The Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, Inc. (METCO, Inc.), based primarily in the metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts area, is the largest and second-longest continuously running voluntary school desegregation program in the United States. Begun in 1966, it is a national model for the few other voluntary desegregation busing programs operating in the early decades of the 21st century.[1] The program enrolls Boston resident students in Kindergarten through 12th grade into available seats in suburban public schools.
Conceived by Boston activists Ruth Batson and Betty Johnson, and Brookline School Committee Chair Dr. Leon Trilling, METCO launched in 1966 as a coalition of seven school districts, placing 220 students. The Massachusetts Racial Imbalance Act (RIA) of 1966, amended in 1974, is the legal basis for voluntary interdistrict transfers for the purpose of desegregation (such as METCO). Funding is almost entirely provided by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Over the years, the academic and social outcomes of the program have been praised, while the increasing gap between cost and funding,[2] and the negative experiences reported by students of color have been the subject of criticism.