Historical public education information in Massachusetts, 2011-2015

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Education policy in the U.S.

Public education in the U.S.

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Higher education in the U.S.

Glossary of education terms

Education statistics

This page contains archived information on Massachusetts' public education system, primarily from 2011-2012, but also from other years due to the availability of data at the time it was written. For more recent information, view Massachusetts' public education page.

The Massachusetts public school system (prekindergarten through grade 12) operates within districts governed by locally elected school boards and superintendents. In 2012 Massachusetts had 953,369 students enrolled in a total of 1,835 schools in 401 school districts. There were 69,342 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 14 students, compared to the national average of 1:16. There was roughly one administrator for every 210 students, compared to the national average of one administrator for every 295 students. On average Massachusetts spent $13,941 per pupil in 2011, which ranked it eighth highest in the nation. The state's graduation rate was 85 percent in 2012.

State agencies

See also: Massachusetts Department of Education

The mission statement of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education reads:

“

To strengthen the Commonwealth's public education system so that every student is prepared to succeed in postsecondary education, compete in the global economy, and understand the rights and responsibilities of American citizens, and in so doing, to close all proficiency gaps.

”

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is led by the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education. The current Commissioner is Mitchell D. Chester. The Secretary of Education is the state's chief education official. The Secretary of Education was Matt Malone in 2014.

The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is composed of 11 members appointed by the governor. The board must include the following:

• Chairman of the Student Advisory Council
• Secretary of Education
• Nine members appointed by the Governor
  • One member, selected from a list of three nominees provided by the Massachusetts State Labor Council, AFL-CIO
  • One member to represent a business or industry with a "demonstrated commitment to education"
  • One member to represent parents, selected from a list of three nominees provided by the Massachusetts Parent Teachers Association
  • Six additional members

Regional comparison

See also: General comparison table for education statistics in the 50 states and Education spending per pupil in all 50 states

The following chart shows how Massachusetts compared to three neighboring states during school year 2011-2012 with respect to number of students, schools, the number of teachers per pupil, and the number of administrators per pupil. Further comparisons between these states with respect to performance and financial information are given in other sections of this page.

Regional comparison, 2011-2012
State	Schools	Districts	Students	Teachers	Teacher/pupil ratio	Administrator/pupil ratio	Per pupil spending
Massachusetts	1,835	401	953,369	69,342	1:13.7	1:210.1	$13,941
Connecticut	1,150	200	554,437	43,805	1:12.7	1:252.1	$15,600
New Hampshire	477	281	191,900	15,049	1:12.8	1:349.6	$13,224
New York	4,752	923	2,704,718	209,527	1:12.9	1:293.2	$19,076
United States	98,328	17,992	49,521,669	3,103,263	1:16	1:295.2	$10,994
Sources: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey", 2011-12 v.1a. National Center for Education Statistics, "Table 2. Number of operating public schools and districts, state enrollment, teacher and pupil/teacher ratio by state: School year 2011–12" U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011, Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Demographics

See also: Demographic information for all students in all 50 states

The following table displays the ethnic distribution of students in Massachusetts as reported in the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data for 2011-2012.

Demographic information for Massachusetts' K-12 public school system
Ethnicity	Students	State percentage	United States percentage**
American Indian	2,305	0.24%	1.10%
Asian	54,358	5.70%	4.68%
African American	79,015	8.29%	15.68%
Hawaiian Nat./Pacific Isl.	1,050	0.11%	0.42%
Hispanic	153,324	16.08%	24.37%
White	639,111	67.04%	51.21%
Two or more	24,206	2.54%	2.54%
**Note: This is the percentage of all students in the United States that are reported to be of this ethnicity.

Enrollments by region type

See also: Student distribution by region type in the U.S.

As of the 2011-2012 school year a majority of students in Massachusetts attended suburban schools. Approximately 87 percent of the state's students attended city or suburban schools, compared to the approximately 13 percent who attended rural or town schools.

