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In Massachusetts Education Decisions, Follow the Money, Follow the Corporate Interests
Ohanian Note: This story was buried on page B2

MALDEN - The state Board of Education yesterday approved five charter schools to open in Massachusetts in the next two years, defying a string of protesting speakers and the threat of a suit.

Capping months of tension between charter-school opponents and supporters, the board voted 6-1 to grant charters for two schools in Boston and one each in Haverhill, North Adams, and Salem. Some school organizers hugged and smiled after the decision, one of the most anticipated votes that the Board of Education has undertaken recently - largely because of complaints that public school systems lose money when students leave for charter schools.

"It's unfair at this time, when towns are in such a financial crisis, to subject them to our will," said Belmont High School junior Jeff DeFlavio, the board's student representative, who cast the lone vote against opening the schools.

Other speakers at yesterday's standing-room-only meeting, including elected officials and parents, claimed that the vote was fixed because four of the five approved charter schools came from applicants in the yearlong charter-school fellowship of the Pioneer Institute, the Boston-based think tank that backs charter schools and other school choice options.

North Adams Mayor John Barrett III said he plans to file suit within a week, alleging that the process to award charters is riddled with conflicts of interest.

"This is a disgrace, what happened today," Barrett said.

The state Ethics Commission has cleared two board members - chairman James A. Peyser, Pioneer's former executive director, and member Abigail M. Thernstrom, who sits on its academic advisory committee - to vote on charter schools after disclosing their ties. But the commission has requested more information about board member Charles D. Baker, who sits on Pioneer's board of directors, before letting him vote. Baker was absent yesterday.

Both Peyser and Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll said that the process of awarding charters is untainted by outsiders. But Driscoll acknowledged the resentment in the crowd, even apologizing for the "divisiveness."

One school, the Excel Academy Charter School in Boston, is scheduled to open in September. The others are scheduled to open in September 2004. The state has 46 charter schools, which cost school systems about $125 million. Governor Mitt Romney's budget, to be released today, is expected to provide partial reimbursement to school systems for the money they lose to charter schools.

— Anand Vaishnav
5 charter schools get state OK amid outcry
Boston Globe
Feb. 26, 2003
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/057/metro/5_charter_schools_

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