TURNERS FALLS — The School Committee at Franklin County Technical voted uanimously to signal its opposition to a proposed weighted lottery admissions system for vocational schools across the state.

The opposition comes in the form of a letter to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and local legislators expressing concerns over the impact of the proposed system.

The changes would amend the Regulations for Vocational Technical Education laws by creating a weighted lottery admissions system and revamping admissions criteria, among others, according to a March 7 memo to the education board from Acting Commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Dr. Russell D. Johnston.

This has caused alarm at Franklin County Tech, and Superintendent Richard Martin addressed his specific and long-held concerns about the lottery system to the committee during an April 9 meeting.

“If we have 200 applications, then all 200 of the applications get put into the lottery, regardless of where they are with grades, attendance, school discipline, or their interest in [vocational-technical education] — they all get one ticket,” Martin told the committee.

He explained to the committee that the weighted lottery would replace the five standards of admission — grades, attendance, school discipline, letter of recommendation and student interview — which Franklin County Tech uses for its admissions process.

If there are more applicants than seats available for the coming school year, a weighted lottery would be utilized to select students, the proposed amendments document explains.

Advocates for the amendments, like the Vocational Education Justice Coalition, stated the changes are “a step in the right direction” for offering students in protected classes more equitable chances at admission. However, they believe there should be no weights in a lottery, attendance and discipline should not be attached to the lottery, and an application should suffice enough as an expression of interest, according to a March 26 letter to state officials by Lew Finfer of the coalition.

The main concern the coalition expressed in its letter is that the proposed amendments will still create barriers for protected classes of students into vocational schools.

“Students from protected classes tend to have higher rates of unexcused absences due to factors related to low income, immigration status, language barriers and school factors such as lack of cultural responsiveness or curricula that do not engage students,” the letter states, adding that students from protected classes tend to be charged for offenses more severely than their peers from privileged classes who commit the same offense. The behaviors and actions of 13 and 14 year-olds should not present barriers for access to lifetime opportunities.”

In this weighted lottery, applicants are automatically given “tickets” to count toward their odds of being selected in the lottery, and each student is given one ticket for applying. Applicants can earn two more tickets for having no major disciplinary infractions, and having less than 27 or more unexcused absences in the previous 270 school days. If a student is eligible to earn all three, they are more likely to admitted over a student with only one or two tickets for admission.

Martin said this means students with poor attendance and students with poor behavior that isn’t a violation under state law sections 37H and 37H½, which relates to disciplinary regulations for students, would be eligible for admission, potentially creating student attendance and safety concerns if an admitted student isn’t able to regulate behavior.

“So basically, if you don’t have 27 absences, you haven’t committed a 37H violation and you apply, you get three tickets, so it increases your odds in what they call the weighted lottery,” Martin said, “The problem with that is becoming pretty obvious.”

The demonstration of student interest is another shift the state is proposing, which Martin told the committee could impact the applicant pool of students who aren’t dedicated to a vocational-technical education, and have any motivation expressed by students during their interviews “zapped” by the lottery.

“So you’re going to see, maybe not immediately, but you’re going to see higher discipline issues. We’re going to have a higher staff turnover. There’s going to be higher issues in the building, because you’re not bringing in the students that fought to get in here,” committee member Bryan Camden said about the proposed changes, with other members reflecting similar feelings.

“… Simply what we’re asking the students who apply to school here to do is to show us a commitment and a reason why they want to be here,” Committee Chair Richard Kuklewicz said at the end of the discussion.

To push back against the proposed changes that the committee discussed at length, Martin strongly urged the committee to submit public comment to the state, although he feels these proposed changes will be voted in anyways. Even so, he said it would signal their concern and it could be considered if there is enough push-back.

In a letter Martin sent to state education officials, he wrote that while increasing access to school admission is always “a worthy goal,” he asks them to consider keeping interviews or interest assessments in admissions, using a student discipline criteria related to safety and attendance, use a weighted lottery for students demonstrating interest in high-demand industries, and creating outreach programs for “awareness and interest in the skills gaps for specific industries and job employment opportunities.”

The aim is to vote on these proposed changes, including the weighted lottery admissions system, on May 20 with a public comment period closing on April 18. If these changes are approved, the admissions changes would impact students entering a school or program in fall 2026.

Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.