The History of METCO

The METCO Program is a grant program funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is a voluntary program intended to expand educational opportunities, increase diversity, and reduce racial isolation, by permitting students in certain cities to attend public schools in other communities that have agreed to participate.

The Program has been in existence since 1966 and was originally funded through a grant by the Carnegie Foundation and United States Office of Education. In that year the first METCO legislation was filed, METCO Inc. was established, and seven school districts began accepting the first two hundred METCO students. Dover joined the METCO Program in 1968. Currently, there are about 3,300 students participating in 33 school districts in metropolitan Boston and at four school districts outside Springfield.