Ed Expert: 18 months after Boston Public Schools narrowly avoided state takeover where do things stand?
Education expert provides update at half-way point of 36 month district-state agreement
In June 2022 Boston Public Schools (BPS) struck an agreement with the Massachusetts’ Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) that allowed the system to avoid a state takeover. Since then, BPS has reported that it has met nearly all of the requirements outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with DESE, but no outside organization has provided public monitoring and analysis of BPS’ progress to date.
Boston Policy Institute, Inc commissioned a report on the BPS-DESE MOU from education expert Erin Cooley to fill that gap. Cooley spent her career analyzing public school data and making public policy, including nearly six years at the Boston Public Schools. In addition to this report, BPI will publish additional updates from Cooley on the MOU, which runs until June 30, 2025.
Here is the start of Cooley’s report (entire version found here):
It has been more than a year since Boston Public Schools (BPS) narrowly avoided state takeover and signed an agreement with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) that required a series of check-points, documentation, deadlines, and follow through. In June 2023, DESE Commissioner Jeff Riley gave the district a grade of “incomplete” on its state-mandated improvement plan and hinted that Boston would be hearing more from him in the fall if greater levels of improvement did not materialize.
As we enter into the second half of the school year, and a timetable set by the Commissioner, let’s level-set. What is required from the partnership between BPS and DESE, what progress has the district made, and where does BPS stand as the second half of the school year is fast approaching?
This report’s release highlights the lack of recent updates about progress toward reaching the goals outlined in the MOU. In December, Wu administration officials were scheduled to update DESE’s board about the district's efforts to meet its goals, but that meeting was unexpectedly canceled. An update was not included on the agenda for DESE's January board meeting, and according to Contrarian Boston the public update has not been rescheduled. That makes the June 2023 DESE meeting where Commissioner Riley gave BPS a grade of “incomplete” the last public update on the district-state partnership for improvement.
BPI’s monitoring and analysis will provide important context as this school year continues, including on graduation rates for the class of 2023, the long-term facilities plan, the proposed changes to the John D. O’Bryant and Madison Park Vocational Schools, and BPS’ FY25 budget.
QUICK LINKS
BPS-DESE Report - read Boston Policy Institute, Inc’s latest report on where the MOU stands in January 2024
BPS-DESE MOU - read the agreement and additional documentation from DESE
June 2023 DESE Board Meeting - watch the meeting where Commissioner Riley made his “incomplete” comment, and read the agenda
Long-Term Facilities Plan - read the report through that link, and check out BPS’s website for more.
The MOU required that state and city leaders meet regularly - here are the agendas for the first 8 months of meetings, which were obtained through a public records request.
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