Trump-Clinton? Charter Schools Are the Big Issue on Massachusetts’ Ballot
BOSTON — The television ads are relentless, fueled by a historic surge of campaign spending. Fliers are clogging mailboxes. Both sides are knocking on doors across the state. But in deep blue Massachusetts, the contentious campaigning is not for president but for a ballot question on whether to expand charter schools.
The pitched battle in this state, known as a bellwether on education policy, reflects the passions that charter schools arouse nationwide, particularly regarding a central part of the debate: If they offer children in lagging traditional public schools an alternative path to a quality education, do they also undermine those schools and the children in them?
Because Massachusetts’s charter schools rank among the nation’s best, advocates say a yes vote to allow more of them would send a strong signal that they have a crucial role to play in improving student learning and closing the achievement gap between white and black students.
But opponents say a no vote would show that even in a state where charter schools have been successful, most voters believe the schools — privately run but publicly financed — undermine traditional public schools, drain resources and perpetuate inequities, and should be curtailed.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/06/us/charter-schools-massachusetts-ballot.html?emc=edit_th_20161106&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=57435284