Romney backed on charter schools

In a rare show of solidarity with Governor Mitt Romney, state lawmakers rejected a measure yesterday that would have temporarily halted the approval of new charter schools, apparently swayed by a plan to relieve the financial burden that charter-school funding has imposed on traditional public schools.

By sustaining Romney's veto of a one-year moratorium on new charters, the House cleared the way for the state Board of Education to approve more charter schools this year, adding to the 50 already operating in Massachusetts. The move will also allow five schools that already have charters to open on time, with two of them starting this fall.

''Today is a victory for the school children of Massachusetts and their parents," Romney said after the vote. ''Parents, particularly in our urban neighborhoods, deserve to have choice in where they send their children to school."

Legislators included the moratorium in the budget they sent to Romney last month, but the governor, a strong charter-school proponent, vetoed it. Supporters of the moratorium needed a two-thirds majority in both the House and the Senate to overrule the governor. They fell far short in the House, where veto overrides must originate, with just 77 voting to override the governor's veto and 78 voting to sustain it.

Romney and other supporters believe charter schools provide a critical alternative for parents disgusted by lackluster public school districts. But opponents and even some supporters worry that charter schools are siphoning money from traditional public schools and that some of the groups securing charters from the state are not prepared to educate children. Many believe that Massachusetts has not held charter schools academically accountable or carefully policed their spending.

''I'm not against charter schools per se, but I think there has to be a process, and I think the process now stinks," said Representative Daniel E. Bosley, a North Adams Democrat who argued for the moratorium on the House floor. ''There was a political decision made to put up as many charter schools as we can. This should be an educational decision."

Charter schools, which have been operating in Massachusetts since 1995, are supported by taxpayer dollars, but they enjoy autonomy that other public schools do not. Most of them can implement their own curriculum, hire their own teachers and principals, and control their own budgets. The state gives them a set amount of money per student, but they have to raise capital dollars themselves.

In return for its freedom, a charter school must attract and retain students and produce positive results within five years or risk losing its charter. The idea is to remove bureaucratic shackles that may hold back teachers and students and encourage educational innovation that might be transplanted into regular public schools.

Marc Kenen, executive director of the Massachusetts Charter School Association, said: ''Charter public schools do not subtract from public education. They add to it.

''Providing parents with a choice creates a powerful, constructive force for change in district school systems," Kenen said after yesterday's vote.

Some of the state's 50 charter schools post higher MCAS scores than traditional public schools, but others do not. In the past school year, school districts paid $138.5 million to charter schools for 15,884 students.

Under the moratorium proposed by the Legislature earlier this year, the Board of Education would have been barred from approving new charter schools until July 2005 or until a special panel could come up with a new financing formula. The plan also would have delayed the opening of five charter schools that received charters this year.

But lawmakers who opposed the moratorium were able to drain support for it by addressing the funding issue on their own. Under the plan they worked out, which is expected to come to the House floor in the coming weeks, a charter school's per-student payment would be based on the actual cost of educating that child. Currently, the payment is calculated using the per-student average in the local school district, even though that figure includes bilingual and special education students.

Representative Marie P. St. Fleur, a Dorchester Democrat who helped draft the funding plan, said charter schools will lose about $15 million that they would have received from their local school districts, but that figure will be offset by a state contribution to charter schools' capital costs.

Julia Sigalovsky, the founder of one of the schools that would have had its opening delayed, described yesterday's vote as ''absolutely great." She said the threat of the moratorium had halted talks with a potential landlord and stalled enrollment at the Advanced Math and Science Academy in Marlborough. She said she hopes the Legislature follows through on the funding changes, because financing issues have caused conflicts between charter schools and local districts around the state.

Globe correspondent Suzanne Sataline contributed to this report.