Checking in on some major stories

•  Sure seems like it was a wise decision for the Worcester City Council and Worcester School Committee to remove police from the Worcester Public Schools back in 2021 on the recommendation of then-City Manager Augustus during the superintendency of Maureen Binienda, doesn't it?
  
  
• Barring action (or lack thereof) by the Governor, Lawrence, which hasn't had an empowered school committee since 2011, is on its way to no longer having a fully elected one, as the Senate passed the mayor's planned takeover of seats last week, after an 11th hour effort by Senator Fattman (who represents Southbridge) to stop it; cheers to Senators Jehlen and Elbridge who spoke in opposition as well. 
  We're well accustomed to blaming lack of local control of DESE; this one sits squarely on Lawrence City Hall collaborating with the state legislature. 
  
  
• In this same "we're past extra innings" time, we also saw the school bus camera ticketing bill emerge from the Senate, and it's on Governor Healey's desk. It'll now be up to local districts to actually implement it (please take this as a hint to get ready to do so). 
  
  
  
• The Education Law Center's 2024 "Making the Grade" report on school funding equity by state (using 2021-22 data) again demonstrates that Massachusetts isn't what it thinks of itself as:
  
  
  Yes, that's a D in both distribution and effort.
  
  Read the report itself for what those mean, but the ability of local communities to raise any kind of money they vote for just their school plus the Massachusetts devotion to increasing funding without any attachment to need, enrollment, or local ability to contribute combines to come home to roost here. We're perpetuating inequity, and far too much of the advocacy is pushing for more the same sort of increasing of disparities.