Friday, April 17, 2026, 10 a.m. (Boston time), Boston City Hall, 1 City Hall Square, Boston, MA 02201
Hearing on Dockets #0733-0740, FY27 Budget: Academics and Outreach
The Ways & Means Committee held a hearing on the FY27 Boston Public Schools budget (dockets 0733-0740), the third of three BPS budget hearings, covering two panels. The first panel addressed inclusion, multilingual learners, special education, and curriculum; the second covered mergers and closures, partnerships, summer programming, and family and community outreach. Councilors questioned the superintendent and BPS staff on budget cuts to student-facing positions, curriculum quality, bilingual program expansion, and the district's long-term facilities plan. Public testimony was heard from students at the Mendell School, parents, teachers, and education advocates, largely urging restoration of student-facing positions and greater investment in multilingual learners and students with disabilities. No vote was taken; the committee asked numerous follow-up questions for written responses.
2:11 and.
2:35 the.
9:02 Good morning.
9:05 Um, my name is ben weber.
9:06 I am the boston city
9:08 councilor for district six and
9:09 the chair of the boston city
9:10 council on ways and means.
9:13 Today is APRIL 17th, 2026.
9:17 The exact time is 10:09 A.M..
9:18 This hearing is being recorded
9:20 and is also being live streamed
9:24 at boston.Gov/city council tv
9:25 and broadcast on xfinity
9:28 channel eight, c channel 82 and
9:30 fios channel 964.
9:32 The council's budget review
9:33 process will encompass a series
9:35 of public hearings that began
9:37 this week and run through JUNE.
9:39 We strongly encourage residents
9:41 to take a moment to engage in
9:43 this process by giving
9:45 testimony in uh you know, for
9:47 the record, which you can do in
9:48 one of several ways.
9:50 First, you can attend one
9:51 of our hearings and give public
9:52 testimony.
9:54 We'll take public testimony,
9:57 uh, usually at the end of our
9:59 first round of questions for my
10:00 colleagues.
10:02 Um, and you can also get public
10:04 testimony at two hearings
10:05 dedicated to public testimony.
10:07 The full hearing schedules on
10:10 our website at
10:11 boston.Gov/council-budget are
10:13 scheduled hearings that are
10:14 dedicated to public testimony.
10:16 This or listening sessions are
10:18 both in person at city hall
10:20 first on tuesday APRIL 28th at
10:23 6 P.M. And then on thursday MAY
10:23 26th at
10:23 0.06.
10:25 You can give testimony in
10:27 person here in the chamber or
10:28 virtually via zoom for
10:30 in-person testimony.
10:32 Uh, come to the chamber and
10:33 sign up on the sheet that's
10:34 near the entrance.
10:36 If for anyone in the room who
10:37 plans on testifying you haven't
10:38 signed up the sign in sheets
10:38 over there.
10:41 Um, for virtual testimony, you
10:43 can sign up using our online
10:45 form on our council uh, budget
10:47 review website or by emailing
10:51 the committee at
10:52 squirm@boston.Gov or by
10:56 emailing chris mcewan at k a r
11:01 I sagemaker h o u h a
11:01 n@boston.Gov.
11:03 When you are called to testify
11:04 please state your name and
11:06 affiliation and uh your
11:07 residence.
11:09 Uh and then uh please limit
11:11 your comments to a few minutes
11:12 so we can ensure all comments
11:13 and concerns can be heard.
11:16 Email your written testimony.
11:17 Um oh sorry.
11:19 So in lieu of showing up here
11:21 and testifying in person or in
11:22 zoom, you can also email your
11:24 written testimony to the
11:27 committee at at boston gov.
11:29 Another option is you can
11:30 submit a two minute video
11:32 of your testimony through the
11:33 form on our website.
11:36 Uh uh okay.
11:37 And then uh for information on
11:38 the city council budget process
11:40 and how to testify, you can
11:41 visit the city council's budget
11:44 website at boston.Gov
11:47 council dash budget in person
11:49 public testimony uh again will
11:51 be taken following the first
11:52 round of counselor questions.
11:53 Individuals will be called on
11:54 in the order in which they have
11:56 signed up and will have two
11:56 minutes to testify.
