Charter school foes lobby state

Brockton school officials next week will urge the state Board of Education to reject creation of a new regional charter school in their city. The board is expected to vote Tuesday on a recommendation by the state's acting education commissioner to approve the proposal.

Brockton officials are worried that the International Charter School of Southeastern Massachusetts would drain students from existing schools, and thus cost Brockton and 12 other school districts as much as $5 million in per-student state education aid.

The charter school, if approved, would open this fall with the goal of enrolling 500 pupils in kindergarten to Grade 5.

"We will make sure the charter doesn't get authorization and take dollars away from other kids," said Basan Nembirkow, superintendent of Brockton schools, echoing concerns raised by many other school superintendents around the region.

Each time a student leaves a school district, that district forfeits roughly $9,600 in state education aid. If the student moves to a charter school, that school gets the aid instead. Eventually, the proposed charter school would serve about 1,300 students in kindergarten through Grade 12, which could mean the loss of $12 million in state aid spread among several districts. Aminah Pilgrim, chairwoman of the board for the International Charter School of Southeastern Massachusetts, did not respond to requests for comment by phone or e-mail.

The potential loss of state aid to school districts has been a common theme in debates over new charter schools across the state. Charter schools - often trumpeted as a way to provide an innovative public education outside the constraints of teachers unions and other rules - rely almost exclusively on funding from state aid.

Charter school supporters and the state argue that if school districts lose students to charter schools, their costs also drop because they are educating fewer students. Thus, the cut in state aid makes sense.

They also say the financial repercussions will force school districts to improve so fewer students would leave.

JC Considine, a state Education Department spokesman, stressed that area school districts would receive some state reimbursement for state aid lost to the new charter school.

"We feel state aid funding should follow the student, but we also recognize the immediate funding impact that a charter school has on the sending districts and that's why a reimbursement funding formula was established," Considine said.

However, reimbursement doesn't always keep pace with the losses a school district experiences. Brockton received state reimbursements last year of about 50 percent, leaving Brockton with about $765,000 in lost state aid for about 160 students who attend charters elsewhere, according to the state Education Department's website.

State Representatives Christine Canavan and Thomas Kennedy, in letters they recently wrote to the state board, each urged rejection of the charter school proposal.

Canavan wrote that the "ill-suited proposal poses a particularly dangerous threat to the financial health and continued success of the public schools" around the region.

"At a time when municipalities and public schools within my district are working diligently to meet state and federal mandates while struggling with the unfortunate realities of limited state aid and Proposition 2 1/2," Canavan wrote, "the creation of the International Charter School could very well be the breaking point for many of our local school districts."

Considine said that acting commissioner Jeffrey Nellhaus - who last week gave a nod to the creation of the International Charter School of Southeastern Massachusetts - determined that the charter met all the standards established in the state's application for such proposals. That included evidence supporting a need for the proposed program, setting up organizational viability, and showing how it would be faithful to the terms of the state's charter law.

The International Charter School would be overseen by a local board of directors. Daily operation would be by Sabbis Educational Systems, a for-profit corporation based at a private school in Minnesota. Sabbis oversees about 50 schools around the world, including ones in Holyoke and Springfield.

The company uses a similar curriculum in all its schools that aims to prepare students for a global economy. Students take a foreign language starting in kindergarten, and teachers around the world meet annually to share best practices.

But critics argue that Brockton already offers well-respected international programs in some of its schools, and that Southeastern Massachusetts has plenty of public school alternatives for students, including six other charter schools.

"We are not Springfield," Nembirkow said. "The application that was used was a boiler plate one for Springfield. The International Charter School replicates many programs we have, and I don't see how it serves English language learners, minority students, and special education students."

James Vaznis can be reached at vaznis@globe.com.