Though this race hasn’t gotten a lot of attention, the race for the 6th Middlesex District House seat heated up a lot this week when both the MetroWest Daily News and The Boston Globe endorsed Dawn Harkness, a Democrat running against incumbent Pam Richardson. Pam Richardson is an incumbent but actually has never won a Democratic Primary race before, having simply emerged from a caucus that was held in a rushed-race after Debby Blumer’s unexpected passing.
Harkness has been wrapping up endorsements from many, and they speak volumes:
1. From Debby Blumer’s family.
2. From former 22 year State Rep. Barbara Gray.
3. From The Boston Globe.
4. From The MetroWest Daily News.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the incumbent was upset in this one… sure should be an interesting night on Tuesday!
pablo says
Hello, yawn, and welcome to BMG. Interesting first diary.
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p>Here is the heart of the Globe endorsement.
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p>If Framingham wants someone who will advocate for diverting town funds to charter schools, they will vote for Harkness. If Framingham wants someone who will fight for funding for the public schools, they will vote for Pam Richardson.
goldsteingonewild says
I work for a charter school, (and my esteemed charter debating opponent Pablo works for a district), so take my (and his?) comment with the appropriate grain of salt, but…
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p>Last week Obama called to double federal funding for charter public schools. He’s an unabashed supporter.
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p>I suppose Obama, along with the Globe, is with Harkness (whoever Harkness is).
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p>And Hillary Clinton is with Harkness in supporting charters.
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p>But, in fairness, Pam Richardson DOES stand with Dennis Kucinich on charters.
pablo says
To put it frankly, I am not opposed to charters. The nuance in this argument is where the funding comes from and how charters are accountable to the public.
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p>Harkness agrees with James Peyser, that charters should be granted by the state and funded by garnishing local aid accounts. I think that model is flawed.
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p>I think charters should be approved by the people who pay the bills. If the state wants charters that are independent of local school districts, they should be paid for with a line item in the state budget.
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p>I just want a level playing field and some public accountability. Pam Richardson shares that belief. Dawn Harkness opposes it.
yawn says
I was at the first debate for this election and Pam Richardson announced that she had changed her position on charter schools. It actually is not clear that she supports the legislation she filed at the beginning of the session any longer.
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p>I would link to the debate but I can’t find it online. Do you have something that indicates how she feels about charters since she announced her position has changed?
yawn says
This actually was not the heart of the endorsement, I thought the heart was something along the lines of:
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pablo says
I sat in the same room with Debby and Pam Richardson, working on reforming charter schools. The legislation that Pam filed for charter schools was the legislation that Debby promoted in previous years. Debby was one of the strongest advocates for public education, and a very reliable advocate for the positions that Pam Richardson and I have shared for as long as I have known them.
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p>Pam Richardson is a good friend, and a strong advocate for public education and the town of Framingham. I have known her since she was a school committee member, and chair of the Massachusetts Association of School Committee’s advocacy subcommittee. She’s smart, determined, effective, and the charter school industry can’t wait to get rid of her.
yawn says
What’s interesting about this discussion relative to charter schools is that Pam Richardson’s position is actually unknown, so it’s not a Dawn is in favor and Pam is against argument.
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p>Although it is very clear that Pam was elected as an opponent, she said at a recent candidates forum that “my position on charter schools has changed” and that “after visiting charter schools in Boston” she is supportive of those charter schools when asked a question about the funding. (I would link but the debate is not online.)
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p>Also, an exploration of the issues page on her website is both strange because it gives not positions on issues, but summaries of bills, and confusing because on charter schools, all of the bill numbers she mentions do not match up with the actual bills, so there’s no way to learn more about these bills.
sjazz says
In the interest of full disclosure, this is Adam Blumer, and both my father and I have been working for Dawn all summer because we think she will bring passion, hard work on the details, and independence to the position. We think she has the potential to be a valuable addition to the statehouse, especially with her knowledge of environmental issues.
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p>Dawn has been very clear in debates and onlne about her position on charters. (one of the other things I really like is how she talks to people and answers position questions–check her Q and A for examples). She makes 2 points.
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p>1. She believes in the idea of charters because she thinks parents should have as many choices as possible for their child’s education.
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p>2. At the same time, she talked about the issues we all see with the funding mechanism that takes far more money away from district schools than they save and the fact that the sharing of replicable best practices promised by blindly pro-charter folks has fallen far short of the reality. She has a nuanced approach here that is emblematic of her approach to any issue.
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p>Again, as others have said. Ms. Richardson did move far off an absolute anti-charter stance in her first debate in June. As someone who has watched this race intimately, I think one would be challenged to find a significant difference between the two on education- at least by their most recent statements. Interestingly, Ms. Richardson has also talked positively in the last two debates (both held in the last two weeks) about regionalizing schools as an education approach, though I am not sure what this would look like or even what it would do.
