Latest news with #RussellJohnston
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Three finalists selected in search for new Mass. education commissioner
BOSTON (WWLP) – Following the departure of the acting Department of Elementary and Secondary Education commissioner, Massachusetts officials have narrowed down the pool for his replacement to just three names. Acting Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Russell Johnston took a superintendent job in the Philly suburbs at the end of March, leaving his position open once again. He took over as acting commissioner when former commissioner Jeffrey Riley left in March 2024, and the search for a permanent replacement has stretched on for over a year since. Massachusetts Economic Secretary to step down 42 candidates applied to be the new commissioner, and nine candidates were interviewed by a panel of educators and school administrators. Now, just three names remain: Jack Elsey, Lily Laux and Pedro Martinez. Elsey worked as Chief of Innovation and Incubation in Chicago and as an Assistant Superintendent in Detroit, and founded an initiative to address the teacher shortage in Michigan. Laux spent seven years as the Deputy Commissioner of school programs in Texas, working to ensure that student positive outcomes are prioritized. She currently serves as the executive director of a civic organization focused on ensuring equitable access to college and livable wages. Martinez, a former San Antonio superintendent, currently leads Chicago Public Schools. These finalist candidates will undergo a public interview process before the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education selects the candidate that will best fit with the Bay State's vision for the best public education in the country. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
The othering of a Lynn charter school
Advertisement You might think, then, that the state would be eager to let the academy expand. But think again. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up In a The fractious debate leading up to the board's rejection provides a bracing study in the intransigence and sometimes pretzel logic of the state's education establishment toward public charter schools, even very good ones. In last month's board meeting, the Lynn teachers union asserted that the academy did not meet state standards for adding charter seats — even though the department and the state school commissioner had Other opponents testified that because KIPP Academy has a lower percentage of English language learners than the heavily immigrant Lynn Public Schools, it was effectively leaving the district with the more difficult and expensive task of educating recent immigrants. While this may be partly true, the suggestion that the academy is siphoning off only more proficient or privileged students is a stretch. Admission is by lottery. Nearly a third of the school's new students this year are English language learners, according to the academy. And its overall student body mirrors Lynn's population, as nearly 90 percent of its students are Advertisement 'It's really incredible to see the results that this school is having on low-income students,' the acting state school commissioner, Russell Johnston, So what was the real reason for the fierce opposition? Lynn Mayor Jared Nicholson laid it on the table: money. If the KIPP Academy expansion went forward, he testified, Lynn Public Schools would lose $8 million in state aid over some unspecified number of years. That is because state funding But there is much debate over just how much public districts actually 'lose' in these situations. They no longer have to educate that student, which means their costs theoretically would go down too. Plus, the state pays 'transitional aid' to districts over three years to help them adjust when students move to charters. In the first year, that reimbursement is 100 percent of the aid that has been redirected to the charter; it declines to 60 percent in the second year and ends with 40 percent in the third. Nicholson argued that despite that reimbursement, the district would be hurt over time because it has fixed costs for personnel and capital projects. Charter school advocates counter that three years should be enough time for districts to adjust. They also note that if a public school student were to go to a parochial school or move to another town, the district would get nothing. Advertisement Moreover, Lynn is actually gaining students because of immigration. So even if the KIPP Academy expanded, the district would almost certainly have still received more state aid in the coming years. To be sure, public schools, from working-class Lynn to affluent Brookline, are facing severe financial stresses. Despite the infusion of education aid provided by the Pandemic disruptions also hurt school districts in lasting ways. In Lynn, performance on standardized tests fell during the pandemic, as it did everywhere. Though state law sets strict caps on charter seats, it allows charters to expand when the local district falls into the lowest 10 percent in academic performance. This happened in Lynn, opening the door to the KIPP Academy's application to grow. Nicholson said in an interview that by next year the district could be doing well enough to prevent KIPP from applying again for new seats. That seemed to be a winning argument with Tutwiler, who told the education board last month after his no vote: 'I cannot ignore the context in which we are making this decision. And it is a pandemic recovery context.' But what Tutwiler did not mention was the possibility that even if Lynn's performance improves, KIPP Academy's waiting list might remain long — as it has for several years now. Indeed, according to the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association, charter