“Gov. Charlie Baker reignited a debate on Thursday that has vexed and divided Democrat and Republican lawmakers in recent years, proposing an expansion of charter schools that would be targeted toward the lowest performing districts statewide.

Baker chose the Brooke Charter School in Mattapan, in the district of Education Committee Co-Chair Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, to lay out a case and proposed path forward to expand and more closely align charter schools with traditional public school districts.

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Baker's pitch, and the expected push from the administration to get the Legislature to act by next summer, makes good on a campaign promise to fight for a charter school expansion in the face of critics both on and off Beacon Hill who argue that charters siphon important financial resources away from traditional public schools.

‘As I stand here today, there are 37,000 kids who want to get in to a charter school, 37,000 families who simply want ... something bigger and better for their children,’ Baker said, later indicating that he could be willing to negotiate with legislative opponents over the funding issues that doomed a bill in the Senate last year.”