SPECIAL ED SPIN SPAT
Charter schools call staffing claim ‘bogus’
Infuriated Massachusetts charter school leaders are slamming a report by the No on 2 campaign that says their schools lack special education teachers, calling it baffling and blatantly false.
“That report is totally bogus,” charter school administrator Jon Clarke told the Herald. “At Brooke East Boston, we have three full-time special education teachers, a full-time speech language pathologist, a one-on-one special education aide. We make sure all our kids have the supports they need. It’s infuriating to see this in the report.”
Ballot Question 2 asks voters to lift the charter cap to allow 12 new schools or expansions per year. Save Our Public Schools, the teachers’ union-backed No on 2 campaign, released a report yesterday claiming charter schools have fewer special education teachers and fewer special education students.
The report by Michael Robinson, a business analyst and former charter school parent, states that some charter schools entirely lack special education teachers, and that while local district public schools employ an average of one per 22 students with disabilities, charter schools employ an average of just one per 36 students. Robinson, who said he gathered data from the state Education Department website, reported that 19 Massachusetts charter schools report having zero full-time-equivalent special education teachers.
“It’s baffling,” said Paul Marble of Sturgis Charter Public School in Hyannis, one of the schools that Robinson singled out. “It is patently untrue.”
Save Our Public Schools stated: “The analysis in this report is based on the most up-to-date self-reported data that is provided by all schools in the Commonwealth and is available on the DESE website.”
A DESE official said the state tracks teachers by subject specialty, but doesn’t always list special education directors, paraprofessionals, audiologists and therapists. DESE confirmed it subsidizes special education at charter schools.
“Massachusetts is pleased to employ special education directors, paraprofessionals, audiologists, and therapists at charter schools to support special education students,” said state education spokeswoman Laura Rigas.
The Yes on 2 campaign called for Save Our Public Schools to retract the report.
“The special interests opposing Question 2 have hit a new low: They’re using a homegrown report from someone with zero research credentials that is riddled with inaccuracies, and using it to advance their cynical, political agenda and demean the hard work of educators. This report should be taken seriously by no one,” said Eileen O’Connor of Great Schools Massachusetts.