Student distribution by region type, 2011 - 2012 (as percents)
State	City schools	Suburban schools	Town schools	Rural schools
Massachusetts	20.8%	66.1%	2.2%	11%
Connecticut	28.1%	53.7%	4%	14.2%
New Hampshire	14.4%	31.8%	16.3%	37.5%
New York	44.1%	35.3%	7.3%	13.2%
U.S. average	28.9%	34%	11.6%	25.4%
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD)

Academic performance

Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
School board elections portal Glossary of education terms School choice on the ballot Education on the ballot

NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Compared to three neighboring states (Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New York), Massachusetts had the highest share of students (both fourth and eighth graders) who scored at or above proficient in reading during the 2012-2013 school year.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Massachusetts	58%	55%	47%	48%
Connecticut	45%	37%	43%	45%
New Hampshire	59%	47%	45%	44%
New York	40%	32%	37%	35%
U.S. average	41%	34%	34%	34%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables," accessed May 13, 2014

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state

See also: ACT and SAT scores in the U.S.

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for Massachusetts and surrounding states for 2012 and 2013.

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores*
State	Graduation rate, 2012		Average ACT composite, 2012		Average SAT composite, 2013
	Percent	Quintile ranking**	Score	Participation rate	Score	Participation rate
Massachusetts	85%	Second	24.1	23%	1,553	83%
Connecticut	85%	Second	23.8	27%	1,532	85%
New Hampshire	86%	First	23.8	19%	1,567	70%
New York	77%	Fourth	23.3	29%	1,463	76%
U.S. average	80%		21.1		1,498
*Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Rate (except for Idaho, Kentucky, Oklahoma, which did not report “Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate,” but instead used their own method of calculation). **Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally. Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express

Dropout rate

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades 9–12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both school year 2010–2011 and school year 2011–2012. The event dropout rate for Massachusetts was lower than the national average at 2.7 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 2.5 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

Educational choice options

See also: School choice in Massachusetts

As of June 2015, school choice options in Massachusetts included: charter schools, inter-district and intra-district open enrollment policies and online learning programs. In addition, about 12.37 percent of school-age children in the state attended private schools in the 2011-2012 academic year, and an estimated 2.67 percent were homeschooled in 2012-2013.

Education funding and expenditures

See also: Massachusetts state budget and finances

Breakdown of expenditures by function in fiscal year 2012
Source: National Association of State Budget Officers

According to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), Massachusetts spent approximately 10.7 percent of its fiscal year 2012 budget on elementary and secondary education. As a share of the budget, this was down 3.20 percentage points, or 23 percent, from fiscal year 2008, when the state spent 13.9 percent of its budget on elementary and secondary education.

Comparison of financial figures for school systems
State	Percent of budget (2012)	Per pupil spending (2011)	Revenue sources (2011)
			Percent federal funds	Percent state funds	Percent local funds
Massachusetts	10.7%	$13,941	7.85%	37.91%	54.24%
Connecticut	13.9%	$15,600	8.27%	33.65%	58.09%
New Hampshire	19.7%	$13,224	6.49%	37.29%	56.21%
New York	19.8%	$19,076	8.9%	40.27%	50.82%
Sources: NASBO, "State Expenditure Report," Table 8: Elementary and Secondary Education Expenditures As a Percent of Total Expenditures U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011,Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Revenue breakdowns

See also: Public school system revenues in the U.S.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system revenues in Massachusetts totaled approximately $15.3 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table below presents further detail, including revenue sources, for Massachusetts and surrounding states.

Revenues by source, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	Federal revenue	State revenue	Local revenue	Total revenue
Massachusetts	$1,197,383	$5,783,240	$8,275,257	$15,255,880
Connecticut	$799,526	$3,254,757	$5,618,933	$9,673,216
New Hampshire	$184,768	$1,061,011	$1,599,416	$2,845,195
New York	$5,127,425	$23,189,453	$29,266,236	$57,583,114
U.S. total	$74,943,767	$267,762,416	$264,550,594	$607,256,777
Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Expenditure breakdowns

See also: Public school system expenditures in the United States

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system expenditures in Massachusetts totaled approximately $14.5 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table below presents further detail, including expenditure types, for Massachusetts and surrounding states.

