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Lawmakers To Weigh Charter School Expansion

House lawmakers are weighing a bill that would allow for an expansion of charter schools in Boston and several other communities, and require more struggling public schools to adopt turnaround plans.

The measure expected to be debated in the House on Wednesday calls for gradually raising the existing cap on charter school spending in underperforming school districts from 15 to 23 percent by the year 2022.

The legislation would also allow schools that are in danger of falling into underperforming status to be designated as "challenge schools," prompting implementation of two-year turnaround plans.

The bill emerged from the House after the Legislature's Joint Committee on Education failed to reach agreement on raising the charter school cap.

Critics of charter schools say they drain financial resources from traditional public schools.

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