Deval Patrick's school choice

There was good news for Massachusetts charter schools in a recent study by the state Department of Education, which showed that students in 90 percent of the publicly funded but independent schools performed as well as or better than their counterparts in district public schools.

Many lower- and middle-income city families see charter schools as a godsend, providing an alternative to shaky public schools that those of greater means often opt out of by fleeing to the suburbs or writing hefty checks for private school tuition. As the Democratic primary race for governor comes to a head, there is some irony in the fact that Deval Patrick is the one candidate unlikely to stage a campaign event at a charter school, as Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey did last week in unveiling her education agenda.

Patrick, who has been endorsed by the state's biggest foes of charters, the Boston Teachers Union and the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts , is the only Democratic candidate who opposes lifting the cap on the number of charter schools in the state. He has cited the main argument of charter school opponents -- that charter schools drain money from district schools -- in explaining his stand against raising the charter school cap.

In his rags-to-riches biography, Patrick makes much of the doors that were opened when a scholarship to prestigious Milton Academy gave him a ticket out of Chicago's dreary public school system. For many urban dwellers, particularly black and Hispanic families, charter schools are the Milton Academy for the masses, alternatives to dead-end public schools that are much more widely available than the hit-the-lottery type of luck through which a tiny handful of kids in poorly performing districts get the kind of break that Patrick himself enjoyed.

Even with the growth of charter schools in Massachusetts, however, thousands of minority families in Boston and other cities have their children on waiting lists for charter schools, a clear vote-with-their-feet cry that they are desperate for choices beyond the local district public schools.

What does Patrick, whose campaign has been built on the theme of hope, say to them?

It may not quite rise to the level of meriting the headline ``Reilly to city: Drop dead," but Tom Reilly's recent antitax attacks on his two rivals for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination have the effect of thumbing his nose at one of the attorney general's chief backers, Mayor Tom Menino.

Reilly has ripped fellow Democratic contender Deval Patrick for, among other things, supporting a local options tax that would allow municipalities to raise revenue through a meals tax. But Menino has been the biggest champion of the local options tax, complaining bitterly about the limited sources of revenue Boston must operate with in a city whose daytime population swells with tens of thousands of commuters.

Menino did his best to paper over Reilly's city snub, suggesting that Reilly will pursue other ways to help cities and that the meals tax has become a tough sell anyway.

``Everybody goes to the same old ways of raising revenue in this state, and we know it hasn't gone anywhere," says Menino.

Menino went all out for Reilly in his hard-fought 1998 primary battle against former Newton state senator Lois Pines . He's sticking with him again, but it is a backhanded compliment he offers in reaction to a recent Globe poll showing Reilly still in the thick of the three-way race despite a string of missteps earlier in the campaign. ``For Reilly to be this close after running the worst campaign in America, I think his sensitivity shows, his integrity shows," says Menino.

As for plans to deploy his political organization on Reilly's behalf, Menino says, ``We'll have an Election Day operation." But the mayor is hardly predicting a Boston sweep for Reilly in the Sept. 19 primary. ``I think support in the city is basically split three ways," he says of the Democratic contest among Reilly, Patrick, and Chris Gabrieli . That divide even extends into Menino's own top circles, where Charlotte Richie , chief of neighborhood development, is backing Patrick. Meanwhile, in vote-rich West Roxbury, longtime Menino loyalist Dan Settana , chair of the Ward 20 Democratic Committee, backs Gabrieli.

Michael Jonas can be reached at jonas@globe.com.