"Before I went to charter school, I didn't care," Ortiz said at the Statehouse yesterday, 43 days before she'll receive her diploma. "Now I'm here to support my school."

Faculty and parents from both Lowell charter schools, Lowell Middlesex Academy Charter School and Lowell Community Charter Public School, joined Ortiz and her 32 senior classmates yesterday, rallying with hundreds of other charter school advocates to raise the state's cap on charter-school funding.

The Lowell group later met with Reps. Kevin Murphy, D-Lowell, and David Nangle, D-Lowell.

"We want to expand to 1,200 students," said Senghap Roeun, the Community Charter School attendance supervisor. "But we can't add anymore because the cap is our limit."

The state limits charter-school funding to 9 percent of a city or town's school budget. As a result, charter schools can only take a limited number of students from any one community.

The House, debating its own version of the budget this week, decided not to adopt Gov. Deval Patrick's proposal to raise the funding ceiling to 12 percent as part of his 2010 budget.

Rep. Eugene O'Flaherty, D-Chelsea, and Sen. Jack Hart, D-South Boston, have proposed raising the cap to 20 percent in a separate bill, which now sits in the Committee on Education.

The Community Charter School, located on Jackson Street in Lowell, has 930 K-through-eighth-grade students, and about a 50-student waiting list. If the cap is raised, Rouen said the school could use its empty third floor to become a K-12 school, enrolling nearly 1,200 students.

But Murphy disagreed with calls to raise enrollment. "There is no conflict in Lowell," he told Community Charter School faculty and parents. "Raising the cap isn't going to help you."

For Middlesex Academy his words reigned true. Middlesex Executive Director Margaret McDevitt said, "It (The cap) doesn't impact us, but we want to be supportive... someday it might."

Middlesex Academy, located on Middle Street in Lowell, is a "second-chance" high school, accepting dropouts and "at risk" students. The school houses 110 students, but can fit 140, McDevitt said.

Seven Middlesex seniors praised their school.

"They care if you don't show up," said Sasha Ayala of Lowell. "I was absent for a week and they showed up at my house."

"They make you fill out college applications and financial aid, even if don't want to go to college," Sarah Potter said, "just in case you change your mind." Each senior will move on to college next year, a feat all seven said they wouldn't have achieved without Middlesex Academy.

But the biggest plus, according to the students, was the small classes. McDevitt said the average class size is 11 students.

"A lot of it is the connection you make," said history teacher Philip Hureau. "You must be able to reach them to teach them."

“Teachers actually care,” Ortiz said. The school’s assistant director, Nancy Arseneaux, had lent Ortiz $20 to catch the train to Boston after she missed the bus. “I really wanted to be here.”

Her friend Luis Torres quickly chimed in: “That’s what this school does to you.” 

Jack Nicas is a correspondent for the Lowell Sun, Berkshire Eagle, and Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise.