Senate stays out of vocational admissions debate – for now

THE LATEST MOVE in the chess match that has unfolded over admission policies at the state’s vocational high schools was, in effect, no move at all.  

After the House last month passed its version of the 2026 state budget with a rider attached that would put the brakes on a state education department’s proposal to overhaul admissions regulations at voc-tech schools, the Senate Ways and Means Committee released its version of the spending plan on Tuesday with no mention of vocational admission policies.  

That sets up a potential debate on the issue when senators consider amendments to the budget, which they must file by Friday, or in later negotiations to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget.  

After years-long debate and public hearings on the issue, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education seems poised to dramatically reshape policies governing admission to the state’s vocational high schools. It has solicited public comment on a plan to shift from a competitive admission process at the schools to a lottery. 

The schools have become increasingly popular, with thousands more students seeking admission than there are seats available. Nearly half of middle school students applying for a seat at one of the state’s 34 voc-tech high schools are turned down.  

Critics have railed against state regulations that allow vocational schools to use middle school grades, recommendations, and attendance and discipline records to awards seats. This policy, they argue, has shut out many students who might benefit most from the hands-on learning of vocational education. They say the system discriminates against students of color, English language learners, special education students, and those from low-income households.  

For the 2021 to 2024 school years, students from those four groups were all admitted at lower rates than their peers, according to state education officials. 

Vocational school leaders have said the screening tools are vital to determining which students are good fits for their programs, and they have questioned the accuracy of some of the admissions data state officials have cited.  

The state education department proposes replacing the use of selective admissions criteria with a lottery that gives added weight to students without serious attendance or discipline records in middle schools. The House budget plan, however, would upend that move, creating a new state task force to review admission policies and report back by September 2026.  

It’s far from clear that the legislative effort to halt the changes, led by Rep. Frank Moran of Lawrence, will succeed.  

Sen. John Cronin, a Fitchburg Democrat who supports the proposed change in vocational admissions, said he expects an amendment will be filed to the Senate budget that mirrors the provision included by the House. “It’s something that we are planning to really fight against,” said Cronin, who co-chairs the Legislature’s Gateway Cities caucus.  

If Cronin and other Senate allies keep the language out of their final budget proposal, the issue will then become part of the negotiations between a House and Senate conference committee charged with working out differences between the chambers’ budget plans.  

Meanwhile, any effort to stop the admission changes that survives the budget deliberations could face a veto from Gov. Maura Healey, whose administration supports the education department plan to move to a lottery system.  

“It is essential that we improve access to our career and technical education schools for all students,” Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler said in a statement. “Maintaining the status quo is not an option.”   

If the Beacon Hill back and forth is akin to a chess game, it’s being played in three dimensions. While the vocational admissions issue is now part of the legislative budget debate, the state education board is working through the issue on a parallel track. It is expected to vote on the change to a lottery system at its next meeting on May 20 – the same day the full Senate is scheduled to begin debate on the budget.  

“The ballgame right now is the board vote,” said Cronin, who voiced hope that the panel adopts the proposed change and that the Legislature allows it to stand.  

“I don’t think the admissions policies are aligned with our values in Massachusetts,” he said. “We have a system right now that discriminates against the most vulnerable kids in our communities.”