Town official takes on charters

A Framingham school official again will be at the forefront of a campaign at the State House against charter schools.

Framingham School Committee member Pam Richardson today will join fellow members of the Statewide Coalition for Public Schools in announcing a renewed attempt to enact a moratorium on new charter schools in the state.

Last year, the same group pushed for a freeze, and it was approved by the Legislature but vetoed by Governor Mitt Romney. Richardson said there were almost enough votes last year in the Legislature to override the governor's veto. She's hoping this year the bill will make it all the way.

''What's happening across the state is, as this program is expanding, the district schools are being forced to make cuts in services and charge fees," Richardson said. ''The kids in the regular public schools are being hurt by this program."

That's because the dollars follow the student, she said, with the state paying charter schools for each student that opts to attend and deducting that amount from the regular schools' budgets.

But Rob Kaufman, director of the Christa McAuliffe Regional Charter Public School in Framingham, lashed out at the charter school critics.

''They won't be satisfied until charter schools are gone and there's no competition, no pressure on traditional public schools to reform, and there's no threat to the union."

The new legislative push is being announced just a few days before the state Board of Education is to vote on five new charter applications, including one from Worcester. Charter schools already have sparked controversy in the Globe West circulation area. Several school committees have sued the Board of Education for approving a Marlborough charter school, stating the board didn't adequately listen to public comment.

Charter schools are funded by taxpayers, but they don't operate with the same restrictions that traditional public schools do. Supporters say they allow innovative approaches to improve education for children. Opponents say they drain needed money from regular public schools, and they decry the use of nonunion teachers.

The coalition's bill proposes a moratorium on so-called commonwealth charter schools, which are completely independent of local schools and answer directly to the state. The bill does not apply to Horace Mann charter schools, which still receive some oversight from local school officials.

McAuliffe Regional is a commonwealth charter school. Formerly called the Framingham Community Charter School, it is in its third school year and currently enrolls 280 students in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. About 75 percent of the students live in Framingham, Kaufman said, and the rest are from Ashland, Holliston, Hopkinton, Marlborough, Natick, Southborough, and Sudbury.

Although the proposed moratorium would not stop existing charter schools from operating, Richardson said, it does call for a study that would delve into charter school accountability and funding.

Kaufman said the current funding system is perfectly appropriate.

State Senator Karen Spilka, a Democrat from Ashland, disagreed. She said, for example, that a district could lose 10 students to a charter school and therefore nearly $100,000, while its fixed costs would not change significantly. A reduction of a single student, for example, doesn't mean you can eliminate a teacher, she said.

''The system is so inherently adversarial," she said. ''It creates a terrible tension and conflict within the community."

Spilka also said state education officials should do a better job of enforcing accountability and of sharing best practices among all the schools.

The state agency supports charter schools as an important alternative, according to Department of Education spokeswoman Heidi Perlman.

''We feel that charter schools offer parents a very valuable public school option," she said. ''As far as accountability goes, many would say charter schools are held to a higher standard."

The schools are reviewed regularly and every five years have to show results or lose their charter, said Perlman, an added layer of accountability on top of the requirements the state imposes on all public schools.

Kaufman said the difference at his school isn't in what is taught -- after all, the school has the same curriculum requirements as any other public school -- it is in the approach. For example, he said, every student talks to an adviser daily about social and emotional issues that often can be crucial during the turbulent middle-school years. ''The argument shouldn't be over which school gets to control the money. The argument should be over whether parents have the right to choose public school options."

Lisa Kocian can be reached at 508-820-4231 or at lkocian@globe.com.