We're live. >> Good evening and welcome to our second fiscal year 27 budget hearing of the Boston School Committee. I'm chairperson Jerry Robinson. We'll begin with the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Because this is a remote meeting, I will ask Miss Pvix to please call the role.
>> Thank you, Chair. >> Dr. Alkins, Miss Mr. Peralta. Miss Polano Garcia. >> Yes. >> Miss Torres >> here. >> Mr. Tran. >> Yes.
>> Miss Garrett >> here. >> And Miss Robinson >> here. >> We have a quorum. >> Thank you. Tonight's session is being shared live on Zoom. It will be posted on the school committee's web page and
on YouTube. The documents from tonight's hearing are posted on the committee's web page, bostonschools.org/schoolcommittee under the March 4th meeting link. The meeting documents have been translated into all of the major BPS languages. Any
translations that are not ready prior to the start of the meeting will be posted as soon as they are finalized. The committee is pleased to offer live simultaneous interpretation in Spanish, Haitian Creole, Cape Verdian, Cantonese,
Mandarin, Vietnamese, and American Sign Language. The Zoom interpretation feature has been activated. Zoom participants should click the globe icon at the bottom of your screen to select your language preference. I want to
remind everyone to please speak at a slower pace to assist our interpreters. On February 4th, Superintendent Skipper presented her preliminary fiscal year 27 budget proposal to the school committee.
And on February 12th, we took a deeper dive into the proposal by focusing on school budgets. At tonight's hearing, we will take a closer look at the central budget. In a moment, we will invite Chief Financial Officer David Bloom and
Deputy Chief Financial Officer Blair Dawkins to share their presentation. But first, I would like to invite the Superintendent to give opening remarks. >> Wonderful. Thank you, Chair, and and good evening, everybody. Um, so I'm I
won't be giving a superintendent's report tonight because this is a budget hearing. Uh, but I did want to take an opportunity to let everybody know that the BPS school calendar has shifted due to the recent snow days. Last week's historic blizzard on top of the major
snow accumulation that we saw in January required us to make the decision to close schools during both storms for a total of four days. Each storm required multiple days of cleanup and readiness to make our schools safe for the return of students
and staff. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education requires that all schools operate for at least 180 days. Any unexpected closures are added onto the end of the school year. The last day of school is now
Friday, June 26th. Easy to remember because it's my birthday. Um, and this will be for students in pre kindergarten through 11. It was originally planned for Monday, June 22nd. The full updated district calendar for the 2025 2026
school year is available on our website and you will see that we have um coded in color with the days off uh at boston public schools.org/distcal. Tonight we are here to present our fiscal year 2027 spending plan for the
Boston Public Schools central office. We presented our $1.71 billion preliminary budget to this committee on February 4th and our spending plan focused on schools on Thursday, February 12th. We explained
how the school's budget was developed over the past several months in close collaboration with our schools. While the FY27 budget represents a 4.5% increase over FY26, that's roughly $74 million,
we really want to thank the for the continued support our mayor, Michelle Woo. Unfortunately, we are still confronting similar budget pressures to those that we're facing in this fiscal year of FY26
as we head into FY27, including the rising cost of health insurance, transportation, special education related services, and our collective bargaining agreements as they've been approved. As we've explained, Boston finds itself
in the same position as districts throughout the Commonwealth and the nation. Our costs are increasing at a faster rate than our revenue. In a few minutes, I will turn the meeting over to the finance team for their presentation. But first, I'd like to say a few words
about how this budget protects our long-term goals and builds on our priorities while maintaining services that serve our schools centrally. The public often thinks of the BPS budget in two large funding buckets, the
schools and the central office. The reality is more than 90% of the entire BPS budget actually goes directly to support our schools and our students. Of that 90% more than 60% of that goes
directly to our school budgets as we explained at the school's budget hearing on February 12th. The remaining nearly 30% or or equivalent of about $491 million is allocated to centrally funded departments that are in direct service
to our schools, primarily academics, family and community engagement and operations. The team will get into more specifics of our spending shortly, but it includes a wide variety of studentf facing services, departments, and programs. And
to just give you a sense of some of them, occupational, speech, um, physical therapists who work directly with students with disabilities in our schools, paraprofessionals who support work with students who need one-on-one
support, translation and interpretation services, community engagement coordinators, and the BPS helpline, all of which support our families and our caregivers, and things like transportation, facilities management, food services which ensure our students
get to and from school and have access to nutritious meals and clean, safe facilities. The remaining 10%, the smallest portion of the budget, supports two remaining areas of central office work. The first are the vital behindthe-scenes central
office functions that are found in any large organization our size. technology, records management, payroll and finance, as well as support for data and analytics, teams responsible for our state reporting. These departments are
less visible to the public, but critically important to the success of our district and our schools. The second bucket are the services we're obligated to provide for nonBPS ser students. These include tuition for out
of district special education students as well as transportation for those students and students who are at our private and charter schools. In planning for FY27, we want to ensure that we maintain funding to continue investing in our
priorities, especially as I've talked about highquality instructional materials, and strong academics, especially literacy, inclusive education, bilingual programming, and college and career pathways for our secondary students. In order to ensure
we have funding for our priorities and put as much direct resource to schools as possible, for the third straight year, we have found significant reductions in central offices. For FY27, we've identified 34 million in
central office efficiencies that do not directly impact schools and help to ensure that we are in the best possible financial situation going into FY27. In making decisions around central office reductions, we focused on
protecting programs and initiatives designed to strengthen student learning, cut vacant positions that did not align with our goals, and prioritized investment in our long-term strategic plans. We eliminated costs that no longer
benefit students by finding operational efficiencies in the areas of transportation, safety services, and food and nutrition services. For example, we recently opened our central kitchen and ended the distribution of vended meals.
These decisions are very difficult. However, as a district, we need to stay committed to our most important obligation, providing every student with access to a highquality education that gives them the opportunity to grow and thrive.
Before I close and turn the meeting over to the finance team, I just also want to remind everybody that our third and final school committee budget hearing will take place on Wednesday, March 18th. We will then come back before members to ask for your vote on the
revised proposal on Wednesday, March 25th. The budget will then be sent to the Boston City Council for its review and appropriation. For those of you looking for more information, our budget documents are publicly available on the homepage of
our website, bostonchools.org. You can click there on FY27 budget development under the about BPS tab at the top of the homepage and that will bring you right to our budget documents. I would like to also just again
recognize the hard work of our BPS finance team. Building the BPS budget takes a deep understanding of the needs of our schools, our students, and our families as well as the financial expertise to manage the spending plan of this size and scope.
I want to thank Chief Financial Officer David Bloom, Deputy Chief Financial Officer Blair Dawkins, who will give tonight's presentation, and budget director Serena Lorac and her entire team. At this point, I'll turn it over chair to Deputy Chief Dawkins, Chief
Bloom, and Director Lorac will also be in the meeting to answer questions following the presentation. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Superintendent Skipper and committee members for having me here to present the proposed FY27 central office
budget. Tonight, we are presenting an overview of the proposed FY27 central office budget. Through this presentation, we hope you and the public will leave here with an increased understanding of the
total BPS budget for next year, the total proposed FY27 central office budget, how central office budgets support schools, efficiencies identified to further focus our central office
budget, and the next steps in the FY27 budgeting process. this. Oh, next slide. And then one more. Okay, thanks. We are currently in the middle of our
school committee budget hearing process. In early February, we came to this body to present our overall proposed budget for next year. We then followed up with a presentation that covered the proposed FY27 budget for schools.
Here's a visual guide that you will recognize from our previous presentations. It shows that where we are in our full future year budgeting process. This view allows you to see the other work that is also happening at the same time as these
hearings. Next slide. So for next year we are Oh wait sorry one second. For next year we're proposing an overall budget of $1.7 billion.
This is a 4.5% increase from this current year's budget. We covered the first two priorities listed on this slide extensively in the last two presentations. In this presentation, we will be
highlighting the last two priorities listed. sustained investments in priority areas and the management of signi significant financial pressures that are outside of our control. Next slide.
As a reminder, we as a district are facing significant financial pressures in this current year. Those same pressures that we are experiencing today, we project will continue into next year. This means that we are
expecting an $86 million increase in costs related to health insurance, transportation, special education, and collective bargaining agreements. For this reason, we had a duty to create
a budget that is responsive to these pressures, all without sacrificing opportunities and supports for students. Now, I'd like to go a bit deeper into the timeline we followed for creating next year's central office budget.
As you may recall from slide four, we're working on building our central office and school budgets at the same time. This coordination, facilitation, and decision-m takes a significant effort over a very short period of time.
This takes an immense effort from finance and more importantly from our colleagues leading schools and central offices. For this, we would like to give a big thank you to everyone who participated in this budget building cycle. Whether
you are a parent on your child's school site council, a school leader, regional school superintendent, a district or department leader, all of the members of our budget, grants and staffing teams, or any of our many
other colleagues who we collaborate with during this season, your contribution is appreciated. The budget building process Oh, last slide. So, thanks. The budget building process starts in the fall. In
September, we create a forecast for next year's budget. A forecast is an informed estimate of future spending. We provide this forecast to our colleagues at the city of Boston's office of budget management so they may begin their planning
process. This is important for us as we receive our budget from the city of Boston. The following month, district leaders identify priorities for the next year, working with their department heads and the school's team to inform their
proposals. In November, we review these proposals and solicit feedback. During this time, the city of Boston gives us a total budget amount for the next year. By December, we have a finalized draft of
the budget that is informed by the approved budget we received from the city. We use this to preview the budget cycle for school committee. We shift our focus to schools in January and then we return to central office budget review
in February with budget collaborative meetings. Finally, throughout the spring, we will continue monitoring student assignments to identify any areas where we may need to make adjustments to the plan based on the needs of students who are enrolling for
the following year. As the superintendent mentioned in her remarks, we often speak of central office and schools in separate buckets, but the majority of the central office budget is spent directly in service to schools and for students.
In this next section of the presentation, we'll review how the central office budget is used in schools. Of our total $1.71 billion budget, 61% is given directly to schools. This is
what was discussed during the last budget hearing on February 12th. Another 29% of our budget provides opportunities and direct services to schools and students, but instead of being budgeted at the individual schools, they're paid
for through central office. We commonly refer to these as school services budgeted centrally. This means that over 90% of the total BPS budget goes directly to support student services. In the next slide, we'll provide some
examples. But for now, um, other essentially budgeted activities include services for nonBPS students, such as transportation and tuition for Boston students who attend nonBPS schools,
such as charter schools or schools for unique special education needs. Finally, there is the part of our budget that is purely administrative in central office. This is what we consider to be the true central office budget and this
represents just 7% of our overall budget. Though we consider these activities to be truly central office, many of these teams that fit in this category still provide direct support to schools such as payroll and procurement.
Next slide. In the previous slide, I mentioned school services budgeted centrally. Here we have some examples of those services. These examples include contracts and services for students on the autism spectrum, translation and interpretation
services for families and food program purchases. Please note that this list is not meant to be exhaustive. Something here that I want to draw your attention to is that many of these activities rely on the support of various central offices that are not
always considered to be providing direct student services. For example, the fifth quarter summer program budget is just over 5 million for this coming summer. This number does not account for the many hours and
resources provided by our office of instructional and information technology or OIT or our office of data and accountability whose support in both the planning and execution of the program. Next slide.
We also thought it important to highlight some of the drivers of our overall central office budget increase. Here you can see as mentioned in the earlier present earlier in the presentation transportation, special education and benefits make up a
significant portion of our overall budget increase. Please note that the other category for school services budgeted centrally includes things like our food service program, the family helpline, translations and interpretation for
families, and our teacher development work. In this table, you'll also see that the true central office budget is actually down by 5%. For reference, school budgets for next year will be down by 1%. So through our
process, we have increased the budgets for services to schools and central office while decreasing the true central office budget. I would like to also um point out a line in the table that may require some clarification.
