Boston City Council Grills BPS on FY26 Budget as ESSER Funds Expire

BOSTON -- November 14, 2024, Boston City Council presses BPS administration on FY26 budget priorities as federal pandemic relief ends. The Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Councilor Brian Worrell and co-sponsored by Councilors Julia M. Mejia and Benjamin J. Weber, convened an early-cycle hearing on docket 1393, questioning Superintendent Mary Skipper and her team on the $1.7 billion budget entering its first year without ESSER funding. CFO David Bloom confirmed a $173 million transportation budget for FY25, a 13 percent ridership decline since 2018, and a per-student transportation cost of $40,000 for out-of-district placements, $8,000 for door-to-door IEP service, and $3,000 for corner-stop general education routes. Skipper announced the largest expansion of multilingual learner programming in 40 years, seven new or expanded bilingual and dual-language programs approved by DESE, and said the district has grown its teaching staff by roughly 300 positions under her tenure, adding approximately $10 million in new special education staff last year alone. Councilor Erin J. Murphy, who has voted against the BPS budget every year, demanded evidence that spending is being redirected based on what is not working, noting the district spends close to $32,000 per student, the highest of any urban school district in the country.