Boston School Committee Approves $3.9 Million in Grants Led by Bloomberg Vision Care Award

BOSTON — October 8, 2025 — Boston School Committee unanimously approves $3.9 million in grants while debate over exam school admissions policy intensifies. The committee cleared eight grants at its October 8 meeting, the largest a $3 million Bloomberg Philanthropies vision care initiative that will provide free screenings, eye exams, and prescription glasses to all 46,000 Boston Public Schools students over two years. Chief of Data Monica Hogan presented simulation data showing that shifting the exam school composite score from a 30-70 MAP-to-GPA weighting to a 50-50 split would leave 91 to 92 percent of applicants with the same invitation outcome, but twenty-one public speakers nearly unanimously called on the committee to pause its November 18 vote, citing a 326-response survey as inadequate community engagement and warning that proposed changes would "reverse the racial and economic diversity achieved by the current policy," in the words of Citizens for Juvenile Justice representative Julie Santos. Vice Chair Michael O'Neill announced he will resign at year's end to become executive director of the Boston Private Industry Council, creating three open committee seats with applications due November 7.