The Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, Inc. (METCO, Inc.) is the longest continuously running voluntary school desegregation program in the country and a national model for the few other voluntary desegregation busing programs currently in existence. The program enrolls Boston resident students in Kindergarten through 12th grade into available seats in suburban public schools. Conceived by Boston activist Ruth Batson and Brookline School Committee Chair Dr. Leon Trilling, METCO launched in 1966 as a coalition of seven school districts placing 220 students. The Massachusetts Racial Imbalance Act (RIA) of 1966, and amended in 1974, is the legal basis for voluntary interdistrict transfers for the purpose of desegregation (such as METCO), and funding is almost entirely provided by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Over the years, the academic and social outcomes of the program have been praised, while the increasing gap between cost and funding and the negative experiences of students of color have been the subject of criticism.