DESE

Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper announced a $1.4 billion budget for the 2023-2024 school year — an increase of $65 million over the previous year.

With just five months left in Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration, Baker and Education Secretary James Peyser made a move that raised eyebrows, replacing two members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), the body that votes on state policy and decides who will serve as commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

Massachusetts Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Jeff Riley last week recommended the state’s board of education label the Boston Public Schools an underperforming district, a designation that would give him the authority to approve an improvement plan for the district.

With the threat of a state intervention hanging over the city’s schools, local education activists suspect Education Commissioner Jeff Riley may seek to target a cohort of Boston schools for state takeover.

In a textbook example of gaslighting, the Jan. 25 Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) board meeting showed a complete disconnect with and disregard for the impact of COVID policies on families and school communities across the state.

Teachers unions, who have been pushing for school staff to receive vaccinations before students return to schools, hit back at DESE Commissioner Jeffrey Riley and the administration of Gov. Charlie Baker, who had rebuffed the unions’ requests.