Funding Fight Could Make Massachusetts “Run Afoul” of ESSA
May 24, 2018
The Boston Globe’s editorial board writes that, “One would think any state that has enjoyed the public policy success Massachusetts has with education reform would stick to its time-tested formula.” But this year, the state Senate’s budget “underfunds the MCAS, the exam that tests Bay State students’ subject matter mastery.” A cut as large as proposed in the Senate “would have serious effects on the MCAS program,” they conclude. While some may “object to the level of testing in the schools,” the board notes, the state “can’t substantially reduce its testing program without running afoul of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.”