11:59 Uh, if you're listening online
12:00 and you uh, haven't signed up
12:03 yet, you can sign up by
12:04 emailing our director
12:06 of legislative budget analysis
12:06 .
12:08 That's chris michelle on it.
12:14 K h m a actual u h a
12:15 n@boston.Gov for the zoom link
12:16 in your name will be added to
12:17 the list.
12:19 This morning's hearing is on
12:21 docket uh dockets number
12:26 of docket numbers 073320740.
12:28 The focus of the of this
12:31 hearing is the fy 27 budget for
12:32 the boston public schools.
12:34 This hearing will cover topics
12:37 included including inclusion
12:39 multilingual learners uh
12:41 special education curriculum
12:42 partnership summer programing,
12:44 family and community outreach
12:46 and mergers and closures.
12:48 Uh this is one of a series
12:50 of hearings to review the fy 27
12:53 budget and this is the third
12:56 of three hearings with uh I
12:58 want to note, uh, for my
13:00 colleagues that the dps central
13:02 office uh, budget is relevant
13:05 to the discussion at any of our
13:07 dps hearings given the overlap
13:08 of this budget with many of our
13:09 specific subtopics.
13:12 Uh, in this case this
13:14 particular hearing, uh, which
13:16 will touch upon mergers and
13:17 closures and centrally funded
13:19 offices that coordinate with
13:20 schools and inclusion
13:21 partnerships, summer programing
13:22 and family and community
13:23 outreach.
13:25 Um, given the number of topics
13:26 covering we're covering today,
13:28 we're we're going to have two
13:29 administrative panels.
13:32 The first panel will
13:34 cover inclusion multilingual
13:36 learners special education and
13:36 curriculum.
13:39 The second panel will
13:40 cover partnership's summer
13:41 programing, family and
13:42 community outreach and mergers
13:43 and closures.
13:46 These matters were sponsored by
13:48 michelle wu um and were
13:51 referred to the committee on
13:52 APRIL 8th 2026.
13:54 Today I'm joined by my
13:55 colleagues in order of arrival
13:56 .
13:57 No surprise.
14:00 Uh, first councilor flynn, then
14:01 councilor murphy and MADAM
14:01 PRESIDENT breadon.
14:03 Uh, acknowledge.
14:04 Sorry.
14:04 Uh oh.
14:04 Here.
14:06 We also have received a letter
14:08 of absence from, uh,
14:10 councilor colletta zapata.
14:15 Um, so for our first panel we
14:17 have uh we have
14:18 superintendent of boston public
14:19 schools mary skipper.
14:20 Uh, we have chief financial
14:22 officer david bloom, deputy
14:23 superintendent of academic
14:24 summoner.
14:25 Doctor simon ready to apologize
14:25 ?
14:30 Uh chief of uh chief of office
14:31 of multicultural multilingual
14:33 education joel gamarra.
14:34 Am I okay?
14:37 Uh, and senior advisor
14:38 of specialized services
14:39 christine travis.
14:40 Um, if I'm okay.
14:41 Again, apologies.
14:44 Uh, and then, uh, just for my
14:45 colleagues, we're expected to
14:47 have a a panel this afternoon
14:49 with the chief of capital
14:49 planning.
14:51 uh, delavan stanislaus.
14:54 Uh, chief financial officer
14:54 bloom.
14:56 Uh, deputy superintendent of
14:58 community family investment
15:00 doctor anna tavares chief
15:01 of family advancement.
15:04 Uh magali to uh sanchez chief
15:06 of community engagement miriam
15:06 ortiz.
15:10 Uh and development officer for
15:11 strategy, partnerships and
15:11 innovation.
15:13 Doctor and clark.
15:14 Um.
15:17 so uh, again, uh, we are
15:19 waving opening statements.
15:22 Uh, I you know, I don't know if
15:23 the panel has any, uh, anything
15:27 to present or want to talk
15:28 about as an opening statement.
15:29 Uh, thank you for being here.
15:30 Uh.
15:31 thank you.
15:33 So, um, good morning everyone.
15:35 Uh, I am going to actually hand
15:37 it off to doctor simon.
