On April 13, 2026, students of Walpole High School (WHS) met in the Massachusetts State House in Boston with other high schools from across Massachusetts in order to promote extra funding for the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO), a state program founded in 1966 to give students living in Boston a chance to attend suburban high schools, allowing for diversity and academic opportunity. This METCO Advocacy Day resulted in the program being promised $35 million within the 2027 Massachusetts budget as compared to METCO’s historic funding of $29.9 million.
“METCO is important because of the effect it has had on people’s lives,” WHS sophomore Inri Martinez said. “My siblings and I have been through METCO and none of us would have it any other way, we would not want to go anywhere else.”
Formed in 1966, METCO serves a desegregation program with the goal of helping minority and low income groups living in Boston to attend schools in the suburbs of Massachusetts, which tend to be far less diverse than the city. In 1967, Walpole joined the program, starting with eight students and has since ballooned to 37.
“[METCO] is better now than it was,” WHS sophomore Zoie Porcher said. “There are way more black students and people are more used to it now.”
Starting at 10 a.m., the day began with a speech by METCO president Kandice Summer recounting her experience with METCO and the importance of the program. Following her speech, Summer introduced METCO’s champions in the Massachusetts legislature, representatives Christopher Worrell and David Paul Linsky and senators Liz Miranda and Jason Lewis. Each representative gave a short speech before the speaking program was rounded off by speeches given by current METCO students. At the conclusion of the speeches, students took a group picture before breaking off into districts to talk to state representatives regarding the impact METCO has had on their schools.
At WHS, METCO’s program director is Atisha Winslow, a former METCO student and parent from Reading, Mass. Winslow is in charge of Walpole METCO’s 37 students, driving them to Walpole each morning and overseeing the students throughout the day. Winslow, along with Elementary Academic Liaison Uma Valluri, chaperoned the students to Boston for advocacy day.
“I like the fact that the students in the METCO program are able to look into the audience anytime there is a school play, performance or party and see someone who is there that looks like them and is there for them,” Winslow said.
One of Walpole METCO’s major goals in receiving more funding for the program is to use it for more bussing options. Currently, the school is at its maximum student capacity because it does not have more space on the bus to traffic kids to Walpole. Furthermore, METCO currently only has one late bus, meaning students participating in extracurricular activities must leave the school at a set time. With the new funds, Winslow hopes to acquire a second bus and make the late bus available to students at Walpole Middle School.
“[I would like] a separate school bus for high school students,” WHS junior Victoria Gittens said. “I could get a job… because when we come back into Boston, it is 4 p.m., whereas we could get home by 3 p.m..”
With the success of METCO Advocacy Day providing the program with an extra $5.1 million in its 2027 budget, it is now able to look towards expanding the program, giving opportunity to even more underrepresented students. In Walpole, Winslow will be able to use the new money to enact her plans for increased bussing and more students. Now, with $35 million, METCO has the opportunity to continue to promote diversity and opportunity as it has for the past 60 years.
