Boston City Council Hears BPS Budget Warning Ahead of FY27 Cycle

BOSTON — November 17, 2025 — Boston City Council takes early look at BPS FY27 budget as federal cuts threaten $8 million. The Committee on Ways and Means, chaired by Councilor Brian Worrell, held a pre-budget hearing November 17 with Boston Public Schools Chief Financial Officer David Bloom and Senior Strategy Advisor Dr. Colin Rose, who outlined three strategic priorities anchoring the forthcoming spending plan. Bloom warned that Title II, Title III, and Title IV federal grants — funding professional development, multilingual learner supports, and after-school enrichment — were absent from the Trump administration's budget framework, creating a potential $8 million liability on a $1.7 billion district budget. Declining enrollment, driven by falling resident birth rates and a sharp drop in newly arriving immigrant families, compounds the pressure. Bloom said contingency planning with city finance and state partners is underway, noting: "If the federal government stops funding for multilingual learners, we're not going to shut down our investment in multilingual learners." The school committee is set to vote on the FY27 budget on the fourth Wednesday in March.