You'll see the benefits and salary savings on the same line. The amount you see on that line is the combined total of the positive number of the cost of benefits and the savings resulting from the budgeting for positions at average
salary. We're able to use those savings from the positions to reduce the cost of benefits. Next slide. So we'll use this next section of the presentation to review the efficiencies identified in central office to further
elaborate on the 5% decrease to central office as well as the controlled increases in various departments. We use the term efficiency to describe the strategic reductions we make to our budget which allows us to maintain level
service provision for our priority areas and essential operations. Making the reductions I will oh sorry I will now outline the following um I will now outline the um following
reductions in the next slide. In response to the pandemic and ESSER as well as the superintendent's review of services, we expanded central positions to meet the needs of schools and our students. Over the last several years,
we've been reviewing these positions with an eye towards outcomes. Over the last three years, as we have come off of ESRE and consolidated services, we have made reductions at central office to ensure our school budgets and studentf
facing work is protected. In collaboration with central office leaders and the school's team, we identified $34 million in reductions to central office budgets for next year. Identifying efficiencies ensures that we
are allocating funds strategically to support key priorities. We made decisions by prioritizing programs that have the greatest impact on student learning and experiences. We also identified positions that were already vacant, suggesting that perhaps
that work was already reallocated or could be eliminated. Of the 150 positions deleted in central office for next year, about onethird were vacant. Finally, we prioritize continued investment in our strategic priorities,
particularly the work around equitable literacy, inclusive education, and multilingual programming. Spending that did not align to our strategic priorities or did not directly impact students was reduced or eliminated.
Next slide. In response to significant cost increases in transportation, we were able to identify efficiencies in other areas of the operation to control for those increases. This means that instead of $23 million a
$23 million increase in transportation for level services, we will only have a $12.9 million increase. To achieve this, the department identified three major reductions. Improved contracting for
specialized vehicle transportation. This is a mandated service for some of our students with the highest need for safe and consistent transportation as well as policy and practice shifts and an alignment of staffing.
Next slide. Our other large operations departments went through an efficiency exercise similar to transportation. The food and nutrition services department, which provides school breakfast and lunch, will reduce food
service costs by over $3 million through the launch of our central kitchen, eliminating more costly meal services provided by vendors. The facilities department, which manages our school building maintenance and repairs, has also identified over $3
million in reductions while ensuring we have sufficient funds to provide repairs necessary for safety. Finally, our safety services team was able to capitalize on vacancies within the department to identify over $500,000
in savings without impacting the safety of students or staff. We also worked with departments and district leadership to identify other reductions within central office by streamlining areas of our operations. This streamlining allows us to provide
more focused support in priority areas. Examples of these reductions are changes to our call center structure, reductions to stipen and contract positions, and other departmental reductions. Over the
last few years, there has been a need to build up our centrally based supports for schools to ensure quality and compliance services and opportunities for students. To do this, we added positions in central office. Now that those supports
and structures in these departments have been strengthened, we are in a place where we can scale back again without sacrificing services for students. An example of this within our own department finance was the increase of
staff on our grants team at a time when volume accountability and the complexity of the work required additional positions. Through this increase and restructure, one position remained vacant. Now that
the team has grown, we found that they are able to lead the work of external fund management without this vacant position. For this reason, we decided it would be best to cut the position to support the district in balancing our budget.
Next slide. The efficiencies we've identified have allowed us to maintain our focus on our key strategic priorities. Our goal is to be able to use these savings to protect our strategic initiatives such as equitable literacy,
expanding the district's use of highquality instructional materials, inclusive education practices and bilingual education, enriching summer programming, and dual enrollment and early college pathways for more
students. By focusing our work on these priorities, we're ensuring students have access to quality services and opportunities. Before I turn it over for questions, I'd like to preview some next steps and resources available to members and to
the public. Next slide. The next budget hearing will take place on Wednesday, March 18th. This will be the last hearing to take place before the school committee vote on March 25th. Next slide.
Here is a familiar slide that again outlines the available materials on our website that are helpful for understanding next year's budget. Next slide. Thank you again for your engagement and
partnership in this work. Thank you very much for your presentation. Um, we'll now move on to public comment. Miss Parvox. >> Thank you, chair. This public comment period is reserved for individuals to address the school
committee specifically regarding the fiscal year 2027 budget recommendation. Comments must be limited to the proposed fiscal year 27 budget. We have 38 speakers this evening. Each person will have two minutes to speak and I would
remind you when you have 30 seconds remaining. Please feel free to email your comments for distribution to the committee. Speakers may not reassign their time to others. The time that an interpreter uses for English interpretation will not be deducted from
a speaker's allotted time. Please direct your comments to the chair and refrain from addressing individual school committee members or district staff. Please note the comments of any public speaker do not represent the Boston public schools or the Boston school committee. Please sign in with your
registered name. When I call your name, raise your virtual hand and be ready to unmute and turn on your camera. Please begin by stating your name, affiliation, and where you live. To support interpretation, please speak slowly and clearly. We will start by our city councelor Ben
Weber, followed by Lucy Schneller, Adriana Chavez, Vivian Muk, and Abio Farah. Counselor Weber. >> Hello. You can start. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, you can hear me? >> Yes, we can hear you.
