium bill. Then the primary speakers will present their
views. Then there will be time for questions.
Representative Debby Blumer: 1992-93 when ed reform was being discussed, the
legislature created up to 27(?) charter school as part of this reform to create
innovation in education. There was concern with some of the central cities and
rural areas because these areas could not afford the opportunities for kids
that wealthier communities provided. The legislature committed to provide
significant new money for this. Over time, the number of schools was limited to
135(?). Horace Mann charter schools operate within the school budgets and
control. Boston has some pilot schools as well as charters. Commonwealth
charter schools are funded differently. They are funded by adding up all the
direct and indirect charges that the local schools have in order to calculate
the per pupil spending, to determine how much the charter schools are then
given per pupil. The state gives incentives for charter schools to set up, on a
decreasing scale, to encourage charter schools to open. Last summer the
Governor vetoed the incentive funding for charter schools. So 5 weeks before
school opened, Framingham had to have layoffs and other cuts to make up the
$950,000 loss. Now there will be a double loss of this nature, in addition to
all the other local aid cuts to towns and cities. There basically is a shift of
money from the Framingham district schools to the Framingham Community Charter
School (FCCS). There are two bills, the O’Brien amendment would freeze new
Charter schools for 3 years. The Blumer amendment would freeze Charter
enrollments, and will save about $80 million for the districts schools over 3
years. The importance of doing this, is that none of the current budgets cover
current programs. There are cuts in transportation, early childhood, and other
education moneys. These are obligations will not be honored. The Charter school
money is not being reduced. The financial issues are driving the wedges. This
formula is patentedly unfair. The moratorium will allow us time to fix this
intelligently.
Pam Richardson was introduced, and distributed Dr. Smith’s article on why we
need to have a moratorium. Pam is reviewing the dollars. Doesn’t the money
follow the child? Town Administration for over $1 million is included in the
calculation of per pupil costs. Why is the Town Administration in the
calculation? It isn’t direct education services and can’t be reduced because 200
children go to charter school. Building maintenance is included, but isn’t
reduced when 200 students go to the charter school. Retired teachers insurance
is included. These are all ways to inflate the per pupil tuition for the
charter school. Out of district education collaboratives and transportation are
included – but no charters in Framingham have obligations to transport student
out of area. HS renovation money is included, too. For every 4 children that go
to the charter school, we lose the money for one teacher. For $1.8 million lost
next year, we lose an elementary school. But with this formula, there is not
innovation shared, there is just a divide created. Board of Ed Chair Peyser
told her the formula was set up this way to protect the charter school funds,
and it has done that. The charter is getting an increase for next year at the
same time the district schools are getting less.
Robert Kaufman was introduced, and told us how every day before lunch a student
reads a quote to the whole school, and shared this quote, “It is better to
light one candle than to curse the darkness.“ 1996, after years of parents
being concerned about middle schools, there was a task force formed. Those
findings became the basis of the FCCS. Michael Delman (now Principal) was told
by the state that Framingham parents were concerned about middle schools, so
they checked it out. They came to Dr. Smith, Phil Dinsky, and the Teachers
Union, and then presented a plan for a Horace Mann charter school. The School
Committee voted no, so they went with a Commonwealth charter school. The
moratorium is supposed to be to save money. On the issue that the charters are
taking money away from the public schools - a charter school doesn’t cost the
state anything – zero. It is just part of the same pie. The town isn’t losing
anything; the School Committee is. It can’t be that they are siphoning money
from the public schools, because the charters are public schools. Charter
schools are cost effective – they don’t have facilities money. They provide
choice. They bring change. He feels that parents are interested in the charter,
looked over what the charter can offer their kids, then the parents went to
Walsh to hear their questions answered. This is a good impact of the charter
school, that the parents are comparing and asking questions.
A moratorium doesn’t cost the state anything – it would just be a decrease in
accountability. The charter schools are closely monitored by politicians,
media, etc. A moratorium would eliminate competition for the district schools.
The money goes to FCCS – it doesn’t leave Framingham. The charter last year
cost 1.2% of the Framingham school budget. They will never have more than 3+%
of the school budget. The district doesn’t save all the cost when a kid leaves,
but they do save something. He agrees that it was unfair that the money was cut
just before the school year. Governor Romney is now putting it back, because
they are giving us 3 years to adjust to the numbers shift. He believes the
reimbursement incentive is really for the towns, not for the schools. About the
formula - the state gives the charter $9000 and the state gives the district
schools $1000. The state doesn’t make the town hand over its budget- it doesn’t
make the town hand over the money, the state transfers it for us. Of course the
state has to include the real costs of schools, which includes retirement cost
and other costs the charter schools have to consider. The charters get cut
based on what the district schools spend. District schools and the unions need
to learn they have to be more flexible. The charter’s teachers work longer
hours, etc. They have 23% minority students, and 21 % have IEPs. Their special
ed population is higher than the district. Minority % is higher than a few of
the district schools. Think about who you are defending – defend your kids.
