The Massachusetts Racial Imbalance Act (RIA) of 1966, amended in 1974, is the legal basis for voluntary interdistrict transfers for the purpose of desegregation (such as METCO).
Over the years, the academic and social outcomes of the program have been praised, while the increasing gap between cost and funding,[2] and the negative experiences reported by students of color have been the subject of criticism.
As defined by the original METCO Grant, the purpose of the program is "to expand educational opportunities, increase diversity, and reduce racial isolation by permitting students in Boston and Springfield to attend public schools in other communities that have agreed to participate.
The program provides students of participating school districts the opportunity to experience the advantages of learning and working in a racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse setting.
The METCO program is funded predominantly by a state line item allocated by the Legislature every year and distributed to each participating district by a formula related to the number of students enrolled.
[7] METCO was developed during a period of activism by Black parents, primarily mothers, in Boston to achieve educational equity through school desegregation.
A series of protests gained publicity; they included sit-ins, boycotts, and a self-funded desegregation program within the city called Operation Exodus.
The Racial Imbalance Bill was filed by State Representative Royal L. Bolling and passed in 1965 as Massachusetts General Law Chapter 76, Section 12A.
A group led by MIT Professor Dr. Leon Trilling (Chair of Brookline's School Committee) presented what they called the METCO initiative to Ruth Batson, then the director of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
She held this position for more than four decades, spanning the period of court-mandated desegregation in Boston and multiple waves of funding pressure [12] and local opposition.
[4] In response to an order by the Massachusetts Department of Education in the mid-1990s, McGuire began actively recruiting Latino and Asian students to more accurately reflect the changing demographics in Boston .
The organization has reformed the application process for families, changing from a waiting list reported to be 12,000 students long to an online lottery system.
[24][25][26] Alumni of the program have frequently written and spoken about the adverse effects of long bus rides; being considered "other" compared to the white, resident students; racial microaggressions, slurs, and assaults; and lack of teachers of color to serve as role models.