We were pleased to see the article “Charter schools’ building costs cited” (Metro, Jan. 28), which points to a serious funding problem that many charter schools face. Yet we were concerned by the position of Boston Teachers Union president Richard Stutman, paraphrased by the reporter: Stutman “said charter schools do not require additional funding and are actually overfunded, because they do not educate costlier students, such as English-language learners or special education students.” This point, which went unanswered in the article, is simply untrue.
The special education program at our school serves 106 students, or 21 percent of the student body, as compared with the state average of 16.7 percent and Boston Public Schools’ 18.7 percent in 2011-12. Our staff includes a special education administrator, eight classroom learning specialists, two occupational therapists, a speech and language pathologist, and a school psychologist. Our program is tailored to the needs of individual students, including English-language learners, because our commitment is to help them achieve their academic and social potential.
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BPS tchrs know that the Pacific Rim is notorious for counseling out what they see as difficult students, the same students the BPS welcomes daily. PR keeps only SPED students with the easiest-to-teach disabilities. Ask any BPS tchr.