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Boston Globe
11-07-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Here's what education gets out of Massachusetts' new state spending plan
The spending plan slashed $130 million, including by trimming the Statewide College and Career Readiness Program, which provides online materials for students to reach college readiness, and reducing charter school reimbursements, which districts receive as partial reimbursement for student tuitions costs. Here's how the new Massachusetts state budget will impact education: Advertisement Fair Share funding and rising costs School districts faced rising costs from inflation and the end of COVID relief programs. Current state funds like the Student Opportunity Act, which largely targets schools with underserved communities, have The new state budget increased the opportunity act's minimum per-pupil cost to $150, up from $104. However, advocates like Jessica Tang, of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts, said there needs to be a permanent change to the Chapter 70 school funding program to account for inflation. To offset this need, the Fair Share supplementary budget, which is funded by revenue from the millionaies tax, added $1.5 billion for education. Advertisement Tang said that instead of using the money to expand education programs, the surtax funds are being used to fill gaps left by potential cuts in federal funding to programs like Medicaid, which reimburses school districts for important medical services. Tang mentioned Healey vetoed $20 million in charter school reimbursements in the state budget, which help mitigate funding losses from Chapter 70. Viviana Abreu-Hernandez, the president of the MassBudget policy organization, said the federal government is 'I'm afraid that the budget is not going to be enough once the federal cuts materialize, particularly for the children that need more support to be successful,' Abreu-Hernandez said. Vocational and technical schools The new state budget allowed to move forward The new system will allow schools to use student interest, middle school attendance, and lack of serious disciplinary issues as weights in a lottery. Lew Finfer, from the Vocational Education Justice Coalition, said the lottery system will help expand vocational school access to students from marginalized backgrounds. 'They're creating a system where conceivably every student can at least get into the lottery,' Finfer said. The state House budget included a two-year moratorium on the lottery requirement, but that was excluded from the final budget. Advertisement Mary Tamer, the executive director of MassPotential, said admission changes have to account for greater student demand, with more than 6,000 students waitlisted for vocational school seats. 'The question becomes: Will the state provide resources to create more schools?' Tamer said. Finfer said the supplementary budget accounts for at least $100 million to fund comprehensive schools that offer vocational or technical programs, which will renovate and expand existing spaces to provide around 3,000 new seats. Career readiness and higher education Healey vetoed more than $800,000 in college and career readiness programs, because they did not align with her initial budget recommendations, and she cited other programs that support career readiness. However, she added $50 million for the state's early college initiative, which allows high school students to earn college credits. 'This year's funding for early college is well positioned to catalyze growth and impact that we need to see,' said Chessye Moseley from the Massachusetts Alliance for Early College, about the program reaching 11,000 students next year. Tang said the state needs to continue promoting affordable higher education with the free community college program, and at the same time ensure there are options for students who prefer other career pathways. 'We need to focus on how do we continue to have high standards for schools and colleges, and support families and their needs,' Tang said. Literacy and student support Literacy rates in Massachusetts dropped, with four in 10 third- to eighth-graders achieving reading proficiency, Tamer said. The new state budget allocates $15 million to Tang said there is a need to expand funding for current teacher development, instead of just allocating funds to outside organizations. Advertisement Tamer said Massachusetts is following the footsteps of states like Ohio, which invested more than $100 million in literacy programs that showed significant improvements. Education Commissioner Pedro Martinez, said the state will continue to work with districts to ensure they support the rising population of students with special needs, as well as multilingual learners, whose needs are more expensive. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education expects $8.9 billion in funding. 'It is harder today to be a teacher than ever before,' Martinez said. Vatsady Sivongxay, from the Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance, said the state needs to be bolder in its funding, given school districts continue to layoff councilors and education specialists. Sivongxay, who is a parent of the Cambridge public schools, said parents should expect fewer specialized educators in kindergarten classrooms next school year. '[My son] benefits from having support staff,' Sivongxay said about her fifth-grader who does not have a specialized education program. 'He appreciates and loves all of the staff equally.' Maria Probert can be reached at