>> Okay. Uh, good evening. My name is Ben Weber and I'm talking to you as both the chair of the Boston City Council's Ways and Means Committee who will be shephering the FY27 budget you pass through the council and as a BPS parent. I have an eighth grader at BLA and have
had a child in BPS every year since 2011. I want to thank Mary Skipper for all of her hard work and for mo most of all for her long-term dedication to BPS. Uh but I said this at our hearing with Chief Bloom and Advocates on Monday. Uh there's an old borchbell joke about an
older person who goes to a restaurant. When they're asked how it was, the answer is something like the food was terrible and the portions were too small. Uh that probably sums up how parents like me have felt about BPS for the last two decades. We spend a lot per student and the results are still
difficult to stomach. It feels like we should be grappling with high costs or low scores, but not both at the same time. In a district where the majority of students have a disability or English language learners or both, the playing field is heavily tilted against us. But our families still have high
expectations that we need to work together to meet. My colleagues and I have reviewed the proposed budget and today in that spirit of collaboration, I sent a letter to super to the superintendent and this committee uh to highlight areas that my fellow counselors and I will be focused on when
we are handed the budget in April. At the top of our list, our student-f facing staff needed to make inclusion work, support our English language learners with bilingual teaching, and provide the supports needed to get our kids reading at grade level. The budget, however, shows reduced staffing,
bilingual instructors, and reading. There are other vital areas we want to see adequate resources for, such as mental and behavioral health, alternative education, the arts, and athletics, but I urge you to just read my letter. My colleagues and I are well aware that with rising costs of wages and healthcare, we are looking at a
budget that costs more but provides fewer student-f facing staff. We hope that the school committee uses its expertise to finally deliver on the investments our city has historically been making in education. Uh we hope your review of especially the uh central
office budget uh will uh will help you find the resources that will allow our kids to get the worldclass education they deserve. Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Lucy Schneller. Please unmute yourself.
Lucy Schneller, please unmute yourself. I don't know if you're frozen. I think she's frozen. Um, so let's try with Adriana Chavez and then go back. Oh, okay.
>> I'm sorry. Am I okay to speak? >> Yeah, you can speak. >> Hello, my name is Lucy and I'm a 10th grader outside Quincy Upper School. We here to testify against the budget cuts and how they will affect non-permanent teachers and students. I decided to leave JQ when I was in middle school,
hoping a private school would be a better fit for my anxiety. In many ways, I enjoyed attending private school. I did return to JQ looking for community and familiarity. Throughout my eighth grade, I bonded strongly with my math teacher, Miss Cameron. I would attribute
our student teacher bond to our shared love of film. It was freeing to have someone a companion to indulge in my movie madness. Over time, Miss Cameron has become someone who truly supports me, someone I can always count on if I need help. When she's no while she's no
longer my teacher, I keep coming back. Her support has followed me throughout the last three years of my life and at JQ through the IB or international baloria personal project to helping me get into an NYU summer program this where I would study. I've always
imagined that our co-founded film club would be passed on to the next crop of cophiles when I graduated. I always imagined walking across the stage at graduation seeing Miss Cameron in the crowd. I'm testifying not just for Miss Cameron or me and all the other students
that love her, but for all the people at JQ. With the cutting of non-permanent teachers, you will bear witness to the destabilization of our community and to the students. The science club fair will no longer be our wrestling team will cease to be
>> the JQ film club or my film club will not no longer exist if she was gone. While I understand the district has been put in a situation where m one thing or another must be must go, I urge you to look beyond the numbers and into students lives. Thank you.
>> Thank you very much. >> Our next speaker is Adriana Chavez. You can start. >> Hello. Can everyone hear me? >> Yes, we can hear you. >> All right. Thank you. Hello. My name is Adriana. I'm a 10th grader at Joside
Quincsey Upper School and I'm here to testify the bud budget cuts that are affecting non-per permanent teachers. When I joined JQ, I felt a lack of representation for queer students, especially queer women like me. However, this year I have Zoe Pelgro, a firstear
ninth grade teacher. Like I was fortunate enough to have her as my co-teer for 10th grade English class. Miss Pelgrino and my friends quickly built a relationship and I've had many conversations about the classroom and personal matters. During one of the conversations earlier this
year, she had mentioned her weekend with her girlfriend and baby niece. The simple conversation made me feel much more confident with myself and my own identity and safer when confiding in her. Miss Pelgro encouraged me to approach her about my conflicts within the classroom and my feedback on work. I
know I could trust her to help me whenever needed. Miss Pelgro also helped me to gain enough confidence to join the GSA which she co-vises where I could express express myself freely without judgment. When I recently found out that my relationship with Miss Pelgro may no
longer exist due to her unjust replacement, I felt that I was at serious risk of losing one of my safe places. I also felt more dread when she would talk about her hard struggle to keep her job. She talked about studying for the ESL and foundations of reading
MTLS to get additional licenses as quickly as possible. All while teaching and creating entire study sync and IB pair curriculum. >> I realized that I and other queer students at JQ would be at risk of losing our safe base and also a
wonderful teacher who loses her job. Thank you for listening. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Vivian Moch. Hi Vivian, can you please stop your video? Why is this not loading?
You're not able to start the video. >> Thank is that okay? >> Yeah, you can start. You can >> you can go ahead. Go ahead. >> You can go ahead. >> I can go ahead. >> Yes, please. Okay.
>> You can start. We we can't hear you. >> You know, >> Vivian, >> we can't hear you. Maybe you can try to go back out and in. Okay. And then we let's try with our next our next speaker
Abio Farah and then we can go back to Vivian Abio Farah. Can you please start? >> Please unmute yourself. >> Hello. >> Hello. Yeah, you can start. if I'm lagging a bit, but
>> Hello. >> Yes. Hello. >> Please start. >> Hello. Do you hear me? >> Yes. Yes. Hi, I can hear you. >> Um, all right. Uh, can I start? >> Yes, you can start. >> Yeah.
>> Okay. So, sorry for the bad Wi-Fi. All right. My name is Okay. Anyways, my name is Aia and I'm 11th grader at Josiah Quincy Ever School. We are here to testify against the budget cut that are affecting
non-permanent teachers. The BPS claims they they fully support social emotional learning per the BPS website said and I quote, "We recently action we recently worked to foster trusting relationships and shared expectation." The statement
at Quincsey, our teachers are the infrastructure for our community. They offer stable trusting relationship that improve education of students. Trust confined in a student goes in a long boat way of our of our academics and lives out outside of school.
Students aren't coged. Teachers aren't coged in a machine swipable for your inconvenience. Replacing those who have developed a strong connection with students to stabilize our community and the teachers and the students themselves. This cutting of non-permanent would disrupt the strong routines and trusting relationships that
you preach. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you very much. We will try again with Vivian Muk if she's in in the meeting. You can start.
