DESE

In late October, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education received an annual report from its Racial Imbalance Advisory Council. Massachusetts’ landmark school desegregation law created the council in 1965.

Massachusetts ranks each public school and district. Our accountability system designates them as “school of recognition” or “meeting or exceeding targets” at the top, opposite “focused/targeted support” and “broad/comprehensive support.” The last carries the dreaded “chronically underperforming” tag.

Last month, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education heard MCAS scores trended down. Better data was expected following a recent cash infusion kicking-in and the end of the pandemic.

Last week, test scores reported to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education missed the mark. The accountability system designed to ensure ever-improving outcomes is falling short.

As schools shut down for the pandemic in 2020, evaluators from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education finished their six-year review of the Brockton Public Schools. The reviewers were critical of the district.

Adequate education opportunity, according to state statute, is formulaic. It’s been so since 1993, when the Education Reform Act was passed within a week of the Supreme Judicial Court’s McDuffy ruling. The enforceable duty to “cherish the … public schools” was fulfilled by billions allocated annually in Chapter 70 aid.

Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper announced a $1.4 billion budget for the 2023-2024 school year — an increase of $65 million over the previous year.

With just five months left in Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration, Baker and Education Secretary James Peyser made a move that raised eyebrows, replacing two members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), the body that votes on state policy and decides who will serve as commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

Massachusetts Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Jeff Riley last week recommended the state’s board of education label the Boston Public Schools an underperforming district, a designation that would give him the authority to approve an improvement plan for the district.

With the threat of a state intervention hanging over the city’s schools, local education activists suspect Education Commissioner Jeff Riley may seek to target a cohort of Boston schools for state takeover.

In a textbook example of gaslighting, the Jan. 25 Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) board meeting showed a complete disconnect with and disregard for the impact of COVID policies on families and school communities across the state.