Boston Globe
21-03-2025
- Boston Globe
Here's what leading Bostonians like to read, eat, and do in the city
Send questions or suggestions to the Starting Point team at . If you'd like the newsletter sent to your inbox, . TODAY'S STARTING POINT Confession time: I wrote this newsletter from a place that is not Boston. I'll be there soon, it's true. But I've felt some self-consciousness about writing about a city before actually moving there. Don't worry: I'm no stranger. Growing up in Maine, I visited Boston often as a kid, and lived there for a year before college. Still, I'm anxious to get to know it better. Advertisement So to help me get a jump start, I reached out to elected officials, business and community leaders, university presidents, sports figures, and other influential Bostonians for recommendations. I asked them to tell me something they've read, eaten, heard, seen, or visited that helped them get to know the city they inhabit. Today's newsletter shares their responses. Books I often understand a place better when I read about it, and several people I reached out to recommended books. Gayatri Patnaik , the director of Beacon Press, suggests ' Jessica Tang , who leads American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts, recommends ' If you prefer fiction, Governor Maura Healey admires the novels of Tiya Miles , a Harvard historian, recommends ' Advertisement History Boston is synonymous with American history. James Rooney , president of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, recommends the Marcelo Suárez-Orozco , the chancellor of UMass Boston, recommends reading the Declaration of Rights But the city didn't stop making history in the 1700s. Mayor Michelle Wu recommends the If museums and archives sound too dusty, try getting your history on Instagram instead. Vickie Alani , a senior principal at CBT Architects, recommends Art Boston boasts more than a dozen art museums, but several people pointed me to the Even if you've already been, as I have, museum director Peggy Fogelman suggests taking another look at an 1888 portrait of Gardner, the collector who started the museum. 'Mrs. Gardner's bare arms and a plunging neckline sparked salacious rumors among her contemporaries,' Fogelman wrote. Advertisement The museum, which the eclectic Gardner designed to mimic a Venetian palace, is itself a work of art. In the atrium, 'soaring glass ceilings and immaculate, lush gardens reflect the passionate vision of a woman ahead of her time,' Susan Goldberg , the president of GBH, told me. 'Sitting in the garden,' says Matthew Teitelbaum , who directs the Others suggest going outside. Lee Pelton , who runs The Boston Foundation, recommends Food Instead of feasting your eyes, maybe you're just looking to feast. Alex Cora , the manager of the Red Sox, praised chef Massimo Tiberi's award-winning For something lower-key, David Nagahiro of CBT, the architecture firm, recommends Music For an auditory experience, Sally Kornbluth , MIT's president, recommends the Advertisement Your ideas Every list is partial, and now it's your turn to add more. Send your ideas about what to read, watch, eat, and do around the city to 🧩 7 Across: | 🌞 46° POINTS OF INTEREST Tesla is recalling nearly all of its futuristic-style Cybertrucks — this is the eighth recall for the model. SOPHIE PARK/NYT Boston and New England Unmasked: The names of several more men accused of paying for sex at a Cambridge brothel ring School's out: The Boston School Committee approved a controversial plan No answers: The German national with a green card ICE arrested this month in New Hampshire was mistreated and still hasn't had A 'secret society': Inside the federal racketeering case Trump administration Stayed: A judge ordered the administration not to deport a Georgetown University researcher here on a visa whom ICE arrested this month. The administration has accused him of spreading 'Hamas propaganda.' ( Conflict of interest: Defense Department officials plan to brief Elon Musk about top-secret military plans if a war breaks out with China, where Musk does business. A Pentagon spokesman denied it. ( 'Radical mayor': The White House Alzheimer's: An experimental treatment appears to delay symptoms in people genetically disposed to the disease. But Trump's efforts to slash research funding could