Ban eyed on new charter schools

State legislators and local school officials said yesterday they are seeking a moratorium that would bar the state from opening additional Commonwealth charter schools for three years while the benefits and financing of such schools are examined.

Representative Thomas O'Brien, a Democrat from Kingston, and Senator Marc R. Pacheco, a Democrat from Taunton, have reintroduced a bill requesting a moratorium. A similar request failed to pass in the last legislative session, but O'Brien said that charter schools are losing support as more open and draw tens of thousands of dollars in state funds from public schools.

"The revolt will only grow," O'Brien said.

The lawmakers spoke at a press conference that drew local school superintendents and advocates both for and against charter schools. The move to ban new charter schools comes as some local districts are fighting proposed charter schools with increasing vigor. The state Board of Education has approved 50 charter schools, with five more expected to open this fall. Today the board will decide whether to grant charters to several more proposed schools.

"This is not a cut in public education money. It's a change in who controls the money," said Marc Kenen, executive director of the Massachusetts Charter School Association. "Superintendents don't support charter schools because it takes away their control."

At issue are so-called Commonwealth charter schools, which are free from local school committee oversight and which draw money away from local public schools. Marlborough officials said they anticipate losing more than $9,000 for every student who attends a math and science charter school proposed for the city.

Pacheco said the timing is bad for more charter schools. "Massachusetts has seen per-pupil spending decrease," he said. "This is no time for an experiment. . . . Let's not divert any more money from traditional education." Also yesterday, Representative Karen E. Spilka, a Framingham Democrat, said she has introduced a bill that would change the funding formula for charter schools. The bill would allow charter schools to receive state money for building construction or renovation and would establish a charter school building assistance board to oversee the use of the funds. The bill, she said, also would change the funding formula to reduce the amount of money charter schools receive in state aid.

"The purpose is to reevaluate both systems," Spilka said. "It's founded on the idea that all our schools are grossly underfunded."

While those pushing a moratorium insisted that they are not against charter schools, several at the press conference spoke out against the concept.

Kate Toomey, a member of the Worcester School Committee, said the state cuts and the impact of 1,300 district children enrolled in charter schools have placed an enormous strain on the city's school budget. Officials are considering whether to cut art and music next year, she said.

"Our public school system is facing a little over a $5 million deficit," she said. "I have a problem with 26,000 kids having fewer supplies than 1,300 kids in the charter schools."

"That's a management problem in the school district," Kenen said. "With the economies of scale, a school district should be able to provide much more than a charter school does."

Suzanne Sataline can be reached at sataline@globe.com.