Remove roadblocks for charter schools

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.

Maine Tries to Ignore a Clear Supreme Court Ruling on Education

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.

Charter schools leading the way with in-person instruction

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.

Tax credit scholarship program would give Catholic schools fighting chance

/
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.

Voc-tech schools thriving despite pandemic strictures

/
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.

Education tax credits don’t cost taxpayers a cent

/
This op-ed has appeared in WGBH News, The Providence Journal,…

Education tax credit programs extend choice to families who can’t afford private schools or to move to a tony community

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

A Well-Deserved Glimmer of Hope for Massachusetts Catholic Schools

/
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.

When The Commonwealth Pays The Education Bill, It Should Get A School Committee Say

/
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.

Education business ruled by teachers’ unions truly terrifying

/
This op-ed originally appeared in The Worcester Telegram &…

Tackling equity at Boston’s exam schools

/
By Jim Stergios August 2, 2019 This spring, The New York Times…

The Supreme Court Is Set To Decide Whether Religious Kids Are Allowed A Good Education

/
Thanks to Kendra Espinoza, a determined Montana mom, the U.S. Supreme Court will take up and hopefully strike down the infamous legacy of state Know-Nothing and Blaine amendments. From Massachusetts to Michigan and across the nation, this case has the potential to overturn a century and a half of state constitutional discrimination against religious families and their quest for the most suitable and effective education for their children.

Guglielmo Marconi and the importance of innovation and choice in education

/
By Jamie Gass and Ze'ev Wurman May 1, 2019 This op-ed appeared…

A Whale Of An Education Battle Rocks New Bedford

/
“[A] whale-ship was my Yale College and my Harvard,” reads…

Setting a High Bar at Alma del Mar

/
Alma del Mar Charter School in New Bedford, MA, is fighting for…

Op-ed: Charters, Unions, And Public School Funding

/
Read this full op-ed on WGBH News. In the midst of the 2016…

Op-ed: A Novel Solution To An Old Problem

/
By Tom Birmingham  | The Boston Pilot  |  December 15, 2017 We…

Op-ed: Let’s return to educational liberty

/
Read this op-ed in The New Bedford Standard Times, The Lowell…

Op-ed: Will district schools embrace charter-like reforms?

/
This op-ed appeared in CommonWealth magazine. TOM BIRMINGHAM…

Op-ed: State should expand METCO

/
By Cheryl Brown Henderson and Jim Stergios The Boston Globe…

Op-ed: Will DeVos avoid the Beltway education trap?

/
By Jim Stergios and Charles Chieppo Read this op-ed online…

Op-ed: Challenge and Opportunity for Catholic Education

/
Given our desire to do as much as we can, especially to help poor urban kids participate fully in the American Dream, we need to provide them with access to school choice options: charter schools; vocational-technical schools; private and parochial schools; and METCO. Choice is what the privileged have for their children. Why shouldn't everyone have access to high quality academic options?

Op-ed: Vote ‘yes’ on Question 2

/
This excerpt is from an op-ed published on Oct. 18, 2016 in The…

Op-ed: Mass. charters fight racial oppression

/
By Sephira Shuttlesworth By 1959, my late husband, the Birmingham,…

Op-ed: Charter and district schools need not be adversaries

/
By Thomas Birmingham This op-ed appeared in the New Bedford…

Op-ed: State plays politics over charters

/
it’s time for Massachusetts to stop playing political games with the charter authorization process.

Guest Opinion: Time to end Know-Nothing legacy once and for all

/
We should expel the Know-Nothings’ anti-Irish-Catholic amendment from the Massachusetts constitution, and remove bigoted Governor Gardner’s portrait from a position of prominence in our Statehouse.

Worcester Telegram & Gazette: Ed reform truly is matter of civil rights

/
By Sephira Shuttlesworth (This op-ed originally appeared in the…

WGBH: METCO Matters As Never Before

/
Six decades ago, the Supreme Court’s unanimous Brown v. Board…

The Boston Globe: Madison Park school needs autonomy to succeed

/
Madison Park school needs autonomy to succeed By Jim Stergios |…