School Data - Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education

December 10, 2023

Accelerating Student Learning: The Need for Urgency and Innovation

The pandemic has had a deeply negative effect on learning across whole communities in Massachusetts for all students—regardless of racial/ethnic background, family income, or other factors. In certain communities, the percentage of students experiencing significant learning loss is quite large. […]

September 6, 2023

Joint Statement Responding to MCAS Ballot Measure Certification

The following is a joint statement in response to the Attorney General’s decision to certify the ballot question that will eliminate MCAS as a high school graduation requirement from the following: Edward M. Lambert Jr., Executive Director, Massachusetts Business Alliance […]

June 22, 2023

Student Pathways to Success Hosts Packed Legislative Briefing

With momentum growing toward expanding career-connected learning options for all Massachusetts students, the Student Pathways to Success coalition last week welcomed legislators, community leaders, and coalition members to a legislative briefing at the State House. The June 15 event, Improving […]

March 22, 2023

Expanding Access to & Participation in Computer Science in Massachusetts: A State Level Strategy

In the 2020-2021 school year, just 5.8% of Massachusetts high school students were enrolled in a computer science course, urban schools were less likely to offer computer science than suburban and rural schools, and only 28.4% of students enrolled in […]

December 8, 2021

Analysis shows very low participation in computer science in MA high schools

It’s computer science education week across the nation and the globe – an annual effort to raise awareness about the need to ensure all students have access to computer science instruction and to inspire students to take it. Yet, a new […]

January 5, 2021

Decision to move forward with MCAS this year is the right one

Today, Massachusetts Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Jeff Riley announced the state will administer MCAS this year. MBAE strongly supports the Commissioner’s decision to move forward with MCAS and to streamline administration of it in response to pandemic-related challenges. […]

November 9, 2020

MBAE releases database of district learning plans for 2020-21 school year

MBAE released today a database comparing teaching and learning plans during the COVID-19 pandemic from the 40 largest districts in the state. We teamed up with the Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development to document school districts’ goals […]

November 7, 2019

MBAE Priorities for a Final School Funding Reform Bill

MBAE sent the following letter to state lawmakers this week as a conference committee debates a final school funding reform bill. Dear Legislator, The Student Opportunity Act, a bill intended to address funding inequities identified by the Foundation Budget Review […]

September 20, 2019

School Funding Bill Includes Accountability, Misses Opportunity to Expand Career-Connected Learning

On September 19, the Massachusetts legislature announced the Student Opportunity Act, a school funding reform bill that will increase spending on public education by $1.5 billion over seven years. The Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education appreciates the hard work of […]

September 18, 2019

Find out how your district distributes funding to schools

MBAE created the School Spending Explorer to enable users to compare school spending within and across districts to determine whether schools are getting equitable funding and to evaluate the relationship between spending and outcomes. Learn about funding in your schools […]

July 25, 2019

What impact will the substantial investment in education have for students?

From the Desk of Ed Lambert, Executive Director The state budget passed by the legislature this week will increase school funding by $268.4 million, a substantial investment in our public education system. If this, as many are saying, is the […]

June 20, 2019

MBAE Analysis of Newly-Available School Funding Data Shows Little Corellation Between Spending and Outcomes

Analysis also finds that funding within some districts is not distributed equitably MBAE releases tool that allows the public to compare and analyze never-before available school spending data June 19, 2019 – The Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education (MBAE) today […]

June 10, 2019

K-12 student enrollment trends in Massachusetts: Second in a series on school funding

In our last post, we showed that state and local spending on public K-12 education in Massachusetts is about the same as what we spend on MassHealth, the largest item in the state budget each year. According to state law, […]

August 1, 2018

Legislature Fails to Reach Consensus on School Spending

There were high expectations that the legislature would act on findings of the 2015 Foundation Budget Review Commission (FBRC) to adjust the foundation budget for health insurance, special education, English Language Learners and low income students to increase funding by […]

June 27, 2018

Ed Secretary Meets with MBAE Affiliates

MBAE affiliates met with Secretary of Education Jim Peyser on Wednesday to discuss affiliate priorities and the Baker Administration’s agenda, in a discussion that focused on empowering educators to drive school improvement, increasing student exposure to growing industries while still […]

May 30, 2018

A Model for School Funding Reforms

The Denver Public School’s recently released budget document, the Budget Transparency Guidebook, provides detailed information about how the district spends its money, breaking down how much goes directly to schools, how much is spent centrally and for what services, and […]

May 21, 2018

New Accountability Regulations Don’t Define School Rankings

The proposed regulations governing K-12 public school and district accountability and assistance in Massachusetts have been under review for several months by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) and include some significant shifts. The most salient is abandoning […]

March 29, 2018

Federal law requires reporting of per pupil spending by school

Amidst the current debate about school funding in Massachusetts and growing calls for spending more, comes a potentially game-changing new federal requirement that will bring greater transparency to school spending. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), passed with bi-partisan support […]

July 28, 2017

Computer Science, School Finance and Summer Reading

In this issue: Prevalence of Tech Jobs in MA Requires K-12 Adjustments | School Finance Topic of Joint Committee on Education Hearing | Summer Reading Congratulations to the Boston Public Schools and Boston Afterschool and Beyond for being selected to receive […]

June 22, 2017

Fair Share and Education Funding

In this issue: School Funding Debate Underway on Beacon Hill | Other Items of Interest A Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation job trends report released this month finds that the industry will need to fill 11,600 additional jobs by 2022. Biotech-related […]