imperil it. ( Kid you not: Musk's estranged daughter, who is transgender, called the administration's treatment of trans people 'cartoonishly evil.' ( The Nation and the World Crazy glue: Tesla recalled nearly all of its Cybertrucks over an adhesive issue that can cause a panel Polling the dice: Mark Carney, Canada's new prime minister, will dissolve parliament and call new elections. His Liberal Party has gained support amid Trump's criticisms of Canada. ( Corruption concerns: Israel's cabinet voted to fire the head of the country's domestic intelligence agency, which is investigating two of the prime minister's aides. ( BESIDE THE POINT By Teresa Hanafin, Globe Staff 🏳️🌈 Safe spaces: Three of the five most LGBTQ-friendly colleges, as ranked by the Princeton Review, are in New England. Tough, but tolerant. ( 🐾 Top dog: French bulldogs are once again the 🥺 Sad sacks: Americans still are among the unhappiest people in the developed world. But those stoic Nordics are having a good time. ( 💥 What did you say? We measured 📆 Things to do: Jazz at the BSO, the Addams Family at the Wang, World Figure Skating Championships at TD Garden. 📺 Things to watch: 'Anora,' 'Wicked,' and more new and good movies and TV shows to 🖼️ Couch viewing: No need to travel to see inside the world's museums; Google has 3D immersive exhibits. ( Advertisement 🎸 Blind date: 'When someone is in a band, it gives them major attraction points.' A metalhead and a karaoke singer 🎵 Shaq can sing? March Madness-like brackets are proliferating. Here's one that's looking for the best song by an athlete. ( 🍠 Superfoods for spring: Here are Thanks for reading Starting Point. This newsletter was edited by and produced by and . ❓ Have a question for the team? Email us at ✍🏼 If someone sent you this newsletter, you can sign up for your own copy. 📫 Delivered Monday through Friday. Ian Prasad Philbrick can be reached at
Boston Globe
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
A new coalition says Massachusetts school districts don't have enough money. Here's why.
Advertisement United for Our Future consists of more than a dozen organizations, including the Massachusetts Teachers Association, American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts, Boston Teachers Union, Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools, Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, Massachusetts PTA, Massachusetts Association of School Committees, and Lawyers for Civil Rights. The unified front has emerged as school committees and superintendents have been frequently locked in contentious contract negotiations with teacher unions, which have included disagreements over pay raises and increasing staff, such as hiring more school counselors. Related : Here's a quick rundown on some of the biggest budget busters: The inflation gap Many districts are still struggling to overcome sky-high inflation during the pandemic because the state's school funding formula failed to keep pace with it. During the 2022-'23 and the 2023-'24 school years, inflation in Massachusetts was just over 7 percent and 8 percent, respectively, but the state's school funding formula, known officially as Chapter 70, increased by only 4.5 percent in each of those years, according to the group. Consequently, districts had to make up the difference. Inflation has dropped since then, but is now on the rise again. On Wednesday, the US Department of Labor announced Advertisement The group is seeking a change to state law so districts don't carry the brunt of high inflation. Related : Increases in special education tuition Students with disabilities are often sent to private programs paid for by their local districts when they are unable to meet students' educational needs. Tuition for state-approved programs climbed by a whopping 14 percent during the 2023-'24 school year and increased by another 4.7 percent this school year, according to the coalition. Costs are expected to rise by another 3.7 percent next year. That's a lot more than what the tuition increases had been previously, which usually hovered around 2.5 percent, the coalition says. The state currently reimburses districts only a portion of those costs and there is no cap on tuition increases, which in turn has been Related : Rising student transportation costs Students heading to private programs also can travel long distances to communities well beyond their hometown borders and occasionally out of state. Most districts rely on private vans for some or all of this busing. The state doesn't regulate how much those companies can charge, giving vendors free rein over how much they charge. The coalition contends districts are getting hit with increases they cannot afford. Last fall, the costs were so unexpectedly high for districts that the state's reimbursement program for these expenses only covered 44 percent of the costs instead of 75 percent, which is called for under state law, according to the coalition. That