Two sides, two strategies in charter cap fight

Supporters of lifting the cap on charters rallied on the Boston Common before marching on the State House.

Supporters of lifting the cap on charter schools made an impressive show on the Boston Common last Wednesday. Parents, educators and children wearing matching blue T-shirts reading “Great Schools Now,” waved signs, chanted and marched down the paths of the Common, which were lined with pro-charter banners. They progressed to the State House where a temporary stage, large video screen, and a professional video and audio production crew awaited.

Nikki Barnes, principal of the Kipp Academy Boston charter school, urged the gathered crowd to pressure the Senate to lift the charter cap.

“We’re going to fight,” she said. “If the state Senate refuses to lift the cap, they’re going to have to answer to us.”

Both sides of the charter cap debate are gearing up for a vote in the House and Senate and a statewide ballot on the issue. Supporters of lifting the cap appear to be outspending their opposition and getting their message out quicker, but charter opponents say they can still win.

Well-produced rallies

Charter proponents have jumped into the public eye with several rallies notable in part for their organization and preparation.

Jim Hirsch, production manager for High Output, told State House News Service that the Wednesday rally marked the fourth charter event for which his company was hired to handle production. They set up the stage, 15×9-foot video screen and sound system.

Several public relations firms, including Keyser Public Strategies, O’Neill and Associates, Archipelago Strategies Group and Slowey/McManus Communications helped get the word out about last Wednesday’s rally.

Deep resources

A major driver behind the campaign to lift the cap is Families for Excellent Schools, a New York-based nonprofit founded mainly by Wall Street investors. A chapter opened in Massachusetts last year.

By all accounts, the organization draws from a deep pool of funding. In the past it has received large donations, including $200,000 from the Broad Foundation for fiscal year 2012 and $200,000 from the Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation for FY 2012-2013, according to WNYC. In April 2015, the organization received donations of $1 million each from billionaire hedge fund and former-hedge fund managers Dan Loeb and Julian Robertson, according to New York Daily News.

Great Schools Massachusetts, the coalition that organized last Wednesday’s lift-the-cap rally and includes Families for Excellent Schools, did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Charter opposition organizes

Opposing lifting the caps is a coalition that includes American Federation of Teachers-Massachusetts, Massachusetts Teachers Association, Citizens for Public Schools, the New England NAACP and other groups, said Tom Gosnell, president of AFT-MA.

Yet an official pro-cap campaign is yet to be formed, said Russ Davis, executive director of Massachusetts Jobs with Justice. JWJ is a member organization of the Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance, a group that seeks to keep the cap.

While staff members from some organizations who oppose the cap lift are handling current efforts around the issue, there is no official pro-cap campaign staff or budget. During December, the group will meet to plan its campaign structure and activities.

“We don’t have anyone working for the campaign at this point,” Davis said.

Davis could not predict what level of funds the pro-cap campaign will be able to raise, but said he expects support to come from national unions and teachers unions. No one predicts the funding will match the level attained by the pro-charter school campaign.

“Right now, activities we’re engaging in don’t require significant funding,” said Gosnell.

Focus on conversation

The opponents to lifting the cap are focused on two things: building grassroots support and speaking to the Legislature.

The Legislature is on break from formal sessions until the new year, making this a critical time to speak with lawmakers about the need to keep the cap, said the AFT-MA’s Gosnell. How the Legislature chooses to act will be significant in shaping the pro-cap coalition’s plans.

“Talking with members of the Legislature is first and foremost our most important activity,” he said. The House and Senate could move on the issue before it goes to ballot next year.

Members of the group have testified before the Joint Education Committee.

Marlena Rose, coordinator for Boston Education Justice Alliance, said coalition supporters are going door to door to have conversations and spread the word about what lifting the cap could mean for district schools.

Other efforts include community forums with testimony from parents whose children found a better match in district schools than in charter schools. These parents, Rose said, came from the listserv sent to member organizations or from the organizations themselves.

Gosnell said support was strong for keeping the charter school cap.

“We have a lot of grassroots support, certainly in excess of 150,00 supporters,” he said. “I would say in excess of 200,000 people.”

Grassroots?

Opponents of lifting the cap have questioned the genuineness of the support seen at pro-charter rallies.

At Wednesday’s rally, parents spoke of the differences charter schools had made in their children’s lives, and called for an end to the cap. Rose said parents she met at the event seemed to be expressing pre-prepared messages.

At the event, a parent was speaking at a podium while Rose spoke with another parent about her experiences.

“She said, ‘The Boston Public Schools are failing our students’ and at the same time I’m hearing the speaker up there saying ‘Boston Public Schools are failing our students,’ like there’s a script ingrained in the parents,” Rose said.