(NECN) – In Massachusetts, a debate is brewing over whether or not more charter school classrooms should be made available to residents.
Paul Grogan, CEO of the Boston Foundation, and Ed Doherty of the Massachusetts-based American Federation of Teachers, joined NECN to debate the topic.
Grogan says that teacher unions want to restrict the number of charter schools there are because charters are not union.
Meanwhile, a Stanford study shows that one year in a charter school is equivalent to two years at a public school.
“The defenders of the existing system don’t want to see this alternative take root and grow, but the performance of the charters is so staggering,” Grogan said.
Doherty disagrees. He says there are plenty of other studies that show charter schools do no better than other schools when they are teaching the same students.
He also says there are financial reasons to put the cap on charter schools, as Boston will lose $87.5 billion to charter schools this year.
Politics
Grogan and Doherty debated other elements of charter schools such as the lottery process of being accepted and the benefits of the education to students.
