Education equity coalition calls on school committee to enact original 100% recommendation

After four months of intense study and debate, the Exam School Admissions Task Force agreed to assign 100% of exam school seats by rank in socioeconomic tiers. The data is clear; having 20% of seats set aside from the tiered system only helps the city’s most privileged.

Despite the clear evidence, on June 30, under duress from political forces who have yet to identify themselves, the Task Force acquiesced to putting forward a plan that would exempt 20% of seats from their proposed new admissions policy. The evidence—simulations BPS ran, last year’s BPS admissions data, and Chicago's similar admissions plan—shows that the 20% set-aside would continue to enable the unjust concentration of wealthier white families in the city’s most-resourced school. It would give more to those who have more and harm those who have less.

The Boston Coalition for Education Equity calls on the School Committee to move forward with the recommendation the Task Force originally agreed on: 100% of seats distributed by rank in socioeconomic tiers. 

As the Task Force concluded before it was interfered with, we should not be giving more advantages to Boston’s most privileged families, who already make up a significant percentage of exam school attendees, most acutely at Boston Latin School. The Task Force’s charge, and the School Committee’s duty, is to ensure that the new policy creates an exam school student body that “better reflects the racial, socioeconomic and geographic diversity” of the city. That is unquestionably NOT accomplished by the “20% set aside for the privileged” plan. It IS by the Task Force’s original 100% recommendation. 

The Task Force’s original recommendation, while it could go farther, is a significant step toward equity and justice. The sudden, forced shift to a set-aside for the privileged seeks to continue rather than disrupt the cycle that’s kept this oppressive system entrenched for so long. This is what systemic oppression looks like: powerful public and private forces colluding behind the scenes to override a democratic process in service of their own racial and class privilege. 

The School Committee has an opportunity to break that cycle by opening the doors of the city’s three academically selective schools to a more diverse group of talented students, who look like the Boston we are now, and who will lead us to the Boston we want to be. Opponents of this plan have asked for more time, but our children’s education is happening now and they do not get a do-over. Distributing seats by 100% rank in socioeconomic tiers sends a clear message to students who may never have considered that these three schools are for them. 

Boston School Committee: You must make the choice to break this cycle. Keep the 100%.

The Boston Coalition for Education Equity is a collaboration among civil rights, education, and community organizations from across Boston that are committed to dismantling education inequity.