30-04-2025
AG Campbell urges state board to finalize vocational education reforms
BOSTON (SHNS) – As the House weighs a long pause on an overhaul of the admissions process for vocational and technical schools, advocates pushing the reforms gained a powerful supporter.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell filed a public comment letter on Friday, April 18, with the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voicing her support for regulations they are considering from Gov. Maura Healey's administration to change vocational education admissions to a lottery system.
Demand for the programs, which train students in the trades, outpaces supply. Reform supporters have argued that the admissions process disproportionately leaves limited slots out of reach for students of color, English language learners, students with disabilities or those from low-income families.
The board is set to vote May 20 on new regulations to require career technical schools with waitlists to use lotteries when selecting students, the culmination of years of debate over the subject.
However, the House Ways and Means Committee is trying to intervene.
They included this month in their annual budget bill a policy section to press pause on admissions reform. CTE schools and some lawmakers have spoken against the proposed regulations with concerns that schools have to use criteria such as disciplinary records, absences and candidate interviews to determine if a student is ready to be in a different environment than a typical classroom.
The House Ways and Means budget would create a task force to review the schools' policies with a report due in September 2026 — and prohibit DESE from releasing regulations during next year's school year or the admissions cycle for the following year.
Campbell is warning against delays.
'I urge the Board to act with urgency to finalize the proposed regulations,' her letter in support of the reforms says. The letter was filed two days after the House Ways and Means budget bill was released.
Attorney General's Public Comment on CTE Admission RegulationsDownload
She said the regulations 'take meaningful steps toward equal access to CTE programs for all of our middle school graduates,' and that the board and department 'carried out a thoughtful and comprehensive process to develop the proposed regulations, welcoming and considering all viewpoints, conducting a rigorous review of the CTE admissions data, and facilitating respectful dialogue and debate on a topic vital to the young people of our Commonwealth.'
The House will likely amend and approve its budget this week, including the outside section to delay the admissions reform. It'll then be up to the Senate to decide on whether they agree in halting the regulations.
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