15:38 Right.
15:40 Who we are very, um, happy and
15:42 appreciative that she has
15:45 chosen to share her passion and
15:48 her experience which is much in
15:49 the area of academics.
15:51 I do want to personally thank
15:53 the counselors for the many
15:55 school visits that we do
15:55 together.
15:57 Um for the last three years we
15:59 have visited so many of your
16:02 schools in your uh for your
16:03 constituents and I think it's
16:05 helped a great deal with the
16:07 council's understanding of our
16:08 schools what happens in them.
16:10 It's also helped me and my
16:12 staff understand what
16:13 constituents are asking for or
16:15 need or alert you to.
16:16 So I just wanted to personally
16:17 say thank you for that because
16:20 you make a great effort to
16:21 visit our schools on a regular
16:21 basis.
16:23 With that I will pass it off to
16:24 doctor small right?
16:26 Thank you,
16:27 superintendent skipper.
16:29 Okay.
16:32 good morning, chair weber
16:34 and members of the boston city
16:34 council.
16:37 As chair weber stated
16:37 yesterday.
16:39 This is a fairly new process
16:42 for me and I feel honored to be
16:44 able to engage with each of you
16:46 alongside my colleagues
16:48 regarding the transformational
16:50 work of academics that will
16:51 impact every student across the
16:52 city of boston.
16:55 In many ways this feels like
16:58 the continuation of a
16:59 conversation that we started a
17:01 little over a month ago
17:03 regarding our approach to
17:04 learning for our multilingual
17:06 learners which I MAY add is one
17:08 out of every three students in
17:10 beeps and students with
17:11 disabilities.
17:13 One out of every four students
17:13 M.C.P.S.
17:17 During our time together I have
17:19 heard a number of you inquire
17:21 about academic programing,
17:23 evidence based practices,
17:25 success for students and
17:25 measurement of student
17:26 learning.
17:29 We are primed to do more than
17:30 increase performance on the cas
17:31 .
17:33 Currently one out of four
17:34 students across our high
17:35 schools are enrolled in a
17:39 career pathway that is a total
17:41 of 4051 students engaging in
17:43 learning that will support each
17:45 of them will with continuing to
17:47 cultivate their interest and
17:49 write their success narrative
17:50 at the ruth batson academy.
17:53 They are preparing to start
17:55 supporting the next generation
17:56 of aspiring educators.
17:58 Health care professionals are
18:00 being cultivated right now at
18:02 the M.K., the english high
18:04 school in madison park as we
18:04 speak.
18:08 In addition, madison park is
18:09 preparing future robotic
18:11 engineers and electricians.
18:14 We continue to expand
18:16 programing that supports our
18:17 commitment to bilingualism and
18:19 native language instruction for
18:21 our multilingual learners.
18:24 In less than 24 months, bpas
18:26 has expanded bilingual
18:30 education by 42%, growing from
18:32 8 to 14 programs and opening
18:34 for just this school year.
18:37 With our focus on informing
18:39 inclusion, multilingual
18:40 learners can attend a school
18:43 of their choice and receive the
18:45 support necessary to utilize
18:47 their native language to
18:48 support learning english.
18:52 These efforts have been
18:54 impactful as evidenced by the
18:56 points earned on the state
18:58 accountability framework for
18:59 progress towards earning
19:00 english proficiency.
19:03 We earned all possible points
19:06 in high school and saw notable
19:09 increases in the lower grades
19:10 for the experience of students
19:12 with disabilities.
19:14 It is exciting to see higher
19:15 than typical growth for
19:17 students in high school math
19:20 and celebrate a 2.5 percentage
19:22 point increase in four year
19:24 graduation rates.
19:26 I do want to acknowledge that
19:28 we anticipate through your
19:30 questions that we will speak
19:32 more directly about the
19:33 progress of the inclusive
19:34 education plan.
19:37 However, it is worth noting
19:39 that in the first year
19:40 of implementation we saw
19:42 increases in proficiency for
19:44 grades three through eight in
19:47 castilian math in grade seven
19:49 ela a focused implementation
19:51 grade for the first year we saw
19:53 a six percentage point increase
19:55 on the ela in cas.
