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Shifting course, Menino backs new charter schools

E-mail|Link|Comments () June 9, 2009 02:57 PM

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who has for years expressed deep reservations about charter schools, abruptly shifted course today and said he is eager to open new ones in Boston to help transform the city's poorly performing schools.

Mayor Menino

In a speech to hundreds of chief executives, Menino said he would file state legislation that would allow the city to create "in-district" charter schools.

Unlike traditional charter schools, which Menino has argued drain money from traditional public schools, these charter schools would be established and controlled solely by the Boston School Committee. In a point sure to spark opposition from organized labor, the schools would not need to be unionized, although the teachers could vote to form a union. Menino said the schools would also have more flexible work hours and rules, in an attempt to attract better teachers and tailor the school day to students' needs.

If the bill does not pass by the end of this legislative session -- July 31, 2010 -- Menino said he would call for lifting the overall cap on charter schools.

Menino also said he would support performance pay for teams of teachers. He said all three ideas were motivated in part by President Obama’s declaration that he is making available $5 billion in grant money this summer to cities that are offering proposals to turn around low-performing schools.

"The status quo won't work," Menino told a luncheon at the Boston Harbor Hotel of the Boston College Chief Executives' Club. "We've got to make real changes."

Observers said Menino's position represents a sharp reversal.

"I thought the ideas were good and a bit surprising," said former Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham, who helped write the 1993 Education Reform Act that paved the way for the state’s first charter schools. "The mayor has been a long-time, major opponent of charter schools and I think this is an exciting propositon -- both the in-district charters and the affirmative commitment, if he can't get that legislation through, to eliminate the cap."

Menino's embrace of charter schools comes after his rivals in the mayor's race, City Councilors Michael F. Flaherty and Sam Yoon, released plans earlier this week that expressed support for more charter schools in Boston. It also comes as residents express dissatisfaction with the city's schools. A recent Boston Globe poll showed that the schools were rated as fair, poor, or very poor by 59 percent of residents. Thirty-nine percent of the respondents with children said they had contemplated moving to a community with better schools.

"Politically, it's extraordinary for the mayor of the city of Boston to come out for charter schools like this," Birmingham said.