funding discrepancy created a collective shortfall of more than $60 million for districts statewide, the coalition says. Related : Advertisement More support for rural & regional districts Rural and regional school districts have long argued they are being neglected by state lawmakers as they confront a growing number of challenges, including declining enrollment and a lack of commercial tax revenue to fund their share of costs. Transportation costs for these districts for both general education and special education students can be more expensive because buses tend to travel longer distances, often across community lines, and less competition among transportation companies. The coalition is urging lawmakers to carry through with a recommendation from the Legislature's Rural Schools Commission in 2022 that calls for providing an additional $60 million to rural schools. The group is also imploring lawmakers to fully fund the reimbursements for regional school transportation, which they are supposed to do under state law but have repeatedly fallen short on. James Vaznis can be reached at
Fox News
08-02-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Teachers express fears as Trump strips federal funding for schools teaching CRT
Teachers in Massachusetts warned that President Donald Trump's recent executive actions targeting "woke" education in America's schools would hurt students and threaten the academic freedom of teachers in the classroom, according to a new report. On January 29, Trump signed an executive order stripping federal funding from K-12 schools that teach critical race theory (CRT) and that promote "radical indoctrination" in gender ideology. The teaching of CRT, and other controversial content in schools, has sparked backlash from parents at school board meetings across the nation over the past several years. During his presidential campaign, Trump pledged to cut federal funding for schools that promote CRT, transgender ideology and "any other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content on our children." Some New England teachers are worried the new restrictions on teaching CRT could cause teachers to self-censor out of fear that any discussion on race would make them a target of the new administration, The Boston Globe reported. "It's sending a chilling effect," retired history teacher Tom Jordan said. "Every teacher I've talked to is completely freaked out by it." According to the Globe report, the largest teachers' unions in the state have come out to denounce Trump's attack on CRT. Jessica Tang, president of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts, told the Globe, "If we're not taught that history and we don't know what happened, then we don't understand why things are the way they are today. And then I think it undermines democracy in the longer run." Marcus Walker, a humanities teacher at Fenway High School in Boston, worried that Trump's actions would harm the academic freedom of teachers and set up students to learn a "dishonest" view of America's history. "As citizens, we are obligated to be responsible. We're obligated to understand our government, to learn how the government works, and we're obligated to get accurate information," Walker said in the report. "All of that gets short-circuited if we're teaching history that is dishonest." In 2021, the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents released a statement denying that CRT was taught in K-12 schools in the state. Trump's order on CRT was met with criticism from national teachers' unions and praise from school choice advocates. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten accused Trump of unfairly tarnishing teachers and making their jobs more difficult with the executive order on CRT. "Today is a sad day because the Trump administration is doing exactly what it accuses others of: creating division and fear in classrooms across America," Weingarten wrote in a press release. Nicole Neily, president of Parents Defending Education, told Fox News Digital that she believes American parents want the reform Trump is bringing to the education space. "President Trump's Executive Orders on DEI, CRT, gender ideology, and school choice are extremely welcome news to parental rights advocates across the country," Neily said. "We have been waiting for an administration that treats parents as allies rather than enemies and works to curb the proliferation of leftist political ideology in the classroom, while helping to reorient schools towards their original purpose of teaching students the fundamentals necessary to succeed and thrive." Trump signed a flurry of executive orders targeting federal funding for schools as testing scores continue to drop, according to the Nation's Report Card. Trump administration officials are reportedly weighing a plan to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Tuesday. Fox News' Rachel del Guidice contributed to this article.
