Why Talented Educators Leave Boston

Posted by Carol Coletta on September 14, 2008

Writing in today's Boston Globe, James A. Peyser, a partner with NewSchools Venture Fund, questions why so many talented educators, specifically those who have founded and led wildly successful charter schools, are leaving Boston for New York. He points out that while the city would be up in arms if it lost its most popular athletes, it is overlooking a far more important talent loss -- the loss of its most entrepreneurial and successful educators. Why are they going to New York? Because Massachusetts has a very tight cap on the number of charters it authorizes, unlike New York where schools chief Joel Klein is a charter advocate. Peyser is clearly a partisan and a frustrated one at that, but this is a good read. Even if you aren't a charter fan, you have to ask whether your community understands who its real education stars are and works to protect its talent.