>> Hello. >> Hello. >> Hi. You can start. >> Can anyone hear me? Okay. >> Yes, you can start. Go ahead. >> Any of Wait, my name is Vivian Mock and I am a ninth grader at Josiah Quinzy Uper School. We
are here to testify against the budget cuts that are affecting non-permanent teachers. Budget cuts have already impacted our school and our students over the past few years. The PATH program, an educational program supporting students with emotional impairment through counselors, was cut
last year. For former PATH students, the loss of this program has led to a visible reduction in attendance and increased and increased transfers out of BPS. We've reached out to a former classmate who was who was a part of the
path program. He said the path program was one of the main reasons I left. One of the main reasons I transferred to JQ specifically was the path program. Without it, there was a reasons for me to stay. The same way students relied on
path counselors, we rely on teachers support in both our academic and personal lives. Our school is already affected by the loss of path. The replacement of 17 of 17 teachers will only carry out the same effect. The loss
of strong student teacher relationships will disabilize those who rely on non-permanent teacher on rely on a non-permanent teacher in any way. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Our next group of speakers
are I lead Tiny Marine, Andrew Schneller, Rosie Baker, Jasmine Quayosto, and Cheryl Buckman. I lead Tanmarine. Hello, my name is Eiley and I am currently an eighth grader at Josiah Quinsey Upper School. I have known Miss
Callaway, JQ's seventh grade special education teacher for two years. While she only taught me humanities, I've gained insight into her relationship with other students and her hard work. Miss Callaway is one of the very few other very few special education
teachers in our school. She also has an ESL cert certification and has taught that class before as well. um laying her off would affect the community she built around her. We have a very small team of special ed teachers
that works with the students in need. Losing Miss Callaway would affect both the students she teaches as well as the other teachers. Um as the other special education teachers would be under high stress with a higher case load. During her two years
at Josiah Quinzy, Miss Callaway has put so much hard work into making sure students have a safe learning experience. Not only that, but I have seen her provide clothes and food for the kids in need, building an even stronger bond into the in the community. I have also noticed how much she cared
for each student, having one-on-one check-ins with the students and making sure they were okay during class. During my class with Miss Callaway, I have seen how patient and understanding she is with the students and me, offering extra help and after school tutoring if needed. Removing her from the school
would affect her students, both general as well as special ed students greatly as she is very close with the students around her. >> She has she has she has their trust and has built deep connections with them. As you know, students are much more
motivated and able to learn when a good relationship has been built with their teachers. I could see these kids have a very genuine connection with her, making them feel safe, unjudged, and eager to learn. Thank you for listening. >> Thank you very much.
Our next speaker is Andrew Schneller. Hello. Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can hear you. You can start. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you for allowing me to talk. Um, I know that financial pressures are very real. Uh, and it requires trade-offs and oftentimes those trade-offs are very difficult to make
and they they can't make everybody happy. Um, and I know that uh things are put being put in place where low um tenure teachers won't necessarily be able to be retained by the department. Um, which is unfortunate. And I just want to make sure everybody on the
school committee is aware that um that while uh this may be the right financial thing to do from a accounting standpoint, there there is a disruption to students. Um, my daughter spoke before, my daughter attends Josiah Quincy uh upper school. my son attends
uh the Boston Latin School. Um, and when there is disruption with teachers, it disrupts uh ongoing relationships. There's not a financial cost to that, but but there is still a cost and it can threaten uh the success of the school program and its goals um and can turn into financial costs down the road. Um
and I know uh my daughter Lucy has had a lot of anxiety problems and the relationships she's built with with teachers um are uh very important to ensuring her continued success. even things like just getting to school every day. Um, so that disruption really
hurts. Um, so I'm hoping as as budget decisions get made, and I know these are very tough decisions, um, that you'll take into account the non-financial costs associated with that disruption, um, alongside the the difficult financial, uh, impacts that that you
guys are working through. Um, so, thank you so much for for hearing me out, allowing me to to talk. as you can tell from several of the students, uh there's a a great emotional connection with the teachers at Josiah Quincy Upper School. Um and to the extent that that can be
preserved, I think would be a great benefit to to the school and the students. So, I appreciate uh you're hearing me out tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Our next speakers are not in the meeting, so we will continue with Cheryl Buckman.
Good evening. My name is Cheryl Buckman. I'm a parent to a seventh grader at the Ruth Batson Academy, parent lead for the Dev and Dorchester and longtime resident of South Boston. Out of the 3 to 400 positions expected to be eliminated, roughly about 160 of
those are teachers from this year's closing schools. the Denver Community Academy, Excel, and Mary Lion. These are educators who have dedicated themselves to Boston's children. Many of them will have nowhere to go
after this school year. Is this how we treat our educators? These are not just vacancies, their relationships, their trusted adults. They are stable classroom environments that our children depend on. Students
will lose continuity. They'll lose their mentors. They'll lose the adult who know their learning styles the best, their struggles and their strengths. And let's be clear, this comes after
educators stood through a long contract fight to secure fair pay and basic working conditions. I stood alongside them last spring while also trying to fight to keep the deer open. They finally received what they deserved
only to now face uncertainty and potential unemployment. What message does that truly send? School communities are asked to absorb instability while planning for the next academic year. Principles are left
without clarity. Teachers are left without assurance. Families are left without answers. This is about impacts and the impact is clear. Instability harms students. Uncertainty harms our educators. And school communities cannot
thrive under a cloud of budget confusion and staff and insecurity. Our students deserve stability, our educators deserve respect, and our school communities deserve better. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Our next group of
speakers are Colleen Hart, Carlos Maren, Madison Kronheim, Mary Paula, Roy Karp, and Courtney Phelikarp. Colleen Hart, you're muted. Please unmute yourself. >> Sorry about that.
