Boston city councilor Frank Baker has proposed changing the way School Committee members are chosen so that some would be elected, rather than appointed by the mayor.
Under Baker’s plan, introduced Wednesday, three members of the board would be elected at large to four-year terms, and four members would be picked by the mayor. Baker said that electing some members would give residents a more direct say on school policy.
Comments
This proposal by Dorchester's Frank Baker is the step in the right direction. With all due respect to the mayor, he is pushing whatever the business community suggests to him concerning Boston's educational policy. The appointed school committee 99.99% of the time (not a hyperbole) UNANIMOUSLY vote for whatever the appointed superintendent (de facto puppet of the mayor) push for. So, what we have in Boston educational policy is a aristocracy of sorts. We live in a democracy, not an aristocracy. There is no reason why the affluent ceos, business people, and hedge fund managers( who live on swanky Beacon Hill, Winchester and Wellesley - and influence such organizations as the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education and Boston Foundation) should yield more power than all of the hard working voting citizens of the City of Boston. It's time we move toward democracy and buck the status quo. It's time we take an innovative approach to educational policy. It's time we listen to the people, and not follow the money. It's time we invest in the City of Boston, the birthplace of public education in the United States of America. God Bless America, and God bless Frank Baker for stepping up for the parents, kids, and teachers of our city!
Yes thank you Frank Baker for letting our voices be heard!
A "Unified School District" model would have strengthen our school system, but instead of correcting the 40 years of inequities in our traditional public schools, in 1993, Mayor Menino, through his "appointed school committee," allowed the Boston Public Schools to adopt a "portfolio of schools" model, which has decimated our traditional schools. These charter schools are not level funded by the students they serve, but by the "average" the sending district spends on all its students taking away even more money! This would have NEVER happened with an Elected School Committee!
Let me explain, to educate a regular ed student in BPS cost $11,558. However, when you add the cost of all the BPS Special Ed & Ell students the cost averages out to $14,704! Charter Schools are paid the "average" $14,704. even though their population of students is mostly regular ed, and in no way reflects the demographic of the BPS! What a windfall for these charter schools! So not only do charters not service our SPED or ELL students, they legally swindle BPS out of $3,146+ per student! That money comes out of the budgets of traditional BPS schools that are servicing Boston's neediest children! An Elected School Committee would NEVER have allowed that!
The BPS reports on their own site, "State law requires BPS to drive charter school students to their schools even if they are outside their home zone, which is a much higher level of service than is provided to most students in BPS! Transportation costs are expected to rise by $2.6 million in FY13 and $20.3 million in FY14 as the number of charter school students in Boston increases."
The appointed school committee allowed 23 Charters to saturate Boston and located most of them in the East Zone neighborhoods of Dorchester, Hyde Park, Mattapan, Roslindale and Roxbury! Turning the remaining traditional schools into dumping grounds for SPED, ELL, and students found "not to be the right fit" (read behavior problems) for these segregation academy charter schools!
The appointed school committee allowed Mayor Menino and Dr. Johnson to systematically un-resource traditional BPS schools (remember the Marshall School and the 12 closed schools) causing them to fail. The appointed school committee gave away the Gavin School to Unlocking Potential,an educational management organization (EMO), UP receives $600,000. from BPS just to "manage" 476 kids! Another $500,000, is earmarked to UP to manage the Marshall School! This is quite a bit of money considering Boston pays Dr. Johnson $323,222. and she "manages" 57,000 students! Parents have no decision making voice at these charter schools,like they do at BPS traditional schools, an Elected School Committee would have NEVER tolerated that!
Strong decision-making requires analysis, the balancing of needs and concerns, and the ability to see the LONG-TERM IMPLICATIONS OF AN ACTION that doesn't happen when people are "appointed." Boston needs to return to an Elected School Committee!