Karen Spilka had some comments to share. This is a very emotional issue and we
can see how the hard feelings are developing in Framingham. She is looking for
what she can do at the State House to help Framingham both in money and to help
with the problem that is developing. She would prefer to see money go to the
district schools and hold them more accountable. She told Peyser that charters
should be funded separately, not from chapter 70 money, which sets up an
adversarial situation. Pushing for the reimbursement money is something that
can be done to help. It is really sad to see parent vs. parent, town vs.
school, etc. The reimbursement money is a priority and they need to change the
funding mechanism. And we should look at the entire chapter 70 funding for
Framingham.
Pat Dunne mentioned that there were 2 middle school task forces. It took us 10
years to build back from folding into one middle school, now we are back into
the same boat. We don’t know who is on the board of the FCCS. TM would have a
fit over two administrators for 100 kids at FCCS. The charters don’t take the
cuts because they are running a year behind in taking cuts. FCCS is immune to
the cuts.
Kaufman replied that their reimbursement is adjusted by quarters. The last 2
quarters may be reduced.
Bill Haberman commented why don’t we have an election to have a board to
oversee the charter school? How is their board selected? What retirement
program do their teachers have? Reply - Larry Vale (present at the meeting) is
a Framingham resident who is a newly elected board member – elected by the
other board members (like a corporation). Bill – but who are the stockholders –
not the citizens of Framingham. Kaufman replied that a charter school has to
show a proposed board and a relationship to the town.
Norma Shulman asked where do we find the names of the board members – they are
not on the web site which only has 4 names. Reply: 8 members are now on the
board. Follow up: Do they have to file the board members, etc. Kaufman offered
to show anyone interested their bylaws.
Walter Foster, another board member, was also present.
Donna Howland – concerned with drain on enrichment opportunities for the other
schools. What did he mean by merit pay for their teachers?
Kaufman: You can be a great teacher without a master’s degree. They don’t want
to have to give raises if people are not performing well. They do performance
evaluation – including a staff portfolio, annual peer review, etc.
Barbara Magovsky asked about differences in curriculum from the public schools?
Why can’t we just incorporate these programs in the public schools?
Kaufman – they have 3 teams. The teams each spend the year trying to answer a
question that ties into the curriculum frameworks. They adjust the learning to
each child’s learning style – which you can do with project based learning.
Then they have an “expedition” – a project to present to the school at the end
of the year.
Teri Miccciche – If they are so good, why aren’t people beating down the door.
Kaufman: There is a small waiting list, but parents are being badgered about
not signing up.
Betty Muto – This was a state opportunity for this type of program. If we had
such a concern for this program in Framingham, what did we do as a town to
respond?
Pam Richardson – For the Horace Mann concept request, we couldn’t afford the 17
students per class they insisted on. There are parents in Framingham trying to
address this at the state level. Other communities don’t want to pay for the
charters either.
Pat Dunne reminded us that he was on the School Committee when Delman came to
them, when we had a 1,000 student body at Walsh. Delman didn’t want to provide
a program for the students who needed an alternative middle school program. We
have an expeditionary model at Cameron, but this is the first year that the
program would have been fully populated there. Framingham just can’t afford 17
per class, which FCCS was promising parents right now.
Walter Foster, Framingham resident and board member of FCCS, thinks it should
be all about the students. A key issue for him as a parent of 3 was
accessibility in the Framingham schools. He visits the FCCS to be sure that the
goals of the school are being carried out. He has talked about how they can
minimize the impact on the town.
Pam Richardson asked Rob Kaufman if they plan to expand to the HS grades. And
if they have heard from the Sudbury woman who is interested in a elementary
charter. Reply: No on the HS grades. He hears from lots of people about
charters, maybe Sudbury was one. There might also be interest in one in Natick
and maybe Waltham.
Debby asked them to post their minutes on the web, and what his and Delman’s
salary and benefits are. (Response: $65,000 and $64,000.) Kaufman: They can’t
afford a computer lab – they chose to put their money in 17 kids in small
classes.