While Healey and others have maintained their position against lowering graduation standards, three polls show the "yes" vote solidly ahead.

In its place, the ballot measure would establish a new mandate: Students would need to complete coursework certified by their districts in those subjects that meet state academic standards.

Max Page, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which endorsed eliminating the MCAS graduation requirement, and Cynthia Agruso, a math teacher who believes it should remain, discussed the pros and cons of the ballot question during a forum Wednesday night sponsored by the Forest Park Civic Association.

Ballot question two asks whether the teacher or the administrator should be the arbiter of the high school diploma. The end of the MCAS requirement would leave the question of graduation more or less up to whether students perform adequately in their courses according to teacher-assigned grades.

Congressional Democrats including Senator Elizabeth Warren support Question 2, while Governor Maura Healey and other state officials oppose it.

Question 2 would remove the graduation requirement to pass the MCAS. Their diploma would instead hinge on their district's standards.

Ballot question 2 for the November 5th election would change the current Massachusetts law that requires high school students to pass the MCAS in order to graduate. Across the state, students in every grade level scored lower on the English language arts portion of the MCAS in 2024 than they did last year.

Battle lines continue to form around a ballot question to change a key component of the education reform law that some say made Massachusetts the<a class="excerpt-read-more" href=" More