The cost of operating the Boston Public Schools system will rise by $38 million in the next fiscal year, based on a new budget estimate presented to the Boston School Committee on March 16. The hearing included a lengthy public comment period that lasted almost four hours and featured strong words from parents, students, and teachers fearful of cuts to special education and elementary programs.

The committee voted to approve the budget on Wednesday night. It will next be reviewed by the City Council and ultimately end up on the mayor’s desk for his consideration.

The earlier plan to slash spending at the high school level came under withering criticism. The latest version has scaled back those cuts but it includes a $900,000 trim to the city’s five Early Learning Centers, likely to impact para-professionals who work there. (See editor's note, below.)

Since the first BPS budget was made public in January, the Walsh administration has added $13.5 million to the plan, not enough to keep up with rising costs. Last week, Walsh said the city would add $6 million to the high school budget by reallocating it from other programs. In addition, $5 million will be directed to the budget from charter school reimbursements due from the state. 

Even with the new resources, the budget leaves the administration with a significant deficit. 

Last Thursday, a smaller group of parents and students continued their lobbying efforts with a last-minute rally and impromptu meeting with the mayor at City Hall. About 20 protestors attended the morning rally outside the building.

Malikka Williams, a Dorchester resident, helped organize the protest. Her son, Malik, has special needs and attends the JP Manning Elementary School in Jamaica Plain, which has an inclusion program.
She says cuts to the school would defund music, playworks, and arts program, leaving the school to fundraise independently. It would also mean that the school’s librarian would work just one day a week.

Immediately following the protest, the group gathered on the fifth floor of City Hall waited for an audience with the mayor, who was out of the building for Evacuation Day ceremonies in South Boston. As the group lingered, parents and students filmed statements that they intended to send to Walsh.

About 15 minutes after the protestors’ arrival, the mayor walked into the fifth floor lobby, apologized for his busy schedule, and thanked those gathered for their advocacy and concern on the budget.

“We’re going to work to continue to make sure we fully fund our Boston public schools,” Walsh assured the group. “I know there are challenges this year. We’re working, and there’s a process. We can’t just snap our finger to make money appear.”

The mayor then spent the next 40 minutes listening to protestors, young and old, and answering their questions. When asked why he would not simply add more money to bolster the BPS budget, Walsh told the group that the cost of funding the public schools is growing at an unmanageable rate.

“We need to get it under control to be sustainable,” he said.
“Most importantly,” he added, “I want these guys to get an education,” gesturing to the students.

A few protestors wore stickers blaming the budget deficit on the agreement to bring General Electric to Boston. Walsh demurred. “GE coming to Boston is a good thing,” he said, “because they generate revenue that will be reinvested back into schools.”

Liz Gomes of Hyde Park, whose son Mason is autistic and attends the sixth grade at the Joseph Lee Elementary School in Dorchester, invited the mayor to visit the school and see what the proposed cuts would mean for his special needs classroom. If the current budget plan is ultimately approved, she said, the class size for students like Mason will increase from eight students for every one teacher to twelve students.

“Only a special needs parent can tell you what our lives are. If you come, I will personally walk you around and you will see,” Gomes told Walsh. The mayor promised her that he would visit within the next few weeks. Gomes then talked with his scheduler to confirm a date.

This past Monday, at a town hall meeting event at Dorchester’s Adams Street library, a small group of parents discussed the latest iteration of the school budget with city councilors Tito Jackson and Annissa Essaibi-George, who co-chair the Education committee for the city council. Jackson told the gathering that the $6 million restored to the budget for high schools is not new funding, but money that has been redirected to respond to the outcry over cuts. “I’m not calling it a $6 million increase,” Jackson said. “It’s a $6 million reallocation.” 

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article included incorrect information regarding the amount of funding cuts proposed in the budget that was accepted by the School Committee this week. The proposed cut to the Early Learning Centers was originally $1.6 million, but was reduced to $900,000 in the approved budget. The cuts will not impact the duration of the school day as initially reported. And the number of paraprofessional positions that will be impacted is not yet finalized.