Boston School Committee approves $23M in grants, ratifies two union labor deals

BOSTON -- October 23, 2024, Boston School Committee approves $23 million in grants and labor deals while questioning pace of school turnaround. The committee voted unanimously October 23 to accept a $23,212,191 grants package that includes two $2 million EPA Diesel Emissions Reduction Act awards to add 25 electric school buses and supporting charging infrastructure, bringing the district's electric fleet to 5 percent of its roughly 780 vehicles and benefiting more than 3,000 students daily. Members also accepted a $70,000 bequest from English High School alumnus David Levinson to fund annual $1,000 scholarships, and approved two rounds of collective bargaining memoranda with lunch hour monitors and cafeteria workers, accompanied by supplemental appropriation requests of $457,886 and $881,479 to the Boston City Council. Executive Director of District and School Transformation Mike Sabin reported that 21 of 39 transformation schools improved their accountability percentile over the past year, but said five to eight schools show multiple consecutive years of decline, and chronic absenteeism at transformation high schools stands at 56.5 percent. Member Brandon Cardet-Hernandez pressed for a formal plan on graduation requirements ahead of the November 5 vote on ballot Question 2, warning the district against "giving our agency away to the state."