The unanswered question

By Jim Stergios
July 10th, 2008

“Do they deserve tickets out too?” That was the question posed to then candidate Deval Patrick by David Gergen during the October 19 gubernatorial debate. He was referring to school choice and public charter schools — chances that were made available to Mr. Patrick as a child, and choices that Governor Patrick has made for his own children.

The relevant portion of the debate:

Moderator: Mr. Patrick, you talked about the need for change. I’d like to ask you, sir, about the change in public education. This question: when you were young, you won a scholarship to go off to the Milton Academy. You essentially won a ticket out of poorly-performing public schools to go to a private school where you blossomed and you have a stirring life story. Why sir, then are you so opposed to giving tickets to children who are now in public schools in Massachusetts who might want to go to a charter school or they might want a voucher. Do they deserve tickets out too?

Patrick: Well, I’ll tell you, first of all, I’m not opposed to charter schools. I think they have a critical role to play in education reform. We’ve been on this journey, I think we ought to continue on this journey.

Moderator: Right, but what about the question - there’s a lid, as you know, on charter schools. You’re opposed to lifting the lid.

Patrick: I’m coming to that and I think we can lift the cap on the number of charter schools, David, when we fix the funding formula, and it’s broken right now. What it creates is an unnecessary and I think, unhelpful tension between the families of the kids in district schools- traditional public schools- and the families of kids in charter schools. And it disserves both. It seems to me that if the state is going to support this element of education reform - and I think that’s important - then the state has to step up and provide the kind of funding that makes both charter schools and district schools flourish. That’s one point. Second point I’d make is, I want the best innovations that come from the best charter schools- and they’re not all great, but the best of them- to be imported into the district schools- whatever that takes. And I will tell you, having talked with teachers and parents and kids, frankly, who are in the district schools, and many who are in the charter school movement- they want that collaboration, too. That’s a leadership issue.

Ross: Yeah, I think, Deval, it’s interesting when I hear you say things like that because I’ve been in many debates with you and that’s the first time I’ve heard you say that maybe someday we’ll lift the cap.

Yep, it’s a leadership issue. And a campaign promise. A year and a half into the administration’s tenure, we have had numerous education task forces and an unwieldy set of proposals, many of which are still in the trial balloon stage.

The key question on the table is the achievement gap. Charters have outperformed district schools and pilot schools in urban districts. We need some urgency — the same kind of urgency we all have for our children. More years, more talk, more task forces, will not do.

It seems Grace Ross was prescient on this one.