IT MAY NOT BE at the level of Nixon-goes-to-China, when an inveterate cold warrior became the unlikely US president to establish diplomatic relations with a long-time communist foe. But Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s move earlier this week to take a Malden charter school to court over its refusal to comply with numerous public records requests carries a similar political undercurrent.
In this case, rather than a counterintuitive example of unlikely bedfellows, it’s a case of what some may regard as a clash of unlikely adversaries.
Going back to her days as a Boston city councilor, Campbell has been a strong supporter of charter schools. She argued that they serve a vital role for families in the largely Black neighborhoods of Dorchester and Mattapan that she represented, providing education options for those not confident in the Boston Public Schools who are unable to pay their way into a pricey suburb.
Campbell supported the 2016 state ballot question – which was soundly defeated – that would have raised the state cap on charter schools. While charter schools once enjoyed bipartisan support, the ballot question showed striking evidence of the emergence of a strong partisan divide on the issue, with more liberal, Democratic-leaning voters breaking strongly against the proposal. The campaign to defeat the ballot question was led and funded by teachers unions.
Campbell’s stand on charter schools may have cost her support among some left-leaning voters in her failed run for mayor in 2021, and in her successful Democratic primary campaign for attorney general last year.
Although Campbell made no reference to her past views on charters in announcing her action this week, her legal action against Mystic Valley certainly helps argue against any idea that she might be reluctant to take on charter schools when she thinks the facts warrant it.
In announcing her filing against Mystic Valley Regional Charter School, Campbell said the school received at least 10 different public records requests between January and November, 2022, from three different entities, refusing to provide records in all of the cases. The school, she wrote, has claimed “as a Commonwealth Charter School, it does not fall under the category of entities handling public documents.”
Campbell’s office is seeking a court order enforcing multiple rulings issued by the state supervisor of records, who works under Secretary of State William Galvin, that the school is, indeed, a public entity subject to the public records law.
Charter schools are independently run, but publicly funded. Campbell’s filing cites the state statute authorizing charters, which refers to them as “public schools” and makes clear that their board of trustees “shall be deemed to be public agents.” She wrote that the statute further states, “A charter school shall operate in accordance with its charter and the provisions of law regulating other public schools.”
Veteran political consultant Michael Goldman said the case is a perfect opportunity for Campbell to demonstrate her independence and willingness to look beyond any political loyalties, qualities he said are the essential mark of integrity for an attorney general. “You always want to be in a position where you can say, I make my decisions based on the facts and the law,” said Goldman.
While the filing may showcase Campbell’s independence, the Malden charter school has long been something of an outlier in the state’s charter school sector. The school has opted not to be a member of the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association, which issued a statement making clear that it believes charter schools are subject to the public records law.
“Massachusetts law is very clear that charter schools are public schools,” said Tim Nicolette, executive director of the charter school association, in a statement. “As such, charter public schools are subject to the requirements of the Massachusetts Public Records Law, which requires that all public entities – including public schools – respond to public records requests in a timely manner,”
Mystic Valley, which did not respond to a message seeking comment, has been the focus of controversy before.
The school faced blistering criticism over a dress code policy banning hair extensions, which are popular among Black students, a showdown that ultimately led to passage of a state law protecting their use by students. It also faced heat for citing a Muslim student for wearing a hijab in school – a move the school acknowledged it mishandled.
Given Mystic Valley’s history – and the effort by the state charter school association to distance itself from the school’s position in the public records standoff – Campbell’s action might not only be good for the AG but also welcomed by other charter schools, said Erin O’Brien, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
“I don’t think anyone’s saying that’s why she did it, but you can do the right thing and have it help you politically,” said O’Brien. “You can also be a charter school advocate and want to rein in bad actors, especially because bad actors in that space hurt the charter school movement.”