The "Great Schools Massachusetts" campaign has come to New Bedford.

About a dozen organizers and parents rallied at Clasky Park on Wednesday in support of lifting the cap on charter schools in Massachusetts.

Field coordinator Brendan Kennedy says the campaign has targeted districts where public schools are under-performing. "When you look at somewhere like New Bedford that has 60% of their third grade students reading below their grade level, to me it speaks to a need to act today," said Kennedy.

Mercy Nunez / Jim Phillips TSM
Mercy Nunez / Jim Phillips TSM
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Mercy Nunez of New Bedford says her eight year old daughter is not making the progress she would like in the public schools. Nunez wants to see her in a charter school setting instead. "It will be better because there will be less kids in the classroom, and the teacher will be able to pay more attention to the kids," said Nunez.

Nunez added, her daughter has been on a waiting list at the Alma Del Mar Charter School for four years. She's one of 37,000 children on waiting lists for charter schools in Massachusetts.

"Great Schools Massachusetts" is collecting signatures in hopes of getting a question on the November 2016 ballot, asking voters to lift the cap on charter schools in the state.

Critics of charter schools say they take critical funding away from the public schools.

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