Lexington High School graduate and METCO alumnus Darnell Billings has been elected as the Board Chair for METCO, The Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity.
METCO was born out of the civil rights movements of the 1960s, when racial inequities, historically mainstreamed in US public policy, were challenged across the country. Today, the program buses 3,150 students from Boston to 198 suburban public schools in 33 participating districts in an effort to promote school diversity through voluntary school integration within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
“I dare to say it’s a family tradition!” Billings says proudly. He joined the METCO program like his older sister before him, attending public school in Lexington from first grade through twelfth. Now, as a father, his children are entering the program. “Once I became a father, it was a no-brainer for me that I wanted my kids to follow in my footsteps and go through the program. It was almost like a family, being accepted and knowing that I have support systems that are from the METCO family in Lexington.”
METCO strives to prepare kids for the diversity of the real world, and to broaden the daily experiences of children who might not “get to leave their neighborhoods, and they don’t know what else is out there,” Billings says. “Lexington is one of the founders of the program, one of the larger programs within METCO. You know, their town is increasingly diversifying,” he notes.
As Billings progressed through collegiate and professional life, his METCO experience served him well. “A lot of times being the only person of color in a space dominated by white people, especially as I climbed the management ranks working in hotels, there was really less and less of us. But, I also felt comfortable enough because from first grade to twelfth grade I’d been interacting with different folks,” Billings explains. “For me, it was also unique because my mom is white. So I have this whole half of the family that’s white and this whole half of the family that’s black, and even that in itself presents its own challenges and biases that you have to navigate. For me, it’s just something I’ve been doing all my life, and I’m thankful for it because it helps me to meet people where they are and respect people as individuals, and really listen.”
Persistent achievement gaps for black students in Lexington public schools highlight the ongoing need to overcome racial barriers to educational equity. “You still want teachers of color, administrators of color — you want people that look like you. It’s traumatizing enough being the only black child in a classroom, and we’re talking about Black History Month or slavery, and everyone’s looking at you for answers.” Billings also advocates for more minority students in AP and college readiness classes.
“I am a product of the METCO program, so I can tell you that it works,” Billings says. “METCO students show up doing exceptionally well in their college and career life.” Referencing the results of a 20-year research study by Tufts University analyzing the long-term impact of the METCO program on students’ accomplishments, Billings affirms, “METCO has been a win-win for the Commonwealth overall” since the study showed that the program significantly boosts educational, achievement, and career outcomes for METCO students.
From 2019 to 2023, the Commonwealth increased state funding for METCO. The Massachusetts legislature boasts in its 2024 budget that “The Commonwealth continues to lead the nation in educational achievement,” and the social work METCO does is foundational to fostering progress in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion for students of color in schools. Yet METCO faces state funding challenges, with the Massachusetts House Ways in their 2024 Budget allocating $30 million to METCO out of the $142 million Elementary and Secondary Education budget – coming in second to ‘adult basic education services,’ which has a $65 million allocation.
“In fiscal year 2024 we requested a $2.8 million dollar increase to expand METCO to serve existing communities and keep up with inflationary costs, but we were level-funded, leaving METCO in a deficit as prices continue to rise to educate students,” said Billings. “For FY25, we are seeking an increase of $3.6 million to make up for this year’s loss and continue closing inflationary, special education and academic gaps,” he said. “Our $3.6 million request is truly so small — it amounts to less than a third of one percent of the projected Fair Share Amendment (Millionaire’s Tax) revenue for fiscal 2024,” said Billings. “When you consider inflation, level-funding is a cut. When we don’t get the funding that the program needs, it’s a trickle-down effect on everyone involved, from students to teachers,” he says. Billings goes on to acknowledge that “level funding for FY 2024 is painful for us, but we see many other programs suffering budget cuts and even being eliminated in a difficult fiscal year.”
As he works on the campaign for a new program allocation in 2025, he says, “We are hopeful that the Commonwealth – with the strong support of our METCO legislative champions and so many others – will support METCO’s FY 2025 request for $33 million in state funding, an increase of $3.6 million over fiscal 2024 when METCO was level-funded.” However, he says, “that isn’t enough to really make the changes that you want into the program and to make sure that everyone feels included, whether it’s suburban students or urban students, teachers included.”
One of his goals as Chair for METCO is to re-invigorate their alumni program, saying, “I would love for there to be a way for us to have an endowment. Some of these bigger organizations, nonprofits that you see such as a Boys and Girls Club, where they have their donors and the money to do so many different things for their base.” He wants to reconnect alums to support upcoming students. Billings goes on to say that “METCO being around for about 50 years, we should be on par with the Boys and Girls Clubs as far as financials, right? Or one of the top 100 Forbes nonprofit organizations as far as funding.”
Citing a recent read, the award-winning social science book, “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America” by Richard Rothstein, Billings has a continued interest in learning about the government policies that scaffolded the structural racism we are tasked with dismantling today. Billings wants to set the METCO organization up to continue for another 50 years, providing additional support, like district transportation for extracurricular activities and sports, so that METCO students can “really be part of the community in those towns,” he says. He is hopeful that he can grow the program by providing students and their families resources they may not have access to at school, like research support when looking for school scholarships, helping families address new gender norms, and navigating conflict resolution with peers or teachers.
He is coming into the Chair position with a long list of goals but says, “If I could walk away with our racial imbalance in the schools, where you have at least maybe 25% more people of color, your classrooms are more equally divided with people of color versus non, that’s a win. That would be a win for me. But I know it’s a long, long path to go.”