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April 15, 2004

Setting the record straight

WGBH – TV recently broadcast “Bus to the ‘Burbs,” an artful portrayal of the experience of Latino students and their families in the Metco program. Two students at Weston High School who were the focus of the program, Miguel Montesino and Ainsley Castro, were articulate and insightful about their reactions to the clash of cultures.

However, the program went off the tracks when it attempted to conclude that there was an ethnic conflict between the management of Metco and the Latino community. The program did make it clear that there was solidarity among the Metco students regardless of their ethnicity.

Although it would have been well to discuss the history of the Metropolitan Council for Education Opportunity (Metco) and its battles for funding, it would have been difficult to do so in a half-hour program. Since such issues create the context for what is alleged to be ethnic conflict, the failure to mention the history and budgetary squeeze on Metco is a serious flaw in an otherwise interesting report.

Metco was established in 1966 to provide racial diversity in suburban schools and to provide an educational opportunity for black school children in Boston who were willing to endure a long bus ride. At the time that Metco was founded, the black population of Boston was only about 63,165 and the population of Latinos and Asians was quite small.

By 1990 there had been a major demographic shift in Boston. The black population had grown to 136,887, Latinos to 61,955 and Asians to 29,640. Therefore, it was decided by the state Board of Education in 1992 to include the other minority groups in the program. The new placement guidelines were 60 percent African American, 30 percent Latino and 10 percent Asian.

That is a reasonable modification but the only problem is that Metco was under funded and there was already an enormous waiting list. Today there are about 3,200 students in Metco with a waiting list of 16,500. If one includes those who have aged out of the program, the waiting list is even much greater. Is it any wonder, then, that parents who have been waiting for years for their children to be assigned to a Metco school should be irritated when they perceive that others have jumped the line?

Metco has been essentially level funded since 1992. An increase of three percent from the annual $12,031,328 budget occurred for the 2000 – 2001 school year. Then a substantial boost of $3 million was awarded for the 2002 school year; but that was cut by $300,000 in 2003 and cut again by $1.5 million in 2004.

The way Metco works is that the state pays participating school districts only $2,456 per student. Taxpayers of Metco towns have to make up the difference in the cost of education, plus the cost of transportation. Now with reductions in the state education budget everyone is feeling the pinch. The superintendents of the participating suburban schools have written to Governor Romney to restore Metco’s budget because some of the districts will be unable to offset the costs.

In Boston, the school budget for fiscal 2004 is $619 million, a decrease of $31.5 million (4.8%). Only 72 percent of Boston’s roughly 85,000 school children go to public schools. It would be a financial burden on the city if Metco collapses and the public school population should suddenly increase.

When reviewing MCAS scores it is clear that blacks and Latinos have a common interest to collaborate on many education issues. Joseph Tovares, the executive producer of “Bus to the ‘Burbs,” did not help that cause by making it appear that there is hostility between blacks and Latinos.

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