-Adam Blumer
sharonmg says
I was at this morning’s candidate forum. And I’d like to say that I was extremely pleased at the level of discussion about various issues facing the town and the state.
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p>I jotted down a few notes, although nothing detailed since I wasn’t planning on writing a story or post about it. There was a question on charter schools.
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p>The largest difference in viewpoint on the issue that I noted, was that Dawn Harkness said that every community can decide if it wants charter schools. Pam Richardson responded that communities don’t have the choice — our town officials didn’t, our elected reps didn’t, and our school committee didn’t.
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p>I’m not sure exactly how the mechanics of this work, but it’s my understanding that as a taxpayer, I have no say in whether a charter school is created, whether it should be funded, or how it should be run. Again as I understand it, a few people got together and decided to start one in Framingham, and the rest of us had no say in whether the school made sense for our community, and whether we believed our state education reimbursements should funneled to this additional school.
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p>Overall, though, I didn’t get the sense that charter schools was the most important issue of the day for many of the people attending the forum. The one issue that the moderator gave extra time for responders was SMOC.
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p>And I don’t recall any of the candidates mentioning charter schools when asked what the most important issues were facing the town and the state (maybe they did and I just don’t remember). However, making state revenue-sharing formulas more equitable in general definitely did come up.
pablo says
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p>That’s why the Juniper Hill School closed. Suddenly, there was a $1 million drain on the Chapter 70 local aid that had no support from town meeting or the school committee.
peter-porcupine says
I do not know your community situation, but I’ve always been puzzled by the opposition to charter schools.
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p>They ARE public schools. Most have admission by lottery, some with a sibling clause, i.e., if a sibling attneded and you want another child to attend, then they get in without winning the lottery. (Which is usually a LOT more applicants than slots.) The money is derived from a per capita studen cost – students from town A may bring in $5,500, students from less well managed town B may bring in $6,200 – which includes administrations costs. Transportation money does not follow to a charter school, so sometimes there is a ‘float’ the town keeps if student changes after the state transportation money is alloted.
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p>Charter schools DO have SPED students, they DON’T have quotas (wuith the exception of some which are specifically for black, female, etc.). Over the years, there has been a lot of deomonization and little actual exposure.
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p>I sent my youngest to a charter school, and was very pleased with the calibre of education received – far better than my local middle school. Lighthouse Charter has some of the highest test scores in the state, and is well run and performing.
pablo says
The charter school in Framingham is a middle school. The district took a hit of about $1 million, but the middle school enrollment didn’t decline to a point where cuts could be made. There are many reasons for this. One, the loss of a few kids at any one grade level in any one building does not create enough reduction in enrollment to allow a reduction in staffing. In addition, many students who move into a charter school are coming from parochial and other non-public schools, so money ends up following a child who was never in the budget.
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p>Closing Juniper Hill, and increasing class size in the other elementary schools, was the “least worst” means for dealing with the decline in enrollment.
ryepower12 says
won the globe endorsement on casinos.
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p>No thanks.
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p>I’d go with the person who doesn’t support casinos!
yawn says
There was one line in the piece re: casino and one line on charter school. That must have been it! The endorsement couldn’t possibly be the cumulative work of Harkness vs. Richardson…
ryepower12 says
but it’s a very, very logical conclusion – given the editorial page’s vocal stance on casinos in recent years. If both candidates had the same stance there, my guess is the Globe would have stayed out of the race.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
eury13 says
except how they’re funded. Right now they take money from regular public schools. It’s a shell game.
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p>Obviously parents want their children to get the best education, so if they have the opportunity to send them to a “better” school, they will. However, as students flee regular public schools and take the money with them, those regular public schools will only deteriorate further.
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p>The American public school system is built on the ideal that everyone gets a good education. Charter schools, school choice, vouchers, etc. are methods by which underperforming schools are further drained, hurting those who have no option other than to attend them.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
that a publically provided education can only be through the current system?
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p>Is the cuirrent system favored by the teachers’ unions’ so holy it cannot be changed.
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p>I don’t get the relationship between teachers’ unions and students’ and parents’ best interests.
sharonmg says
that as a taxpayer, I am obligated to fund every type of “parent choice” alternative school that any group of people comes up with, without any say in how those schools are funded? How many parallel school systems am I as a taxpayer required to fund without any say in what I think is reasonable? “Taxation without representation,” ring a bell?
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p>I am a firm believer in quality public education. If there is something wrong with the current public school system, fix it. Do not create a parallel system that must be funded along with the first one.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
that we have to keep throwing $$$ at educational systems that are not working. Where does it say that the tax payers should spend their education dollars only on teacher union endorsed programs?
Where does it say that the teachers’ unions speak for the students?
joe-viz says
There is something problematic with someone’s first few posts clearly promoting a candidate.
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p>It makes it of less value.
framingham-n-eggs says
I agree with you, Joe Viz, that there is something problematic with someone’s first few posts clearly promoting a candidate.
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p>It gives me a big MIGRAINE.