EDUCATION
CommonWealth Beacon explores the dynamics of the state’s K-12 and higher education systems, from their foundational pillars to current debates over how to ensure quality educational opportunity for all.
Bill to prioritize teacher quality over seniority faces uphill battle
The proposal aims to revise how districts decide which teachers get laid off when budgets shrink or enrollment drops.
Suit to block Education Department closure expanded amid agency transfers plans
In May, a federal judge in Massachusetts granted a preliminary injunction in the consolidated case, blocking the administration’s efforts, including a reduction in force effort at the agency.
Half of Holyoke’s middle school students started the year at a new school. The other half were ‘left behind.’
In 2019, Holyoke set out to build two new middle schools. But after months of heated debate, the ballot measure to fund the project was voted down by the community. Some say the outcome is a testament to how limited fiscal capacity, insufficient state funding, and local tax constraints work to prevent Gateway Cities from building equitable, modern school facilities.
SJC considers whether charter schools must obey public records laws
The Mystic Valley Regional Charter School, in rebuffing at least 10 public records requests for information on various aspects of its operations, insists that it is not covered by the sweeping statute guaranteeing public access to the records of government entities.
Mass. faces grim reality of fewer international students
Massachusetts’s schools have recruited higher proportions of international students than colleges and universities almost anywhere else because of a demographic decline and the comparatively high cost of higher education here. But even before the second Trump administration, there were signs the bottom was falling out.
State school building program favors wealthier districts, leaving lower-income urban students in aging, dilapidated buildings, according to new study
Despite efforts by the Legislature aimed at adequately funding school building projects, “students in Boston and the Gateway Cities continue to learn in buildings that are deteriorating, lacking in basic features, and often cramped and overcrowded,” according to a new report by the MassINC Policy Center.
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