Massachusetts Collaboratives: Making the Most of Education Dollars

BY M. CRAIG STANLEY, ED.D. Foreword by E. Robert Stephens Institute for Regional Studies in Education

Educational service agencies (ESAs)—known as “educational collaboratives” in Massachusetts—have proven very efficient at providing high-quality education support services. By assuming many of the routine support functions required to run a public education system, educational service agencies free up the Commonwealth’s Department of Education to provide leadership and Massachusetts school districts to provide quality student instruction. Studies that compare the cost of the services provided by regional agencies to the cost of services provided by individual school districts demonstrate that regional ESAs produce substantial savings.

Massachusetts Collaboratives: Making the Most of Education Dollars