FYI from BSF, 6.21.24
Buses.
In an unusually busy last week of school, there was a lot more the media and schools could have been talking about.
The rise in student homelessness in Boston.
An anonymous report purporting a hostile work environment in Boston.
Another report that portends enrollment and financial challenges for the city.
A short, but comprehensive interview with Superintendent Skipper.
But, instead, we got lots of buses.
For all the attention on the desegregation of Boston Public Schools, much of the coverage was incomplete.
This retrospective on school assignment policies completely omits the impact of the new “home-based assignment” system starting in 2013.
Busing in Boston may or may not be taught widely in Boston, but for the fact that Facing History and Ourselves - which was founded in greater Boston - has a unit on the topic.
Not one, but two stories focus on the Harvard-Kent. Neither of which deeply explores the fact that Harvard-Kent is now a rare example of what was intended in 1974 - a truly racially diverse public school.
The story of assignment policies and segregation as they played out at the Eliot School. Without mentioning that student outcomes for all students surpass Boston and Commonwealth averages.
And school buses will not be running today; duck boats are instead. Four downtown schools near the Celtics parade were initially closed due to traffic concerns; by yesterday afternoon, that analysis had been extended to the entire city, and school was officially called for the 2023-2024 school year.
We can continue to debate the value of busing. But we cannot continue to ignore the cost.
Over the past decade, busing costs have significantly increased.
At the same time, fewer students are being transported, stemming from policy changes and overall enrollment decline.
The result? The cost of an average trip has nearly doubled.
Do not let the seemingly small numbers belie their force. If “Boston Buses” were a school district in Massachusetts, it would have a larger budget than 95% of its peers.
We are past due to take a hard look at school assignment policies in Boston; buses are just, quite literally, the vessels. Since the adoption of the “home-based” assignment system in 2013, there has been just one analysis of the policy and the city and educational ecosystem have gone through significant changes.
Overall enrollment decline. Big shifts in the child population of certain neighborhoods. An increasing share of Boston schoolchildren who were born in another country. A dramatic increase in preK enrollment. The reconfiguration of schools to grades PK-6/7-12. Charter schools have doubled. Calls for more classroom inclusion. Pandemic disruption. School closures and the prospect of more to come.
Using the same approach you had about ten years ago - let alone 50 - is unlikely to meet the moment.
notes in the margin
Full materials from the Boston School Committee meeting are here.
The heat, not the Celtics, caused early ends to the school year in some districts.
Eric Berg is the new president of the Boston Teachers Union.
A NY Times primer on families opting out public schooling.