New Bedford Charter School Proposal
Lily Bohlke – Commonwealth News Service
NEW BEDFORD, Ma. — The state held a public hearing on a new charter school to serve New Bedford and Fall River students, and advocates for public schools are urging the Massachusetts Department of Education to reject the proposal.
Educators’ unions and others contend it is not worth draining millions of dollars annually from New Bedford’s public school system to create an alternative.
Ricardo Rosa, co-chair of the New Bedford Coalition to Save Our Schools, a UMASS Dartmouth professor and a parent, said the proposal is not in the best interests of the area.
“We feel that an expansion of charter schools derails all of the work that we need to do in our public school system to strengthen it,” Rosa explained. “So siphoning money off from public schools is definitely not a good strategy.”
Backers of the charter school say it could be part of the solution to decades of underfunding public schools. But Rosa thinks the way to improve academic outcomes is to invest in public education, not take funding away for a charter school.
In addition to the hearing, public comments can be submitted by email until Friday, January 7, 2022.
Rosa’s group believes the proposal does not dedicate sufficient resources for special education, and contended New Bedford public schools are better prepared to serve special needs students with more school counselors, behavioral specialists and special education coordinators.
“The public school system has far greater resources to handle special education,” Rosa asserted. “The special education population is a population that is growing, given some of the issues with the pandemic.”
He noted many young people have faced increased stress and trauma in the pandemic, making support systems even more important.
Rosa added he believes investing in public schools is also in the long-term interest of democracy.
“Public school systems are one of our last sort of public institutions in this country, and we need to protect that space,” Rosa emphasized.