Oped: School Choice

Worcester, Brockton, Fall River, New Bedford, and other Gateway Cities in Massachusetts have large waiting lists for charter schools plus room to expand under state caps. What's needed are ways to curb obstructionist behavior that is blocking that expansion.

As the U.S. Supreme Court takes up Carson v. Makin, the facts are clear. Maine has chosen to subsidize private education. As such, it cannot disqualify all religious schools from receiving public dollars under its school choice program.

Massachusetts charter public schools have lived up to their decades-long record of excellence during the pandemic, developing innovative ways to continue providing high-quality education by maximizing the number of students who can safely learn in person.

I am among the countless individuals whose lives have been shaped by Catholic education; in my case, it was attending high school at Austin Prep. Despite a stellar record, Catholic schools are facing a grim financial picture. But a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision gives new hope to the schools and to the many Massachusetts families with children who would benefit from attending them.

HANDS-ON EDUCATION plays a critical role at Massachusetts regional vocational-technical high schools, where students alternate weekly between academics and shop classes. Given that reality, you’d think the schools would be particularly hard hit by the switch to hybrid models under which students are in a physical school building only half the time. But thanks to innovative approaches to coping with pandemic-related restrictions, voc-techs are successfully bucking statewide public-school enrollment trends.

This op-ed has appeared in WGBH News, The Providence Journal, and Worcester Telegram & Gazette. In a republic based on the consent of the governed, there is a strong public interest in having an educated citizenry. Yet in Massachusetts, the cradle of public...

Thanks to the Supreme Court’s Espinoza ruling, many more students can reap the benefits of school choice

Enrollment in Archdiocese of Boston schools has increased by about 4,000 students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Combine that with a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court case that makes it easier to support the schools and it adds up to a well-deserved glimmer of hope for Catholic schools that have fallen on hard times despite their outstanding performance.

Local education officials were up in arms earlier this year when Pioneer Institute proposed giving the Commonwealth the power to appoint some school committee seats in urban districts that are mostly state-funded. It would be hard to imagine a better example of why we need to adopt that reform than the current mess in Fall River.

This op-ed originally appeared in The Worcester Telegram & Gazette and The Berkshire Eagle on October 29, 2019. By Ken Campbell and Jamie Gass “The dominant spirit… that haunts this enchanted region, and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers of...