CONSTITUTIONAL LAW—THE DIVERSION OF PUBLIC EDUCATIONAL FUNDS TO CHARTER SCHOOLS: CONSTITUTIONAL IMPLICATIONS IN MASSACHUSETTS

Authors

Kaitlin Pomeroy-Murphy

Abstract

Throughout the country, charter schools have been advanced as the solution to the nation’s failing educational system. In almost every state, charter school laws have been enacted and charters established as an alternative educational option to public schools. However, great controversy surrounds whether charter schools have positively contributed to the public educational system, and whether they should truly be considered public schools at all. Due to this, various states around the country have seen constitutional challenges to their individual charter school statutes. This Note examines the charter school funding schematic and its negative consequences on public schools, specifically in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This Note argues that Massachusetts case law serves as a foundation for a constitutional challenge to charter school funding within the state, as charter schools effectively deny public school students their established state right to an adequate education as a result of their diversion of public school funding.

Recommended Citation

Kaitlin Pomeroy-Murphy, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW—THE DIVERSION OF PUBLIC EDUCATIONAL FUNDS TO CHARTER SCHOOLS: CONSTITUTIONAL IMPLICATIONS IN MASSACHUSETTS, 40 W. New Eng. L. Rev. 331 (2018), https://digitalcommons.law.wne.edu/lawreview/vol40/iss2/6