Malden rejects school choice, approves new graduation tests
Malden's School Committee voted to keep the district out of inter-district school choice for 2026-27 after a narrower 20-seat plan failed 5-3.
School Committee · Meeting of May 4, 2026
Malden's School Committee voted to keep the district out of inter-district school choice for 2026-27 after a narrower 20-seat plan failed 5-3. Member Jennifer Spadafora had pitched the proposal, noting enrollment had dropped by roughly 300 students districtwide and citing a potential $175,000 in tuition revenue, but the committee voted 6-2 to withdraw from the program entirely. Chair and Mayor Gary Christenson said "too many unknowns" at the state level, including a pending income-tax ballot question, drove his opposition.
Separately, the committee voted 8-1 to approve new in-house portfolio and exam-based assessments, replacing the discontinued MCAS mastery requirement, for the Class of 2030's competency determination. Several residents also asked the committee to add Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha as school holidays.
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Source: the School Committee meeting of May 4, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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