After three years serving as Governor Maura Healey’s education chief, Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler has stepped down, to be replaced by Salem Public Schools Superintendent Stephen Zrike.
Tutwiler helped oversee Massachusetts schools’ partial recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, Healey’s efforts to encourage districts to overhaul their reading instruction, and expansions of early college, childcare, and college financial aid.
But Zrike, who previously served as the state-appointed receiver in Holyoke’s state takeover, will have a number of ongoing challenges to tackle when he takes the reins next month. The new secretary will be up against rising costs driven by inflation and tighter school budgets as districts propose hundreds of staff cuts to make ends meet.
Here are a few of the items that should be at the top of his agenda — across the departments of early education, elementary and secondary education, and higher education — according to local education leaders and experts:
Tackle Massachusetts’ achievement declines
Massachusetts’ historic advantage in public education has been shrinking for a decade, according to national tests. The pandemic made matters worse, with long school shutdowns resulting in sharp declines in state test scores that have yet to bounce back.
Recovering from the pandemic education losses is a challenge across the country. But, as state leaders have noted, many other states have seen at least some demographic groups of students recover from pandemic lows, while not a single one has in Massachusetts.
The pandemic also resulted in a nationwide surge in chronic absenteeism, with a similarly slow recovery. As of last year, every demographic group in the state was chronically absent at much higher rates than they were in 2019.
Somerville Public Schools Superintendent Ruben Carmona, who served under Zrike in Salem, said his old boss always paid close attention to those achievement numbers, particularly for high-needs subgroups such as students of color and low-income students.
“He’s always been very close to the numbers,“ Carmona said. “That level of attention to data is ... necessary to keep on pushing the outcomes in Massachusetts.”
Implement reading, high school graduation reforms
It will be up to Zrike to enact several major reforms state leaders have already set in motion, in part with an eye toward addressing the persistent achievement declines.
Last month, the state Senate joined the House in passing a major overhaul of the state’s reading curriculums, mandating that districts select from a state list of “evidence-based” options. Some details remain to be hammered out — the two chambers need to reconcile their differences — but both versions add new responsibilities for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which Zrike will oversee.
If the Senate version wins out, the state would even be required to provide a free early reading curriculum to districts.
Similarly, over the coming months, state leaders will have to hammer out the details of new high school graduation requirements, which will replace the 10th grade test requirement voters did away with in 2024. If Healey gets her way, Zrike and other education officials will need to oversee the creation of new end-of-course tests as well as guidelines for senior capstone projects or portfolios.
Address a growing population of students with special needs
Last year, the US Department of Education concluded that Massachusetts had failed to make sure local school districts were providing special education students with the services and rights they were entitled to under federal law. Plus, a state audit found that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education failed to resolve special education complaints in a timely manner.
The new secretary of education will have to address those concerns, as the number of kids with special needs steadily increases. In 2020, students with disabilities in Massachusetts made up 18.4 percent of the state’s public school population. This year the amount of students with needs is up to 21.1 percent, according to state data.
Meanwhile, there is an ongoing shortage of special education teachers. Roughly 51 percent of public schools report vacancies in special education roles nationwide. In Massachusetts, one-third of special education positions need to be replaced annually.
Expand alternative paths to college credits
Massachusetts has repeatedly experimented with new options for students to get college experience, most recently with the state Board of Higher Education voting to let colleges and universities propose three-year bachelor’s degree programs.
“Our general stance as a board is we ought to be a pro-innovation body,” Chris Gabrieli, chair of the higher ed board, said earlier this month. “This is not innovation we have fostered, but one colleges in Massachusetts want to pursue.”
State leaders are also seeking to expand “early college” offerings, where students take college classes while still in high school. Enrollment has doubled since 2021 to about 3 percent of public high school students, but still remains low relative to some other states.
In an interview, Gabrieli praised Zrike for his embrace of innovation, in particular with regards to expanding access to higher education.
In Salem, for example, Zrike has been “imaginative” about overcoming a “false dichotomy between college and career,” Gabrieli said. Some college courses offered high school students useful skills for the entire range of potential future paths, from entering the workforce to going to a liberal arts college.
Keep growing child care
Massachusetts has some of the highest child-care costs in the country, with Massachusetts families paying an average of $24,000 per infant in 2024, and nearly $19,000 for toddlers, according to Tootris, a website that connects families to caregivers. Only 52 percent of children below kindergarten age are enrolled in formal child care, according to Massachusetts’ Child Care Taskforce.
Healey set up the task force, which Zrike will co-chair as education secretary, in 2024 out of recognition that the cost of and access to child care was a crisis for many families in the state — and a crisis for many child-care workers, who continue to be plagued by low wages.
To address the two-pronged crisis, Massachusetts has taken a two-pronged approach: To provide financial support to some families to lower their out-of-pocket costs for child care, and to support child-care providers, in order to drive up supply and reduce cost.
Healey has focused on expanding access within “Gateway Cities,” the 26 mid-sized cities such as Lawrence, Springfield, and Fall River that are designated under state law as anchors of regional economies around the state.
How much independence will the next education secretary have?
Max Page, the president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, said Zrike has the skills to succeed as an education secretary.
“He has a good reputation as a fair person ... he is respectful and understanding of the importance of unions,” Page said. “If he has a lot of say in running his secretariat, I’m hopeful about” Zrike’s upcoming tenure.
The tenures of Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll and Zrike overlapped in Salem — she was mayor when Zrike started in 2020 — and they worked together for more than three years. In a statement, Driscoll called the incoming secretary “a strong partner” for students, teachers, and parents.
Ultimately, Zrike will be part of the Healey administration. And it’s unclear how much independence Zrike will have as secretary, Page said.
Some of the administration’s positions have had MTA support, like free community college and more funding for higher education, he said.
But the administration has taken positions supporting proposals the union opposes, like new end-of-course tests as a high school graduation requirement, Page said.
“He’s an utterly good and competent choice. But to me, and [the] members in the MTA, we don’t really care about the individual, as much as what are the policies that the administration puts forward,” Page said.
Hilary Burns of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Material from prior Globe reporting was used in this report.
Christopher Huffaker can be reached at christopher.huffaker@globe.com. Follow him @huffakingit. Mariana Simões can be reached at mariana.simoes@globe.com. Follow her on X @MariRebuaSimoes. John Hilliard can be reached at john.hilliard@globe.com or on Signal at john_hilliard.70. Follow him on Bluesky at iamjohnhilliard.bsky.social. Mara Kardas-Nelson can be reached at mara.kardas-nelson@globe.com.