The sign on the front of Peck Middle School reads “Welcome! ¡Bienvenidos!” However, the school is far from welcoming. The classrooms fluctuate between being ice cold and boiling hot, with malfunctioning or broken heaters and windows that are stuck shut. In the morning, students shiver at their desks, still wearing their winter coats. By afternoon, however, the muggy rooms lead sweaty students to nod off at their desks, and teachers to fan themselves as they teach. The cafeteria is grey and dismal, with a salad bar that never contains more than a few moldy lettuce leaves, and a daily offering that consists of pizza and hamburgers. Students pick unhappily at their lunches, often dumping uneaten trays of food into the trash. What message is a school like this sending to its students?
The William R. Peck School is a public middle school in the Holyoke School District. Peck’s problems begin with its infrastructure, but they don’t end there. While the school is staffed by many hard-working teachers and staff, the district’s lack of funding does not facilitate success. 91% of the students at Peck are Hispanic, because despite being a state that prides itself on being liberal and accepting, Massachusetts remains extremely racially and economically segregated. 54% of the students at Peck are English Language Learners, and 95% are considered high needs (DOE). Almost 100% of its students are eligible for free or reduced lunch, compared to less than 50% statewide. Without the money for necessary resources such as sufficient ESL and special needs programs, the school is not able to provide its students with the tools they need to succeed, putting them at a huge disadvantage. Peck students score a devastatingly low 6% proficiency in math and 9% proficiency in reading. These scores can be compared to the state averages of 53% and 54% respectively (Public School Review).
While the massive disparity between the achievements of Peck students and Massachusetts students statewide may be shocking, it is far from uncommon. Peck is a part of the Holyoke Public Schools, a district that is 80% Hispanic and 78% economically disadvantaged. Holyoke students consistently fall behind the state average in every achievement category, and Holyoke has teacher and principle retention rates significantly below those of the state as a whole (DOE). Unfortunately, Holyoke is not an outlier, but rather it is representative of a wider issue plaguing Massachusetts.
All across Massachusetts, poorer school districts with high numbers of minority families are struggling to meet the needs of their students (Schoenberg). Students from low-income families often need extra school supports, such as access to extracurricular activities, English language classes, tutors, and mental health professionals. Children in higher-income areas tend to need less of these resources, since their parents are more likely to have the time, money, and knowledge to provide these supports themselves or pay someone else to. While it may seem like common sense to allocate additional funding to poorer school districts in order to provide extra supports, they actually have less funding.
Massachusetts is consistently ranked number one in the United States for education (Frohlich, Stebbins). These rankings are determined by 4th and 8th grade reading and math scores, as well as percentage of students going on to post-secondary education. However, this leaves out a big part of the picture. The state’s income inequality is one of the worst in the country, with the top 1% in Suffolk County earning 54-times more than the bottom 99% (Forbes). The school districts reflect this disparity, with Massachusetts having the third largest achievement gap between low-income students and the rest of the state (Boyd).
Western Massachusetts, where Holyoke is located, provides an example of this inequality. In Holyoke, the median income of families with children in public school is $31,966. 10 miles away in Northampton, a city which has highly ranked and high achieving public schools, the median income is $82,137 (NCES). The two districts may only be a 10-minute drive from each other, but the quality of life for their most vulnerable population, children, is worlds apart.
In June of 2019, a lawsuit was filed against the state of Massachusetts by parents from seven underperforming school districts across the state, including Springfield and Chicopee, two of Holyoke’s neighboring school districts. The lawsuit argues that the funding allocated to Massachusetts public schools is insufficient, to the point of violating the civil rights of disadvantaged students. The funding given to each school district is not adequate, leaving districts to supplement it through taxpayers. Therefore, school districts serving higher-income families are able to supplement their funding with tax money, while school districts serving lower-income families are not (Schoenberg).
It is immoral and incorrect to promote Massachusetts as a haven of good education, with such drastic disparities. While ranking sources may find the state’s education system to be overarchingly successful, that is far from the reality. The state is failing a huge number of its residents. How can we call a state successful in education, when it is only properly educating its higher-income white students?
As a student teacher carrying out a placement in the Holyoke School District, I bear witness firsthand to the funding and resource disparities between districts. It is mind-blowing to me to think that districts can be so incredibly unequal. There are many students in Massachusetts who attend public schools that do not have a library or even a functioning ventilation system, while others attend public schools with after school clubs that take them mountain biking and downhill skiing. To me this feels like the epitome of inequality.
This year, I have seen how hard the educators in Holyoke work to fill in the gaps and provide what their students need and deserve. The teachers I work with spend every day being everything for their students, from staying hours after school working with them for no extra pay, to acting as the therapists of students in crisis because their counselors (who are overworked and overloaded with cases) have no time to spend with them.
It is easy to place the blame for students’ failures on them or their teachers. However, this is misplaced blame. The students I have worked with in Holyoke are some of the most hard-working and inquisitive children I have ever met, and their teachers are dedicated and caring individuals. They are faced with an impossible system, one that sets up low-income and minority students to fail and widens the economic and racial gaps in our society. It is time to change that. It is time to push Massachusetts lawmakers to change the way we fund our schools. Only then can there be any hope for equity in our school system.
About the author: Sophie is a senior majoring in Education at Smith College. She is currently student teaching in a 6th grade English classroom in Holyoke, MA. After graduation, she hopes to go on to study social work and do mental health counseling in schools.