A ballot committee opposed to the expansion of charter schools in Massachusetts released a new TV ad Thursday arguing that charter schools take away money from public schools.
The ad was unveiled as charter school proponents released a new study arguing just the opposite.
"When local schools are forced to eliminate librarians and school bus service, increase class sizes, or lay off special education assistants because of the money lost to charter schools, it hurts the 96 percent of students who remain in their local public schools," said Juan Cofield, president of the New England Area Conference of the NAACP and chairman of the Campaign to Save Our Public Schools, the ballot committee opposing charter school expansion.
But Eileen O'Connor, a spokeswoman for Great Schools Massachusetts, the ballot committee supporting charter school expansion, said, "Voters deserve to be told the truth - and the truth is that Question 2 will increase public education funding and give parents more opportunity to choose the best school for their kids."
The ad from the Campaign to Save Our Public Schools features Monique Burks, a mother from Dorchester.
"I just want what's best for my kids," Burks says in the ad. "When I hear arguments that Massachusetts needs more charter schools, I think, 'What about the students in all of our schools?' Every new charter takes away more money from the existing public schools."
The ad states that charter schools took $400 million away from district public schools last year.
The ad campaign is paid for primarily by teachers' unions, who are leading the opposition to the ballot question.
The ballot question would allow the state to approve up to 12 new charter schools a year outside of an existing cap on charter school spending.
One major issue in the campaign is funding. When a student attends a charter school, the tuition money to educate that child moves from the district school to the charter school, although the district is reimbursed for a short time during the transition.
Opponents of charter school expansion say that the district schools have fixed costs, like building maintenance, that do not vary based on student population, so the money they lose to charter schools hurts them.
But supporters of charter school expansion respond that charter schools add more money cumulatively to public education. In Massachusetts, charter schools are considered public schools and must be approved by the state, even though they operate under different rules from district schools. So if one counts charter schools as public schools, the charter schools receive the tuition money and the districts receive a temporary reimbursement - effectively putting more money into the entire system.
A study released this week by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think-tank, found that in 2016, charter schools in Massachusetts added $85 million to the public education system. The same study found that there is no evidence that having more charter schools in a district lowers performance at the local public schools.
Update 10 a.m.: Great Schools Massachusetts launched its own new TV ad on Friday featuring school teacher Krista Fincke. Fincke says in the ad that expanding charter schools will make public education in Massachusetts stronger by giving parents access to more choices for their children's education. The ad states that expanding charter schools will add more money to public education in Massachusetts. Watch the full ad here: