State gives BPS draft report on receivership
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has delivered a draft report to Boston Public Schools about whether the district has made progress over the last few years or whether the state should appoint a “receiver” to take control of it, a city official said — though the contents of the document remain tightly under wraps.
The draft was delivered last week and is on the agenda for Tuesday’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting, which will be live streamed on DESE’s website, beginning at 9 a.m.
The report will most likely be discussed Tuesday at Boston’s 5 p.m. school committee meeting, which also will be livestreamed on its website.
Jacqueline Reis, a DESE spokeswoman, did not make the draft available, and said she did not know when a final version of the report will be released.
Cara Candal, senior fellow in education policy at the Pioneer Institute, a conservative Boston think tank, said that a receivership would come at a perfect time, when Boston’s superintendent will step down on June 30 with roughly $314,000 severance pay after a $75,000 search.
“This is a great opening for the state to provide a very clear direction and for the new superintendent to execute that agenda,” Candal said.
A receiver — a person or nonprofit with success at improving low-performing schools or districts — reports to the commissioner of elementary and secondary education, Jeffrey Riley, who once held the role for Lawrence Public Schools.
But Travis Marshall, a BPS parent and member of Quality Education for Every Student, said three schools districts that have been appointed receivers by DESE, have not fared well.
“The evidence has shown no improvement in those districts,” Marshall said.
And he also suggested that DESE appears to “target” only majority minority districts for receivership.
Candal’s call for receivership comes only months after 79% of Boston voters chose a return from an appointed school committee to an elected one.