enrollment in the Commonwealth hit an all-time high this year at more than 46,000 students — even though enrollment is capped in many towns. At the same time, enrollment in public schools has Advertisement At last month's meeting, Tutwiler also voted against an uncontroversial expansion proposal from a Horace Mann Charter School in Boston, which passed despite his opposition, and another proposal from a high-performing math and science charter in Marlborough, even though it was for a mere 34-seat expansion. That one failed. His votes surprised some board members and raised concerns among charter advocates. Tutwiler has asserted that neither he nor the governor are dogmatically anti-charter. But if that is the case, the governor would do well to make her views clearer to the public. Beyond that gesture, the state and its more than 300 school districts should be having a more frank dialogue about containing costs and finding strategies to improve academic performance beyond spending more money. Many districts are facing the same problems; might there be statewide approaches to reducing the cost of busing students or educating new immigrants and students with learning disabilities? They should also be asking hard questions about why more families are searching for nontraditional alternatives — private, parochial, charter, and home schooling — to traditional public schools. So far, that discussion has too often 'othered' charter schools and their families, as Rhonda Barnes, executive director of the KIPP schools in Lynn and Boston, has described it. Indeed, Barnes felt she had to remind the board in February that her school is a public school and that her students are public school students too. Advertisement The state's acting school commissioner seemed to hear her plea, even if others on the board did not. The thousands of families on charter school waiting lists are asking for 'more public school options for their children,' Johnston told the board. 'We need to listen to our families.' Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
State education board weighing minimum coursework requirements
BOSTON (SHNS) – The Massachusetts Board of Education could advance draft regulations Tuesday in response to a voter-approved law that removed the requirement that students to pass the MCAS exam to graduate. The board is considering measures to clarify and streamline language that was written by the Massachusetts Teachers Association and approved by voters, by specifying minimum requirements of coursework students must still pass to earn the so-called competency determination (CD) to get state approval to earn a diploma. The voter law turned most decisions about whether a student graduates back to local districts. However, it maintained a statewide CD, leaving it to the state to draft regulations about what exactly it would look like for the state to certify that a student was eligible to graduate without a standardized assessment. The law uses language such as 'showing mastery' and 'satisfactorily completing coursework.' Education Commissioner Russell Johnston wrote in a memo that the department drafted regulations to define the terms. The new regulations specify that for English language arts, a student must 'satisfactorily complete coursework' in the equivalent of two years of high school English courses. For math, they must complete either Algebra I and geometry courses, or Integrated Math I and Integrated Math II. In science, a student would have to finish coursework in one year of biology, one year of physics, one year of chemistry, or one year of a technology or engineering course. The voter law also left wiggle room for the state board to add additional areas to the CD. The regulations they will vote on Tuesday would add United States history to the requirements beginning with the graduating class of 2027. Additionally, the draft regulations attempt to address procedural legal issues, such as removing references to students needing a qualifying score on the MCAS assessment from current regulations. One of the objectives of the ballot campaign was to give more power to the school districts to determine whether a student was eligible for a diploma. Some are considering still using the MCAS, which is still administered statewide even though it isn't used for a graduation standard, for their locally-approved graduation requirements. The Frontier Regional School District, which serves Conway, Deerfield, Sunderland and Whately, is among those considering this option. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has said this would be allowed under the new law. The amended regulations also offer up an option for students to take the MCAS to meet the CD under certain 'limited circumstances,' according to Johnston's memo. 'Some students who enroll in high school may not have a traditional transcript of their prior courses and grades. For example, some students may have been previously homeschooled or may have arrived from another state or country,' he wrote. In these circumstances, a student could pass the CD by getting a qualifying score on the MCAS, or by meeting the academic standards for an equivalent that the district certifies. This section also allows the DESE commissioner to waive a provision of the regulations for 'good cause,' upon a written request from a district. A local district's governing board would need to approve their new CD policy, under the regulations. Districts also have to make those policies available to the public online and submit them to the department. DESE plans to audit the quality of district CD policies, it adds. The board's Tuesday vote could open a public comment period that would end on April 4, with a final vote for approval anticipated on May 20. The regulations will amend current DESE guidelines, but Gov. Maura Healey also signed an executive order in January to create a council tasked with coming up with a new permanent statewide standard. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Vocational School Lotteries Proposal Gets Cool Reception From Activists