>> No problem. You can start. >> My name is Colleen Hart. I am the par field rep paraba field rep at the BTU. Before I was elected, I served 20 years as a par professional at the Richard J. Murphy School in Dorchester, not too far where I raised my three children. I am
here tonight not to represent only the BTU, but my fellow PAR professionals, many of them scrambling to figure out how they're going to continue to support themselves and their families. On February 12th, the school committee BPS officials estimated our schools would lose 160 dedicated paraprofessionals for
next school year. Let me tell you what that means for our schools and students to lose more than 160 passionate, dedicated educators. Any student, any teacher would tell you paras are the glue of the school. Any student will tell you their favorite adult is the paraprofessional because they spend more
time one-on-one with kids besides their own parents. Boston public schools officials declared in a quote supportive network of caring adults. It's one of the four key components of high quality student experience. I'd like to point out um that quote was found on a BPS
website discussing high quality standards. BPS envisions a district where students have access to services that need experience and provides academic foundation of high quality student experiences. I can say with more than 20 years experience at my back if
we continue to cut paraprofessional positions, this network will continue to weaken and be more difficult to meet the diverse needs of our students. The vast number of paraprofessionals are women and they're women of color. Most have two, three or four jobs. They grow up in Boston. They speak the same language.
The children feel safe. Don't overlook these individuals. They don't overlook our students. We with these budget cuts where where said Paris would fill in the gaps when it came to inclusion. These budget cuts, they're the first to go. I lost my husband when they my children
were pretty young. I lived off a salary of $30,000 and had many part-time jobs struggling. This is very similar to many of my very many fellow car professionals. >> Thank you. Your time is up. Thank you very much. Can >> I send you guys my testimony?
>> Yes, please send send send me the testimony and I will share it to the committee. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Our next uh speaker is not in the meeting. Carlos is not there. Madison Kronheim. >> Thank you. You can start. >> Good evening members of the school
committee. My name is Madison Cronheim. I live in Jamaica Plane and I'm a third through fifth grade ABA classroom teacher at the Joseph Lee School. I'm here representing the ABA working group reading a portion of a letter that we have written that will be sent out next week to the Office of Specialized Services and others at central office in opposition to the proposed increase in
ABA strand specialist case loads. As of now, we have 174 names signed onto this letter. We are writing to formally express our concern regarding the proposed increase in ABA strand specialist case loads from four classes to six classes per >> Slow down. Please slow down for the interpreters. Thank you.
>> Sorry. We um we strongly oppose this change due to its significant impact on service quality, staff capacity, and most importantly, student outcomes. Our ABA strand specialists are both licensed teachers and board certified behavior analysts that provide support to the
students with disabilities enrolled in the ABA strand. Historically, ABA strand specialists were assigned to four classes. This structure allowed specialists to provide meaningful consultation, support staff effectively, respond to behavioral needs, and maintain the integrity of ABA
programming. Increasing case loads to six classes represents a substantial shift, especially given the current context in our schools. In the past two years, ABA class sizes have increased and student needs are becoming more intensive. Students are receiving fewer direct ABA service hours, which typically results in an increased need
for consultation time from strand specialists. With fewer strand specialists supporting classes, it will be increasingly difficult to provide structured staff collaboration time, effectively address behavioral concerns, and ensure consistent >> implementation of ABA practices. There is also a serious concern about whether
specialists will be able to meet the required consultation hours under increased case loads, placing both staff and district compliance at risk. Finally, an audit is actively underway with results expected in March. Implementing such a major structural change prior to reviewing these findings is concerning. For all these reasons, we
urge you to reconsider the proposed increase in ABA strand specialist case loads. Maintaining manageable case loads is essential to supporting staff and meeting student needs. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Mary Pola. Mary Paula.
Hello. Good evening, members of school committee. My name is Mary Pola. I'm one of one of 10 supervisors of attendance for the Boston public schools. I've been in this position for 13 years. I'm here to speak about proposed budget cuts that will ne negatively impact our school
district. When a strategy is working and the data proves it, we should not dismantle it. In 2022, when superintendent Mary Skipper was brought in to the district was brought into the district uh to help fight receiverhip, one of the clearest
investments made was in the area of the supervisors of attendance unit. At that time, Boston public schools served more than 49,000 students, 119 schools, and only six supervisors of attendance worked with the whole school district. The regional model was implemented, and
four additional supervisors of attendance were added to the the work became systematic, datadriven, and regionally aligned. And the results followed. Chronic absenteeism has declined every single year since the investment was made. Midyear data shows
that we are at 25% exceeding the district's target. Attendance is one of only one of only two quality school plan metrics currently meeting the district goals. This not a coincidence. This is the capacity.
Our supervisor of attendance are responsible for advancing the quality school plan priority three attendance. We lead district-wide initiatives, support schools on site in building strong attendance systems and intervene in the most complex.
>> Go ahead. >> I'm sorry. You kind of threw me off and did that. Sorry. Um, this is not simply about the positions. However, this is about how to sustain what is working. We respectfully urge the school committee to continue in the investment of the supervisor of attendance unit to
continue supporting our students chronic abs reducing chronic absenteeism and helping the attendance of our schools increase and become a much stronger place for our students. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Our next speaker is Roy Karp followed by
Courtney Filicarp. Good evening, Superintendent Skipper and members of the school committee. My name is Roy Karp. I've been a BPS parent since my daughter started K0 in 2017. When she entered the Henderson Inclusion School at age three, she was non-verbal, could not walk independently, received
all her nutrition by GT Tube, and attended school with her home care nurse. The Henderson provided a fully inclusive school community where she was slow down. where she was well loved and supported. The co-teer plus one power professional in every classroom was a model that worked well for her and she
thrived. Today, she's a creative, curious, and kind sixth grader at the Roosevelt K to8 school in High Park. She's come a long way since age three, but she still has an IEP to address her special learning needs. She's in one of two sixth grade cohorts that move from one classroom teacher who focuses on ELA
and social studies and another who focuses on math and science. Each middle school grade band also has one inclusion teacher and one par profofessional who float between the two cohorts. However, the budget cuts proposed will negatively impact these staffing levels and undermine the school's ability to deliver quality education for all
students. Next year, there will be only one inclusion teacher to cover all three middle school grades. As a practical matter, this means there will be only one adult in the classroom at a time. Um, where there's also reductions in power professionals. This will fall especially hard on students with IEPs
like my daughter. So, I have two >> I have two questions um for the school committee. Um for a district that's purportedly striving to become a fully inclusive district, why are you making cuts to vital supports needed to effectively include and support students with special needs?
