Testimony in Support of An Act to Ensure Equitable Access to Education, Including Special Education Services, for All Students in Massachusetts - H 565 (Rep. Decker)

MAC Senior Attorney Liza Hirsch presented the below testimony on July 6, 2021 before the Joint Committee on Education. Click here for a recording of her testimony (begins at 1:52:51)

Massachusetts Advocates for Children (MAC) submits this written testimony in support of An Act to Ensure Equitable Access to Education, Including Special Education Services, for All Students in Massachusetts, H.565 (Rep. Decker). MAC’s mission is “to remove barriers to educational and life opportunities for children and youth” and address educational inequities based on race or ethnicity, disability, economic status, and immigration status. MAC strongly supports this legislation, as it will provide the critical information needed to identify the students facing the most significant educational disparities during the COVID-19 recovery and to inform and meaningfully address opportunity and achievement gaps long term.

MAC Senior Attorney Liza Hirsch testifies virtually on Microsoft Teams before the Joint Committee on Education. Click here for a recording of her testimony (begins at 1:52:51)

This bill would require the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to make cross-tabulated education data standardly available to the public. This legislation does not require DESE to collect additional data. DESE currently reports aggregate data on race or ethnicity, sex, disability, age, English Learner status, and economic status. This bill would require DESE to report its existing education data in a manner that is cross-tabulated to allow the public to access information about specific subgroups of students. For example, under the proposed legislation, the Department would be required to publish school discipline and special education data for Black boys with disabilities, Latinx English Learners, and economically disadvantaged Asian-American students. This information is critically needed in order to direct federal stimulus and SOA resources to address areas of greatest need and more broadly to address inequities and improve outcomes for students, particularly those who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

Federal law already requires the state to report limited data in this manner. Such data reveals, for example, that while the overall drop-out rate is 5.3% statewide, the drop-out rate for Hispanic students who are English Learners is 21.8%, nearly double that of Hispanic students generally, and four times higher than all students. Without cross-tabulated data, this stark disparity would not be identified and could not be effectively addressed. This legislation requires DESE to report other student data in the same manner, including data on student discipline, basic special education data, and eventually data regarding the receipt of specific special education services. 

Data provided by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) provides another compelling example: In Massachusetts, while recent estimated rates of out-of-school suspension for white males with disabilities was 5.8%, the rates of out-of-school suspension for Black males with disabilities was 17.5%. These figures are estimates based on manually computed analyses of federal OCR data because Massachusetts does not report data in the cross- tabulated manner this bill would require.

Moreover, MAC has long been concerned based on the Helpline calls we receive and our experiences in the field, that young Black and Latino boys with autism are disproportionately placed in segregated special education classrooms. There is a serious risk that these disparate rates of segregation will increase in the months and years following the pandemic. However, the currently available data does not provide information about the race or ethnicity of the children with autism who are placed in segregated (or inclusive) special education settings. MAC has submitted requests to DESE for cross-tabulated data, which the Department fulfilled, but it was a time-consuming process and by necessity limited in scope. The current legislation would provide access to data on the race of students with autism and other disabilities placed in separate settings, and would also require DESE to notify school districts of potential denial of equal educational opportunities if there is a statistically significant increase in the rates of segregated placement of students of color with disabilities during the COVID-19 recovery period.

This legislation will also require DESE to publish cross-tabulated data regarding special education services, such as speech therapy or behavioral therapy, when school districts begin providing this data in the future with the state’s phase-in of the new web-based IEP system. Information about special education services is critically important to address racial equity concerns. For example, MAC’s experience indicates that compared to white children, children of color who are nonspeaking have limited access to the assistive technology voice output devices necessary to communicate.

MAC strongly supports this legislation as it will provide educators, parents, community members, elected officials, and advocates data on educational disparities during a pivotal moment as the Commonwealth enters the COVID-19 recovery period. Access to this basic information is a critical first step toward ensuring equity in our education system.

Please Report Favorably H.565 An Act to Ensure Equitable Access to Education, Including Special Education Services, for All Students in Massachusetts