‘Yes on 2' puts MCAS to the test
by Kelly Garrity 8 August 2024
NEW THIS MORNING: MCAS BALLOT BATTLE BEGINS — With less than three months until Election Day, the battle over the MCAS ballot question is kicking into gear.
Supporters of the question that would end the requirement that Bay State high school students pass the exam to graduate are officially launching the “Yes on 2” campaign today. The coalition, now named the Committee for High Standards Not High Stakes, includes leaders from the Massachusetts School Counselors Association and the Massachusetts Teachers Association.
The group is launching its website and going up on social media today and is ramping up campaigning next week with rallies and canvasses across the state in the works for next weekend.
The “yes” side can expect serious competition from the business-backed “no” campaign that already began spending thousands of dollars on digital ads last week and plans to spend well into the millions to convince voters to keep the MCAS requirement. A spokesperson for the “yes” side didn’t say how much proponents are planning to raise, but they are “prepared to spend significant resources to run a highly competitive race.”
In a memo to supporters, Jeron Mariani, a consultant on the campaign who worked on the successful Fair Share Amendment ballot effort, described the MCAS campaign as “well positioned for victory,” pointing to results from a survey the group commissioned that showed a “majority of voters support this ballot initiative already.” The results of the poll, as described in the memo, found 55 percent of those surveyed picked the “yes,” side, 37 picked the “No,” option and another 7 percent were undecided.
Take those with a grain of salt — campaigns present the numbers they want supporters to see. Plus, polling the question can get confusing since a “yes” vote calls for eliminating the requirement. (It was enough to trip up The Boston Globe in a headline last week.) Still, it’s not far off from a WCVB/UMass Amherst poll from last fall where 52 percent of respondents said they would vote to remove MCAS as a requirement for receiving a high school diploma, compared to 29 percent who said they would vote against it.
One message the group is already trying to make clear: a “yes” vote wouldn’t eliminate MCAS entirely; it would “simply reduce the test score to one of many data points that can be used in assessing a student’s readiness for success after graduation,” per a press release the campaign is sending out this morning.
