Board of education annual report gives hope and breathes new life into long-existing group

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.

In great detail, the Council’s full report documents the “stubborn persistence of racial segregation” in Massachusetts, arguing nonetheless this “is a problem that can be solved.”

The report finds that 63% of Massachusetts’ 1,811 public schools are segregated and highlights the overlap of racial and economic segregation, termed “double segregation.”

Research by The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston found “poverty segregation by race … is strongly associated with racial test-score gaps.” That is, racial achievement gaps worsen where minority students attend schools with higher percentages of low-income students.

RIAC also analyzes student outcomes for intensely segregated schools, where white or nonwhite student populations are concentrated at or above 90%. Three-quarters of intensely segregated nonwhite schools “are in Lawrence, with the rest in Boston, Chelsea, and Holyoke.”

The report and its findings were not discussed by BESE. A public commenter made the only mention in October’s meeting, defending the collaborative methods of past councils while echoing the new conclusions.

Authored in part by Chairman Raul Fernandez, Ed.D., the report’s publication was not a given.

He told The Banner of resistance to this “first in a generation report on school segregation.”

“DESE has not really been particularly helpful,” Fernandez lamented. “Quite the opposite. They were really trying to prevent us from getting it out there.”

Fernandez, who lectures at Boston University, recalled a 45- minute Zoom call where DESE staff tried “to convince me not to share that report with anybody.” He was told “this will be addressed better if you just don’t share this with anyone.”

The pushback Fernandez and his colleagues felt could have been anticipated. Their report is extensively researched, adamant about the problem and rhetorically uncompromising.

RIAC, he said, asked DESE’s data team for support and was denied. “It was all analysis of existing data that DESE has,” Fernandez explained, “and no one has, at any point yet, any issues with the data or analysis.”

The report states that the Board and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education have been “neglecting their oversight duties required by state law.”

Documenting early grade gaps between categories of segregated schools, the RIAC report also finds reason to hope. The gap between racially diverse schools and intensely segregated white schools is “virtually nonexistent” on the eighth grade ELA MCAS exam.

In all other data points analyzed, the disparities are predictable. “One could practically use race itself as a proxy for education outcomes,” the report reads. “It’s the conditions, not the kids.”

Racial diversity, Fernandez argues, facilitates “engagement with people with diverse perspectives.” Here and nationally, “the folks that have the least access to diverse perspectives are actually white students,” he said. “Societally, there’s a benefit.”

RIAC recommends educating minority families of their rights to transfer out of segregated schools and increasing funding for desegregation programs, inter-district school choice and METCO.

Bridging district lines is of the essence. When BESE discussed Springfield’s racial imbalance in 2005, the concentration of minorities was a “demographic reality” so “there is no way that Springfield’s schools can become racially balanced,” then-Commissioner David Driscoll told the board. In 2020, Springfield’s borders were identified as one of America’s most segregated.

Fernandez said the effect of inter-district school choice on racial imbalance is unknown. DESE does not “keep data on the race of” the 17,000 students who have transferred.

Regardless, school choice only provides the receiving district $5,000 per student. “It’s not really an incentive,” Fernandez said. “That’s not what it costs us to educate the kids.” Actual school spending per pupil is nearer to $18,000.

Fernandez contemplated Boston opting-in to school choice, boosting enrollment to offset BPS’s declines. Initial conversations ended at the thought of competition for exam school seats.

The report also recommends prioritizing Massachusetts School Building Authority funds to encourage continued desegregation.

The MSBA once could “directly consider how the projects they fund would increase racial balance within school districts,” he said. The critical funder “could be a major player.”

Backed by research, RIAC and Fernandez argue against a policy solution solely focused on school funding. Instead, he’s talking to education leaders about “the high concentration of high needs students into certain schools.” Next semester, he’s teaching a course on housing and school segregation.

Noting the Student Opportunity Act of 2019, Fernandez said, “Even with more resources” it will be “difficult for schools to meet the needs of all those students in a single learning environment.”

“It all starts with school quality,” Fernandez summarized. Disparate opportunities at different schools provide parents with certain incentives. “If you don’t have that, then you end up with winners and losers.”

Board Meeting Instructive

Kaharis McLaughlin, a former METCO board chair, served on RIAC in the last decade. She took umbrage to the report saying, “RIAC strayed from its course in recent years, becoming more of a diversity council than one focused on its charge to report on racial imbalance in our schools.”

Invoking “those of us who have spent years and years working with DESE as respectfully as we could,” McLaughlin called on BESE to “safeguard” the reputations of previous RIACs. She’s consistently brought issues to the board’s attention whenever it was relevant, while eschewing adversarial relations.

Even so, McLaughlin gave “credit to the group that wrote the report.”

“It got your attention around what was not happening in the system because the group decided to take it directly to the public.”

Later in the BESE meeting, Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia appeared with the receiver of Holyoke’s public schools, Anthony Soto. Mayor Garcia praised Acting Commissioner Russell Johnston’s recent move to provisionally un-designate HPS as chronically underperforming.

If all goes to plan, Holyoke could regain local control on July 1, 2025. BESE placed the district in receivership in April 2015, in accordance with the accountability system.

Garcia spoke of “lessons learned in this journey” and invited state education leaders to talk about a “pivot” in order to “be better when it comes to helping districts.” He appreciated all the work and partnership provided by the state.

Soto cited a 14% increase in graduation rates during the course of the receivership, the widespread adoption of high-quality instructional materials and a tripling of the number of teachers of color in Holyoke.

Holyoke’s Michael Moriarty, a BESE member, had earlier said that the accountability system was in a “worrisome and troubled place.”

“The outcomes we are seeing for the schools that we are taking out” of designation are “not what we aim for,” he said. A school in New Bedford may also exit its designation by late 2025.

Moriarty defended the Center for School and District Partnerships that offers turnaround assistance, while calling for more resources. “To meet our constitutional obligation,” Moriarty said, “there needs to be a serious rethinking of what’s effective.”

Mayor Garcia ultimately asked for a “different, higher-level conversation” about “support for gateway cities.” He’s looking for partnership from the Commonwealth, “rather than going into schools and having our educators solve neighborhood issues.”

BESE’s vice chair, Matt Hills of Newton, encouraged Holyoke’s mayor to be appreciative. “Please don’t underestimate the impact that political leadership and educational leadership has had on [Acting Commissioner Russell Johnston’s] decision-making on this.”