Boston Globe
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
‘Every teacher I've talked to is completely freaked out by it': Trump's order on critical race theory thrusts White House into the classroom
Critical race theory is an academic s In Massachusetts, the largest teachers unions, including the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts, and the Boston Teachers Union, have denounced Trump for trying to politicize the nation's schools. Advertisement 'If we're not taught that history and we don't know what happened, then we don't understand why things are the way they are today,' said Jessica Tang, president of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts. 'And then I think it undermines democracy in the longer run.' Related : While lessons involving race and racism are taught in public schools, many K-12 school systems, including those in Massachusetts, said critical theory is not. 'The simple answer is, 'no,' we do not teach CRT,' according to the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, in a 2021 position paper. Trump's order said federal money can't be used on the 'indoctrination' of children, including 'radical gender ideology and critical race theory.' Trump's order, which also calls for a bar on many sexuality issues, describes critical race theory as an 'inherently racist policy.' Advertisement Bridges said students benefit from a complete telling of the nation's history. 'It really doesn't set children up to be responsible adults and citizens,' Bridges said. 'All of those moments of American history really provide context for understanding the present.' During his last presidential run, Trump campaigned on stripping federal funding from schools or programs that Trump said MacRae, a Bourne School Committee member, 'We need to focus on spending the taxpayers' resources on education not indoctrination,' MacRae said. William A. Jacobson, a law professor at Cornell Law School and president of the Legal Insurrection Foundation, also supported Trump's order. Jacobson's organization is a Rhode Island nonprofit that operates 'Teaching children in public schools to focus on and assess their lives based on skin color is extremely damaging to the children, sets children against each other, and tears the country further apart, particularly when parents are excluded and demonized for objecting to such doctrines,' Jacobson said in a statement. Advertisement While federal grants are only a portion of local education budgets, Trump's order could be far-reaching, some educators said. For Marcus Walker, a humanities teacher at Fenway High School in Boston, Trump's order not only threatens academic freedom for educators, but he says students will also lose out if their schooling is curtailed by political decree. And that's damaging for a democracy, he said. 'As citizens, we are obligated to be responsible. We're obligated to understand our government, to learn how the government works, and we're obligated to get accurate information,' Walker said. 'All of that gets short-circuited if we're teaching history that is dishonest.' Trump's order on education was part of a leaders spinning. He tried to freeze Related : K-12 schools and universities across the country have been scrubbing references to diversity and equity, after Trump decreed that organizations with diversity, equity, and inclusion policies could lose access to federal contracts and grants. And K-12 schools have also found themselves on another political fault line — Advertisement Rajesh Sampath, an associate professor of the philosophy of justice, rights, and social change at Brandeis University in Waltham, argued Trump's recent orders are meant to push the power of the presidency as far as possible. 'He'll push the constitutional limits of the executive branch,' Sampath said. Angela Onwuachi-Willig, a law professor and dean of Boston University's School of Law, criticized Trump's order. She said she knows of no CRT scholar who teaches that members of one race, color, sex, or national origin 'are morally or inherently superior' to someone else. 'If the executive order is intended to target or ban CRT, it is misguided in its efforts and displays a lack of understanding about CRT. Critical Race Theory focuses on structural racism, and the Executive Order does not,' Onwuachi-Willig said. Eliminating critical race theory from the nation's schools was a priority included in Project 2025, a conservative outline for overhauling government. Trump repeatedly distanced himself from the document as a candidate, but many who contributed to it have joined his current administration The Project 2025 report said the 'noxious tenets of 'critical race theory' and 'gender ideology' should be excised from curricula in every public school in the country.' Trump's order against critical race theory called for schools to offer 'patriotic education' to students, and reestablished the 1776 Commission from Trump's first term. The commission's guide for teaching history plays down the role of slavery in the United States, and criticized the civil rights movement for taking actions that 'ran counter to the lofty ideals of the founders,' according to the document. Advertisement Learning about these subjects is vital to creating informed voters, said Jordan, the retired Haverhill teacher. 'If you simply say to students, we have never had a problem, everything is fine, then the fundamentals of democracy start to come off its wheels,' Jordan said. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. John Hilliard can be reached at
