Twenty schools in Boston have applied for financial support to begin planning to convert to “pilot school” status, which would free them from some district mandates and union work rules.
The Boston Foundation said last week it will distribute $400,000 in grants to help the schools plan. The city already has 20 pilot schools. (“Students in Boston’s ‘Pilot’ Schools Outpacing Others,” Nov. 14, 2007.)
After the planning process, schools will take votes of members of the Boston Teachers Union. If two-thirds vote to seek pilot status, and a joint committee of the union and school district agree, the planning process will move forward. It takes about a year for a school to become a pilot school, the foundation said in a news release.
See other stories on education issues in Massachusetts. See data on Massachusetts’ public school system.
