Middleboro Review 2: The answer to the school desegregation lawsuit? Revive urban communities.

Sunday, May 24, 2026

The answer to the school desegregation lawsuit? Revive urban communities.

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The answer to the school desegregation lawsuit? Revive urban communities.

May 24, 2026

By Ben Forman

On Wednesday, a team of litigators filed a lawsuit on behalf of students from Boston and several Gateway Cities arguing that the stark segregation of schools by race and income violates the Massachusetts Constitution’s guarantee of an adequate public education for all students.

The first school desegregation case in a generation caught many by surprise, though it should not have—Massachusetts has some of the highest income segregation in the nation along with the largest and fastest-growing achievement gaps in the US.

There is overwhelming evidence that concentrating low-income students in high-poverty schools is the leading driver of socioeconomic disparities in educational outcomes. Still, some may question whether now is the right time to pursue what could become a divisive and lengthy court battle. This hesitancy assumes the only viable solution will be zero-sum: busing urban and suburban students into better- and worse-performing schools.

To be clear, the plaintiffs have not proposed this kind of two-way busing as the primary remedy. They are mostly calling for more vocational schools and regional magnet schools that will voluntarily bring students together across district lines. This approach has merit for high school students, who have much to gain from traveling beyond the borders of their neighborhoods. At this crucial stage of identity formation, they can develop independence, mix with peers from other backgrounds, and attend larger schools with more to offer.

However, moving students out of their neighborhoods is not the solution for the roughly 150,000 low-income Massachusetts students in segregated K-8 schools. Primary schools are crucial “social infrastructure." They are where we form relationships that are pivotal to both individual and community growth and resilience. Proximity is particularly important if we want parents to have the ability to engage and contribute fully to their schools.

That argues for a very different approach to deep-seated segregation than the various cross-district enrollment proposals that have been raised. First and foremost, Massachusetts should focus its desegregation efforts on making urban neighborhoods with high-poverty schools great places for families from all economic backgrounds to raise children. Not only will this approach give children from low-income backgrounds the opportunities they need to develop to their full potential, it will also put Massachusetts in a far better position to retain middle-class families, who are exiting the state in droves, mainly because of our exorbitant housing costs.