Committee voices concerns over DESE lottery proposal for vocational admissions, urges public comment

At tonight’s meeting of the Greater Lowell Regional Vocational Technical High School Committee, Lisa Martinez, director of technology, enrollment and information, updated members on a Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) proposal to replace selective vocational admissions with a lottery-based system and urged the committee to oppose the change.

Martinez said the district is also considering not participating in the statewide school choice program because of a long wait list. “One of the reasons that we’re looking to not participate is because of our wait list. It’s a very long wait list,” Martinez said, adding that out-of-district applicants currently go to the end of the list and are unlikely to receive seats.

Martinez described key elements of the DESE proposal and the committee’s concerns. Under the draft rules, applicants could receive multiple lottery entries for factors such as limited suspensions and attendance: “All applicants with fewer than 27 infractions…will also receive an additional entry,” Martinez said, summarizing the proposal. She warned that the proposed thresholds — including a threshold tied to “fewer than 27 unexcused absences” — could “undermine the value of regular attendance and the technical training where hands on hours are irreplaceable.”

Committee members echoed concerns about readiness, safety and capacity. Several members said the lottery would remove measures they use to ensure students are prepared and safe in hands-on training and that the system would “water down” vocational programs if admissions standards were lowered. Members repeatedly identified the root problem as insufficient seats rather than admissions criteria: “The problem is lack of available seats, to meet the growing demand of vocational education,” a committee member said.

Martinez said the Massachusetts Association of Vocational Administrators and local legislators are working to preserve selective criteria and that a task force amendment is being circulated in the Legislature. She described the task force as a potential, collaborative alternative: it would include vocational administrators, DESE representatives, business owners and community members to review data and recommend policy.

The committee voted to support the district’s decision not to participate in school choice, a separate procedural action tied to capacity concerns. Martinez urged the public to submit comment to the governor’s office and BESE; she said the public comment period closes tomorrow at 5 p.m. and that DESE will discuss public comments at a meeting in late April.

The discussion closed with members asking that the task force, if approved, visit Greater Lowell so members can show “what goes on on a daily basis in a vocational technical high school,” Martinez said.

Why it matters: The DESE proposal would change the admissions process for vocational schools across the state. Committee members say the change could affect student safety, hands-on training hours required for trade certification, and local capacity; the committee encouraged stakeholders to weigh in with DESE and the governor’s office before the comment deadline.