davis_square | Proposed new charter school

There is a proposal for a new charter school in Somerville. The state (DESE) will be reviewing the application for the next few weeks and will possibly grant the charter on February 28th. If granted this charter school will undermine the existing Somerville Public Schools by reducing school funding by nearly $5 million a year, which is almost 10% of the current school budget. This cut in funding will lead to devastating cuts in public school programs, loss of 60 -75 teachers, and potentially closure of an entire school. This would represent a huge set back for public education in Somerville, setting back much of the progress that has been made in our schools in the last 25 years.

There will be a public hearing by the DESE on this on December 14 2011 at Somerville High School. More info can be found at:

https://sites.google.com/site/progresstogetherforsomerville

http://www.thesomervillenews.com/archives/21168

http://www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.aspx?id=6532

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

At the moment, 66% of Somerville district public school students are eligible for subsidized school lunches, meaning that their family income is below 1.85 times the "official" poverty level (that comes out to ~$31K for a family of four). I'm sure all of their parents would be thrilled to take time off work to support a DIY home schooling program without any government involvement at all. =/

Sources:
http://projects.propublica.org/schools/districts/2510890
(which is a highly interesting ~~waster of my work day~~ information source in general), and
http://www.doe.mass.edu/cnp/nprograms/nslp.html

Proposed new charter school

Re: Watch Waiting for Superman!