Until now, Brockton had succeeded in keeping charter schools out. But proponents each year have lobbied for an alternative to Brockton public schools.
Now the Baker Administration, a strong supporter of charters, has given a preliminary thumbs up to New Heights Charter School’s plans to open its doors for 700 students as early as August in Brockton— where public school reading scores and graduation rates have been rising in recent years.
Brockton Public School superintendent Kathleen Smith says the publicly funded charter will deplete her department’s resources:
"It becomes a drain, nobody wants to talk about that, but it's a drain on those very resources that we need to keep becoming--not a broken school district--but a school district that is performing well and serving the needs of its students," says Smith.
Smith will address her concerns at a State Board of Education public meeting on Tuesday in Malden.