Expenditures by type, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	General expenditures**	Capital outlay	Other***	Total expenditures
Massachusetts	$12,894,969	$817,228	$767,052	$14,479,249
Connecticut	$8,367,518	$533,188	$404,820	$9,305,526
New Hampshire	$2,502,899	$206,241	$129,038	$2,838,178
New York	$51,203,701	$4,655,961	$2,680,715	$58,540,377
U.S. total	$520,577,893	$52,984,139	$29,581,293	$603,143,325
**Funds spent operating local public schools and local education agencies, including such expenses as salaries for school personnel, student transportation, school books and materials, and energy costs, but excluding capital outlay, interest on school debt, payments to private schools, and payments to public charter schools. ***Includes payments to state and local governments, payments to private schools, interest on school system indebtedness, and nonelementary-secondary expenditures, such as adult education and community services expenditures. Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Personnel salaries

See also: Public school teacher salaries in the United States

Note: Salaries given are averages for the state. Salaries may vary between a state's urban, suburban, and rural districts and should be adjusted for cost of living. For example, a MacIver Institute study of average teacher salaries in 60 metropolitan areas found that salaries in New York City were the third-highest in absolute figures but 59th-highest when adjusted for the cost of living.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average national salary for classroom teachers in public elementary and secondary schools declined by 1.3 percent from the 1999-2000 school year to the 2012-2013 school year. During the same period in Massachusetts, the average salary increased by 14.9 percent.

Estimated average salaries for teachers (in constant dollars**)
	1999-2000	2009-2010	2011-2012	2012-2013	Percent difference
Massachusetts	$63,656	$73,945	$72,915	$73,129	14.9%
Connecticut	$70,762	$68,690	$70,621	$69,766	-1.4%
New Hampshire	$51,567	$54,912	$55,079	$55,599	7.8%
New York	$69,723	$76,464	$74,620	$75,279	8%
U.S. average	$57,133	$58,925	$56,340	$56,383	-1.3%
**"Constant dollars based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, adjusted to a school-year basis. The CPI does not account for differences in inflation rates from state to state."

Organizations

Unions

In 2012 the Fordham Institute and Education Reform Now assessed the power and influence of state teacher unions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Their rankings were based on 37 different variables in five broad areas, including: resources and membership, involvement in politics, scope of bargaining, state policies and perceived influence. Massachusetts ranked 21st overall, or "average," which was in the third of five tiers.

The main unions related to the Massachusetts school system are the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), an affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA), and the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers. For the 2008 tax period MTA had $53,490,500 in total income. For the same period, the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers had $4,171,622 in total income.

List of local Massachusetts school unions:

• Massachusetts Teachers Association
• Massachusetts Federation of Teachers
• Boston Teachers Union
• Bridgewater-Raynham Education Association
• Education Association of Worcester
• AFT Lowell
• AFT Lynn
• AFT Lawrence
• Haverhill Education Association
• Springfield Education Association

Government sector lobbying

See also: Massachusetts government sector lobbying

The main education government sector lobbying organization is the Massachusetts Association of School Committees.

Transparency

The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, which "provides independent research and analysis of state budget and tax policies," tracks actual spending in real and nominal terms using its "Budget Browser," which is available here.

Legislators in favor of transparency, headed by Senator Cynthia Creem, introduced a budget amendment in 2009 that would require the Secretary of Administration and Finance to create a spending transparency website.

Studies and reports

State Budget Solutions education study

See also: State spending on education v. academic performance (2012)

State Budget Solutions examined national trends in education from 2009 to 2011, including state-by-state analysis of education spending, graduation rates and average ACT scores. The study showed that the states that spent the most did not have the highest average ACT test scores, nor did they have the highest average graduation rates. A summary of the study is available here. The full report can be accessed here.

See also

• Public education in Massachusetts
• Massachusetts
• Education Policy in the U.S.