Teachers' union eyes charter school students

The Boston Teachers Union, saying the city has done little to stop the flow of students to charter schools, is pushing to personally lobby the families.

The union today, as part of its 32-page contract proposal, will ask the school system to send out letters twice a year touting the merits of city schools to charter school families. Teachers, the union said, would then agree to help the School Department organize a week of open houses targeting students already in charter schools and volunteer their evenings to staff the events.

The union will also ask the school system to spend $100,000 to publicize the events and provide transportation for the charter school families.

School systems across the state are fighting to retain students as charter schools continue to open, but it is rare for a teachers' union to propose such strategies in its contract, said Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. Koocher called the union's proposal an ''intriguing notion" that other districts and teachers' unions could follow.

''The city has been shooting itself in the foot by letting charter schools rake off students from the Boston public schools," said Richard Stutman, president of the Boston Teachers Union. ''The School Department has not done enough to retain kids and recruit kids. We're trying to light a fire under them."

Of the nearly 80,000 school-age children who live in the city, more than 70 percent attend Boston public schools, according to district officials. About 5 percent go to charter schools, which are publicly funded, independently run schools that draw money away from the city schools. A charter school receives between $7,600 and $13,200 per Boston student, depending on the student's needs; the school system has to provide the cost upfront and the state later partially reimburses it.

Boston school and city officials would not comment on the feasibility of the union's proposal because contract negotiations are just beginning. Both sides have said they hope to agree on a three-year pact before a new superintendent arrives in July to replace the retiring Thomas W. Payzant. The teachers' contract expires in August.

The school system expanded its recruitment efforts this year but did not specifically target charter school families, said Chris Horan, the district's chief communications officer.

''We are in a more competitive environment now than we have been in the past, and that has forced us to work harder to get information out," Horan said. ''It's healthy pressure for us."

The union is also proposing that the school system allow charter schools to apply to be converted into pilot schools. The school system has 19 pilot schools, which are experimental, autonomous schools created a decade ago as competition for charter schools. The pilot school movement stalled in 2003 when Stutman vetoed the conversion of a district elementary school into a pilot school because of various concerns, including a lack of overtime pay for the schools' teachers.

Charter school principals and advocates say they do not have a problem with the school system attempting to recruit charter students, as long as charter schools are allowed to do the same in regular public schools.

Tracy Jan can be reached at tjan@globe.com.