QUEST on Facebook:
FamCOSa (BPS Families for Covid safety) and BCAN (Boston Climate Action Network) had a teach in regarding green and healthy schools on Jan 25th. Here's a link to the recording.
Great prep for the upcoming listening sessions on the Green New Deal. See here for more info about those: www.boston.gov/education/green-new-deal-boston-public-schools
BPS has released a survey about its budgeting process. It's open until Feb 24th. More info about the Reimagine School Funding Project can be found here: www.bostonpublicschools.org/reimagineschoolfunding
ReImagine School Funding Survey
upd.qualtrics.com
Welcome, BPS families, students, teachers, staff, and school leaders to the ReImagine School Funding Survey. This survey is designed to collect input from our BPS family to understand what the communi...
A study that came out in July shows that busing in Boston increases integration. And integration has long been shown to improve outcomes for black and brown students. The policy brief (blueprintcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Blueprint-Labs-Policy-Brief_Busing.pdf) and quotes below explain this better than the article does.
"Barbara Fields, former head of the district’s Office of Equity and a Citizens for Public Schools board member, argues that the political power and wealth some parents bring to their children’s schools result in disparities between schools in white neighborhoods and schools in Black neighborhoods, and busing helps to level the playing field."
And "Eugenia Corbo, a member of the parents group Quality Education for Every Student, also disagreed with the focus [in the study] on test scores, noting that the analysis leaves out various benefits families might seek in other neighborhoods, such as smaller class sizes, better social and emotional experiences, or particular extracurricular activities."
www.bostonglobe.com
Not everyone is convinced by the research — which looks narrowly at test scores and college enrollment — but for others, it serves as further evidence that it may be time for Boston to consider ab...Thanks to @NotGlobeEdTeam for linking to this article from 2018 on the topic: www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/07/24/should-boston-schools-get-rid-busing-some-say-money-would-be...
Advocacy for Quality, Equity, and Transparency Within the Boston Public Schools System
QUEST Parents Release Analysis of Boston Public School Fundraising
April 13, 2021
In 2018, Boston Public Schools did an audit of private fundraising in its 125 schools. The information was quietly released in school-by-school reports.
QUEST has now collated the data in easy-to-read spreadsheet, examined it for racial and socio-economic inequities, and requests further study and policies to address the disparities. We believe it’s especially critical to pay attention to this information now, as Boston examines its exam school admissions policies and schools struggle to recover from the effects of Covid-19.
Current issues QUEST is focused on:
Facilities, Resources and School Closings
Quality education requires a commitment by the school district to the efficient, sustained, and equitable use of resources.
Privatization of Education
Public education, including its physical facilities, is a public good that should be under community control.
Student Assignment
All students should have equitable access to quality school options through a transparent and accessible system of school assignment.
ABOUT QUEST
QUEST (Quality Education for Every Student) is a volunteer grassroots organization of parents with children in Boston Public Schools. Founded in 2012, the group initially came together over concerns about the inequities of proposed changes to the BPS assignment system. We continue to ask how education policies and practices can help to dismantle past oppression, increase opportunity, and provide greater access to quality education for all.
Copyright © 2018 QUEST