>> Two, how can we square impacts like this with claims that the budget will not cut core educational services to our students? Until the public gets answers to these questions, I urge the committee to reject this proposed budget. Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you tonight. Thank you very much. Our next
speaker is Courtney Felicart. Hi, can you hear me? >> Yeah, we can hear you. >> Okay. Hi, my name is Courtney Philly Karp. I'm resident of Boston. My daughter, as you may have gathered, is the child that was mentioned by my husband who previously just testified. I'm here now not only to echo and double
down on his remarks, but also would like to point to the remarks of a prior parent, Andrew Sneller, who I would say conceded too much that there is no financial cost associated with some of the lost trusted adults for our children. There are in fact financial
consequences often associated with losing trusted adults in a school community. They're just not as easily quantifiable as just simply the salary of an FTE. Those costs often are borne by increased absenteeism to go to the prior person's testimony if they don't have that trusted adult at school. It
can mean to other need for services through guidance counselors or school psychologists as they are in need of additional supports. So there are many many unintended consequences of the school budget. I would like to focus specifically on the impact for the inclusion rollout as well as the new
school funding formula. While the school budget book does lay out specific rules associated with how this formula is to be implemented, it really begs the need for additional clarity if a reasonable person is to understand them. I have looked at those rules. I have looked at
the Roosevelt budget and I have yet to figure out exactly how those rules are being implemented. It is very difficult to unpack to understand how our school is being supported, whether it is consistent with those rules and how those rules are taking instructional needs into account there.
>> Again, speaking to the additional needs, the rules do not seem to account for the holistic view that the superintendent is often fond of speaking of that we are educating the whole child. I don't see adequate consideration of the needs of all of our students baked into those
rules beyond the basic instructional needs into the trusted adults that many people have spoken to already tonight. There are additional need of services that cannot be quantified simply on per pupil amounts. Increasing case loads costs and our ABA threads only going to
burden our staffs more. Please as >> Thank you. Your time is up. Our next speakers are John Mud, George Physic, Amy Pachitelli, Diana Wilson, Nora Paul Schultz, Imarius Matias, and
Bilmana Martinez. John Mud. >> My name is John. Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can hear you. >> I just screenshot. My name is John Mud. Uh, you know my background. A key responsibility of the school committee and superintendent
uh under student outcomes focused governance is the creation of smart goals for the school district's key priorities. Yet the BBS FY27 budget proposal for 18 1.8 billion dollar in all funds expenses for the school uh
does not contain specific student outcome goals. What will BPS achieve in terms of student outcomes for this 1.8 billion investment or for the 550 million for special education or the 140 million spent for multilingual learners?
The budget for FY27 should not be approved without specific student outcome goals. The school committee and superintendent say their decisions are evidence-based and datadriven. But inclusion for multilingual learners
is a special education concept that has been misapplied to multilingual students. It has failed to enable more than 90% of multilingual learners to reach state grade level content standards on MCCAST tests for many years. The strategy for multilingual
learners needs to follow the evidence from expert research and promote bilingual programs and bilingual staff that use instruction in native language. The central staff has been cut 23%.
Where is the central budget? Where in that budget is there a provision for the staff to develop a long-term plan to expand bilingual education programs and bilingual teachers on uh inclusion for special education students? Has there
been a reduction in students from subset classes into mainstream classes, especially for black and brown boys, the traditional concept of inclusion? The central budget should require support for these goals. Does it? It
should. Our next speaker is George Physic. >> Please unmute yourself. >> She muted it again. >> Thank you. >> Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. You can start. >> Good evening, members of the school
committee. My name is George Physic from Matapan. I'm the supervisor of attendance for 38 years. I'm here to speak about how the proposed budget cuts will ne negatively impact our school district. The proposed budget would mean that our supervisor attendance union
would be cut possibly by half impact the chronical epotism uh rate which has been decreasing over the past couple of years with the past of supervisor attendance investment. The role of the supervisor of attendance
the district and schoolwide attendance improvement initiatives on-site advisory support for school and attendance systems and practices. extensive support for tier three in complex cases. S SOAS are one of the only groups directly
responsible for advancing quality school plan QSP priority three attendance. Our teams of 10 reflects the diversity of the BPS student body. Collectively we speak English, Spanish, Cardian, Creo, Haitian trio, French, Portuguese, and
Hana. We work day uh daily with students, families, teachers, heads of school communities, partners, DCF, DY, SUFFK, Junile Court, and district license to remove barriers to to attendance. We respectively asked the school committee to reconsider the
uh proposed reductions of S SOA positions. Maintaining a full staffing will allow us to substain gains of chronic >> seconds. >> Strengthen tier three wrap power services impact social emotional and family center supports protective
systems that are currently meeting districts. This is not an abstract investment. It is a provide strategy with measurement results. Reducing SOAS now would not be able be a natural budget decision. it would be a step backward in one of the few areas where
we were meeting and setting district goals. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Amy Pachetelli. Hi, my name is Amy Piachelli and I have taught at Charlestown High School for
the last 25 years. Before I talk about our school, I want to talk about the budget in general. Um Boston is not matching Somerville, Watertown, Denham, Brookline or Cambridge and what they spend over the foundation budget and
many of our students have higher needs than these other districts. And while it's true that BPS enrollment is declining, over 75% of BPS funding comes from the city, which is not tied to enrollment numbers. And I think that if
the city has over $100 million for police overtime, I know that there must be more money for the BPS budget as well. We are a wealthy city in a wealthy state. Specifically about my school, there is a 17% cut in Charles Town High
positions. 17. There are only nine schools facing greater cuts in the district. We recently received commendations from the district on metrics the district cares about. We received the gold award for meeting or improving 100% of our priority metrics.
