Suburban Public Schools

Metco (Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity) allows roughly 3,100 Boston families to send their children to suburban public schools – like Brookline, Lexington, and Newton – for free.

A Boston parent may apply to Metco at any time. Early applications, for example, as soon as when a child is born are helpful, since the program is very popular and has long waiting lists. Most Metco students begin attending their suburban schools in grades K, 1, or 2.

According to the Metco Website:

Since 1966, nearly 9,000 Metco students have graduated, most continuing on to college and seeking professional careers... The mission of the program is to ensure access to quality suburban public school education for students of color from urban school districts and to enhance the educational experience of suburban students by providing an integrated learning environment.

According to the Department of Education, the application process works this way:

1. An application must be made in person at the Metco office [at 40 Dimock Street in Roxbury; the phone number is (617) 427-1545.] A parent must provide proof of residency (mortgage or utility bill) and a birth certificate.
2. Students successfully signed up are placed on a waiting list until he or she is selected for placement. METCO Inc. works with the family to prepare an enrollment folder. Once the intake process is completed and the school records are received in full, METCO Inc. forwards the applicants' enrollment folder to school districts with openings for the particular grade level needed.
3. Ultimately, placement decisions are based upon: completion of the Metco application packet; submission of all school records; date of registration; district grade and seat availability; presence of siblings on the waiting list; special education status (students with existing special education placement determinations that call for out-of-district placement are generally not participants in Metco since the purpose of the program is participation in the district schools); and race (in the past seven years, Hispanics and Asians have been given some preference to openings in an effort to have the Metco program reflect better the minority population of the Boston Public Schools).

No special consideration is to be given to any applicant for entrance into the program, such as one's political affiliation, one's athletic or other recognized talent, or one's relationship to a Metco staff member.

Many suburban districts also have their own “Metco coordinators” which are listed here.