BOSTON, Mass. (SHNS)–The Healey administration moved to overhaul the way vocational and technical schools admit students after years of criticism that the system excludes applicants from certain backgrounds, but some advocates who sought the changes are concerned the proposal will lead to 'the same discriminatory selection pattern.' Department of Education officials plan next week to present new regulations requiring career technical schools with waitlists to use lotteries when selecting students, a shift from the status quo in which schools can select students based on grades, attendance and discipline records. InFocus: Labor and workforce development in Massachusetts Demand for slots in the programs, which train students in many high-demand trades, continues to outpace supply. Reform supporters have argued for years that the existing admissions process disproportionately leaves the limited slots out of reach for students of color, English language learners, students with disabilities or those from low-income families. 'The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is committed to all students having equitable access to career technical education, and these proposed regulatory changes are designed to advance that goal,' Acting Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Russell Johnston said. The draft regulations newly call on programs to admit students by a lottery when there are more applicants than available slots. If local districts have agreements about seat allocation in place with a career technical program, the program can run a lottery for each district that sends students. Education Board inches toward vocational school reforms Under the proposal, middle schools in districts that send students to career technical high schools would also need to have a districtwide policy to make students aware of the vocational options. Johnston on Tuesday will present the draft regulations to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, whose members will vote to solicit public comment. Some of the same advocates who have long pushed for changes are already vocal about their concerns with the proposal, arguing that it would fall short of fulfilling Gov. Maura Healey's 'promise of fairer admissions.' While the regulations would decouple admissions from attendance and discipline records, those criteria could still limit which students enter the lottery pool. Schools could exclude from the lottery students with 10 or more unexcused absences per school year as well as students who were suspended or expelled for more than 10 days. The Vocational Education Justice Coalition cited attendance data from several districts and said the share of students with at least 10 unexcused absences is significantly higher in districts with large populations of students of color, warning that they would therefore be disqualified from the admissions lottery 'in disproportionate percentages.' 'The insertion of 10 or more unexcused absences as a gateway for entry into the lottery negates any progress in eliminating grades, recommendations, and interviews,' VEJC, whose members include groups such as the Massachusetts Teachers Association and La Colaborativa, wrote. 'It is the coalition's belief that the proposed revised regulations will result in the same discriminatory selection pattern we have seen ever since DESE began publishing admissions data.' Healey administration officials said they crafted the regulations based on months of work and study, including several board meetings that focused on the career technical admissions process. In 2021, the board removed statewide requirements for programs to use grades, attendance, discipline records and counselor recommendations as admissions criteria, but it did not ban their use. Twenty-five of the 29 career technical districts kept some selective criteria in place. Lawyers for Civil Rights and the Center for Law and Education filed a civil rights complaint in February 2023 arguing that the process remains unfair and prioritizes white, higher-income students who speak English as a native language. Healey has been pushing to place more emphasis and resources on vocational and technical education, part of what her team calls a 'Reimagine High School' campaign. Her supplemental budget bill to spend surplus surtax revenue would direct $75 million toward career technical education, which officials say would add 3,000 seats in programs over three years. Another Healey bill funding public higher education capital improvements includes $100 million for grant programs that support high schools, colleges and other institutions with career programs and workforce training. 'Massachusetts's career technical education programs play an important role in our state's education system and economy. They provide students with the skills they need to succeed in today's job market and help us meet the workforce needs of our employers,' Healey said in a statement Thursday. 'Our administration has been engaging with families, educators, CTE schools, local officials and the business community to determine how we can increase access to these programs and set all of our students up for success.' Healey in January launched the Massachusetts K-12 Statewide Graduation Council and charged the group with 'studying and making recommendations on a new statewide graduation requirement.' Voters in November eliminated the requirement that high school students pass the MCAS exams as a prerequisite to graduation. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