19:57 Success with inclusion is
20:00 really a call to action for
20:02 high quality instruction for
20:04 each student where they receive
20:06 the support necessary to be
20:08 successful both during their
20:10 time and beyond.
20:13 As we transition to questions,
20:15 I do want to acknowledge the
20:17 impact of your advocacy and
20:19 collaboration with the school
20:20 committee and leadership.
20:23 Overall, our schools are
20:23 performing.
20:25 Better as a district.
20:27 We recently double the number
20:29 of schools of recognition.
20:32 Six of our schools exited
20:33 transformation status.
20:36 The up hauling excellent state
20:38 receivership and the dearborn
20:40 stem academy is planning to
20:41 exit state turnaround.
20:45 22 schools saw increases in
20:47 their accountability
20:48 percentiles for two consecutive
20:49 years.
20:52 The pieces are in place and
20:55 there is continued work to do
20:57 to ensure every student is able
20:59 to engage in highly
21:01 interesting, rigorous and
21:03 joyful learning experiences
21:05 that support them with
21:06 operationalizing their
21:07 aspirations beyond their time
21:08 at bp's.
21:12 continue to learn.
21:12 Personally this excites me as I
21:15 It gives me thrills to think
21:17 about the impact of our
21:19 collective efforts can have
21:22 right now in this moment and
21:24 will have on the future of the
21:24 city of boston.
21:27 We look forward to your
21:28 questions and this discussion
21:28 this morning.
21:31 Okay.
21:32 thank you very much.
21:34 So we've been joined by
21:34 councilor durkan.
21:36 We've also been joined by a
21:37 group from the mendel school.
21:38 Uh, hey.
21:40 Hey, I was sixth grade, fifth
21:43 Awesome.
21:43 grade, fifth and sixth.
21:44 Uh, okay.
21:48 Uh, well, um, that's, uh it's
21:50 very nice to see everybody.
21:51 Uh, just for our students.
21:52 You know, we're here we're
21:55 having a hearing on the boston
21:55 public schools.
21:58 Uh, and uh, we have here a
22:01 panelists uh, in the in the in
22:03 the middle here is the
22:03 superintendent mary.
22:05 Skipper who runs the school
22:05 system.
22:06 The rest of these are people
22:09 who help her, you know, run the
22:09 school system.
22:12 So, uh, and uh, over here city
22:13 councilors I'm a city
22:14 Councilor murphy,
22:17 councilor flynn,
22:19 councilor durkan and
22:19 councilor breadon.
22:22 Uh, we are we work on the city
22:23 council and we're talking about
22:24 the budget, how much money the
22:27 city spends on our schools.
22:28 And I'm going to ask the
22:29 superintendent and all the
22:31 people who work in her office
22:34 about, you know, uh, what kinds
22:35 of investments we make in our
22:36 schools.
22:37 And we're going to be talking
22:40 this morning about, uh, the
22:42 inclusion model, uh, which I
22:43 don't know if you know about
22:45 but uh uh, the uh how we help
22:46 multi-language.
22:48 Learners people who are or, you
22:49 know, come to school as the
22:50 first language that's different
22:51 than english.
22:53 Special education for kids who
22:54 need special education services
22:56 and curriculum how we shape the
22:58 curriculum, what kinds of books
23:00 you're getting, what kinds
23:01 of you know things MISS Lila's
23:04 talking about in class and um,
23:06 so anyway, this is the start.
23:06 of our hearing.
23:07 You came at a great time.
23:10 Uh, we've just heard from the
23:10 superintendent and doctor
23:11 doctor right here.
23:14 And so we're going to uh I'm
23:16 going to we have a timer.
23:16 Behind me.
23:18 I have to limit the amount
23:19 of time my colleagues talk so
23:20 we can all get a chance.
23:22 So we're going to start with we
23:23 go in order of arrival.
23:24 Councilor flynn was here first.
23:26 I'm going to give you seven
23:26 minutes.
23:28 I'm going to put it up on the
23:30 timer and uh then after that
23:31 will be councilor murphy, then
23:33 uh councilor breadon and
23:33 councilor durkan.
23:35 So councilor flynn, the floor