The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education had their monthly meeting on May 19 at Hudson High School, recognizing student representative to the Board Isabel Chamberlain. The agenda of the meeting is here; the video recording of the meeting is here.
The Board opened with public comment. There was public testimony from union leadership in Framingham and Brockton, as well as from MTA and AFT-MA, regarding the very difficult budget season many districts are experiencing. The Board was urged to get involved, acting as an ally to districts in getting “the best budget possible,” as well as a foundation budget review commission, to particularly capture inflation accurately and account for enrollment fluctuation. There was also concern expressed regarding the costs of regulatory changes already passed and of possible changes coming due to the graduation council; such costs, those testifying said, are not accounted for. There was also support for the graduation council expressed by MassInsight, particularly of common end of course assessments as “an objective, common measure” of student achievement.
MASC Rural Caucus Co-chairs Jessica Corwin of Sunderland and Frontier Regional School Committees and Martha Thurber of Mohawk Trail Regional School Committee spoke of the specific needs of rural schools, speaking of the ongoing advocacy of the Rural Caucus, and calling for the Board’s attention and support. They spoke of the “death spiral” of declining enrollment rural districts, which serve 3800 students statewide, saying that help is needed now for rural schools, that do not have five years to wait. The time, Thurber said, is now for Massachusetts to decide if rural schools are worth saving.
Chair Katherine Craven noted that Hudson High School, built prior to the creation of the Massachusetts School Building Authority, is the model for one of the model schools of the MSBA. She also told the Board that civics would be on the June agenda, in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Secretary Steve Zrike said that “see and celebrate excellence” has been part of his work of the past month. In addition to various celebrations, he also spoke of two Dean Tech graduates who are now teaching.
Commissioner Pedro Martinez spoke of the beauty of the state and of an early college celebration he attended, which he said he sees as part of the future of high school. He said that the Department is working to understand the recently released Education Scorecard from e Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) at Harvard University and the Educational Opportunity Project (EOP) at Stanford University, which is intended to track “recovery” from the pandemic within the education. He spoke at some length about Massachusetts, rated in the Scorecard as 11th in math, 15th in reading in recovery, is being “outperformed” by other states. He said, he wants “every student to know that they’re being prepared and ready to take advantage of all the amazing opportunities available.”
Hudson Public Schools welcomed the Board to Hudson. The welcome included students reading their works from the Hudson High School’s literary magazine, The Scribbler. While The Scribbler is not available online, the students reading their works can be appreciated in the video of the Board’s meeting.
The remainder of the meeting was chaired by Vice Chair Hills.
The Board next received a report on the Office of Planning and Research at the Department. Saying “consequential decision-making benefits from adopting a researcher’s mindset,” Matt Deninger, Associate Commissioner of Planning and Research, outlined the work of the OPR. Research is “one of the ways the Department tries to do its work responsibly” through research that is
“useful, methodologically sound, and legally and ethically responsible.” The Office has created and shared a research agenda, establishing priority research topics supporting the priorities of the Department. Researchers are also directed to the Researcher’s Guide for information. Four kinds of data are available: aggregate data at the school, district, and statewide level; non-confidential student level data; confidential student-level data; and individual-level data on educators. The research request portal for data that is not public centralizes such requests is “one of the most vibrant and active educational research portals in K-12 in the country.” The intent is to ground decision-making in the Department and by the Board in sound research.
An extensive list of research covering early literacy, multilingual learners, college and career readiness, the educator workforce, the whole student, and more was shared with the Board, along with some of the places that has touched the work of the Department and the Board. They also shared two specific examples of work in more depth: highly mobile students and implementation of high-quality instructional materials.
There was some discussion following the presentation on better sharing research with decision-makers, particularly, as noted by Member Kristen Smidy, Massachusetts is a local authority state.
The Board then received an update from CFO Bill Bell on the state budget, currently being deliberated by the State Senate. Bell was at pains to emphasize that not all updates make it into the printed materials, and rural aid is among the accounts closely followed by the Department. You can find MASC’s update on the proposed Senate Ways and Means budget here. The Board briefly discussed how they weigh in on the budget during the process; Secretary Zrike said he and the Commissioner work in tandem on that and would like to talk further with Board members.
The Board then moved to executive session to discuss strategy with respect to the following litigation, as an open session may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the public body: Doe et al. v. Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education and Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, Mass. Superior Court, C.A. No. 2481-CV-00994. As reported by State House News Service yesterday:
The case, filed in Middlesex Superior Court in 2024, is a class action suit alleging that the department fails to fulfill its statutory duty to provide special education services to incarcerated students with disabilities. Mass. Lawyers Weekly reported last month that the class action survived a motion to dismiss it in Superior Court, with a judge ruling DESE has a non-delegable duty to provide special education in jails
They did not return to open session.
The Board next meets on June 23 in Everett.