Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research

The Trust Deficit GrowsBoston’s proposed school assignment plan

Obama v. Patrick

Jim StergiosBy Jim Stergios
May 5th, 2009


No, silly. There is not going to be a lawsuit just because the President isn’t going to nominate His Excellency the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (HETG to the BlueMassGroupies, see line 3). It’s that HETG has not once, to my knowledge, ever recognized charter schools during National Charter School Week. And below follows the proclamation made by POTUS.

Hmmm, perhaps HETG v. POTUS is a catchier title for a blog entry. While pondering such imponderables, let me cue the presidential proclamation:

Improving our schools is the collective responsibility of all Americans—business owners and workers, educators and parents, students and their communities. We must ensure that all students receive a high-quality education that delivers the knowledge and skills needed to succeed, and that young men and women stay on the path to graduation and a life-long commitment to learning.

Many successful public charter schools across the Nation are working to meet these goals. Founded by parents, teachers, and civic or community organizations, our Nation’s public charter schools enjoy broad leeway to innovate.

The best public charter schools and their students are thriving in States that have adopted a rigorous selection and review process to ensure that autonomy is coupled with greater accountability. The growth of effective public charter schools benefits our children, and States have an important role to play in their expansion.

During National Charter Schools Week, we recognize these public charter schools for their dedication and commitment to achievement in education. They are models of excellence and are promoting the interests of our children, our economy, and our Nation as a whole.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 3 through May 9, 2009, as National Charter Schools Week. I commend our Nation’s successful public charter schools, teachers, and administrators, and I call on States and communities to support public charter schools and the students they serve.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

BARACK OBAMA

Entry Filed under: News

1 Comment Add your own

  • 1. R.J. O'Hara  |  May 11th, 2009 at 11:46 pm

    I am interested in education reform at the college and university level — in particular, reform of the administrative divisions of student affairs and residence life that have grown rapidly in recent decades and become completely detached from academic life, especially in large universities, both public and private.

    Readers interested in charter schools might be interested in this recent post of mine, developing an analogous idea of “charter (residential) colleges”:

    http://collegiateway.org/news/2009-charter-schools-charter-colleges

    This is not a *curricular* proposal — rather, it is a proposal to gradually replace the large, centralized housing bureaucracies on many university campuses with small, permanent, non-profit residential societies that provide educational and social support to students. There are a number of existing precedents (including one in Boston), and this is in fact not far from the original concept of a “college” (as distinct from a university) as it existed centuries ago.

    Given the Commonwealth’s many colleges and universities, and our strong philanthropic community, Massachusetts ought to be fertile ground for the growth of more independent, residential, collegiate societies of this kind.

    —Bob O’Hara, Fitchburg

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