We are only one of seven schools in the district to do so. Cutting 17% of our staff is going to undermine that progress on our quality school plan targets. Cutting 17% of our staff means undermining our inclus inclusion
practices as co-eing becomes less feasible. This puts us back in the position of pretending that one teacher with two licenses is the same as two teachers, and it is not. And our teaching staff would become dramatically
less diverse because so many more of our recent hires are educators of color. All of these problems are devastating and unacceptable, and I urge the city to reconsider its budget and restore funding to the schools. Thank you.
>> Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Diana Wilson. Diana Wilson, please accept the prompt. Please accept the prompt. Please unmute yourself and turn on your camera.
Good evening. My name is Diana Wilson. I work at the Blackstone Elementary School in the South End. This is my seventh year there. This is a letter that we all put together at the school and we signed. We members of the Blackstone school
community respectfully require request a comprehensive re-evaluation of the decision to eliminate six or more home room sections as well as multiple paraprofessionals positions. Our student body which includes a sign significant
number of individuals who are already underserved and considered high- risk is entitled to and necessitates an optimal learning environment. A staff reduction of this magnitude, which would inevitably lead to a substantial
increase in class sizes, would have a profoundly delotterious effect on student academic and seal outcomes. While district-wide student enrollment has been has seen a decline over the past decade, state level data indicates
a notable increase between two uh 2023 and 24 and 2024 to 25 school years. Furthermore, the Blackstone School's student population has demonstrabably increased annually since 2022 to 23
school year, often exceeding enrollment forecasts. Consequently, proceeding with such significant reductions appears shortsighted, giving given the potential for student enrollment to necessitate rehiring the very positions being
eliminated as early as the 2027 to 28 school year. This action regrettably conveys a prioritization of fiscal considerations over the paramount focus of education, the students themselves. We strongly urge you to reconsider the
proposed plan to eliminate six or more home room classrooms as well as multiple paraprofessional positions in preparation for the 2026 to 27 academic year. >> Thank you. >> Our next speaker is Nora Paul Schultz.
Um, can you hear me? >> Yes, we can hear. You can start. >> Good evening. My name is Norah Paul Schultz and I'm a physics and engineering teacher at the O'Brien, a member of the executive board of the Boston Teachers Union and a resident of Jamaica Plane. I'm here to talk about my deep concerns about my school's budget
for next year and the budget cuts throughout the district. Even though even though the O'Brien is not seeing significant drop in our enrollment, if any, we are seeing five positions cut. This means that our staff is being cut at a rate 2.37
times our enrollment decline. I'm worried about how it will impact the culture and climate at at our school and the high quality educational experience my my and all students deserve. From PE from piecing information together, we have learned that we are losing all
three of our student affairs coordinators in ELA and history teacher. This is this is going to be devastating for our our school community. Last year we had five student affairs coordinators, but that was our but that
was already cut down to three. For now, for next year, we are going to go down to zero. These members of our our community play a vital role in our school from being in the halls during transition, addressing behavior issues, following up on attendance, and making
our school a safer place. In a school of 1,500 students, the idea that we would have no one in this role is devastating. The district has given our school goals around culture and climate as well as >> attendance
>> school plan. If this is part of the district's feedback plan to improve the O'Brien, why are we not cutting the positions that are so important to this work? We are also losing an ELA and an history teacher. Currently, our ELA and
history classes approach 31 students. Um, these teachers are worried that about the number of teachers they would um the students they will teach, especially if they move from a sixth period to a seven period day in order to Thank you. Thank you. your time is up.
If if you didn't finish your your testimony, you can please send it to me. Thank you. Our next speaker is Marius Matias, followed by by Vilmana Martinez. Mari Matias.
Uh good evening everyone. My name is Emaris Matias. I live in Sultan with my two kids. My son, he's a sophomore at the O'Brien Mathematic Science School as well as a former uh student of BPS and
I'm being a former parent mentor coordinator at the OA gardens and lately became a par professional. Thanks to Senu program who academically prepared me to take the para exam. I'm ready. I'm
ready to share knowledge and experience uh to BPS and become part of the BPS family and actually community. I speak, I read, I write in Spanish and English. So I'm a
relingual which is my adding up plus for becoming part of the community of PPS. I hope the next year the budget of PPS will continue supporting the parental program because these attribution help
not just me but other parents who will who would like to grow up in education in the education field. Thanks to SA Stevens, I found a passion for education and gave back to the community. I'm not I'm not stopping here. My goals are to
continue to pursuing my education and become a social worker and to continue giving back to this community that I'm already on the right path by searching and already start applying for profession for par professional
positions and I hope to uh I hope EPS uh is still continue to support the par mentor program for next year and years uh and more years to come. Thank you for listening to for me tonight. Thank you. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is
Filmania Martinez. You can start. You're muted. Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can hear you. >> Okay. Hi, good evening. My name is Vima Martinez and I'm a proud parent proud to serve as a parent mentor through the St.
Steven youth program at the William Monroe Troder School. Supporting students every day and being part of their academic and personal growth has shown has shown me to be powerful guidance, patience, and encourage truly are. Through this role, I have grown
both personally and professionally. I have strengthened my community skills, developed leadership abilities, and gained confidence working with children's families, schools, and staff. I have learned the importance of responsibility, teamwork, and advocacy,
ensuring that students receive the support they need to both succeed inside and outside the classroom. This program is not only helping me build a career path in education, but is also preparing me to make meaningful impact in my community. By working closely with students and families, I am
learning how to be a strong role model and trusted resource. My goal is to continue growing in the field of education and eventually advance into a higher role where I can mentor even more families and help create positive change. I want to use the knowledge and
experience I gained to uplift my community, empower students to believe in themselves, and help build a future where every child feels safe, supported, capable, and inspired to succeed. I also want to ask that this program continues
to receive support. So >> I also want to ask that this program continues to receive supports so that other families have the opportunity to be active involved and engaged in their children's education and school committees. Thank you.
>> Thank you very much. We will now transition to speakers who need support with Spanish interpretation. Uh so if we can ask the Spanish interpreter to do to come out from their channel and support us. Um those speakers are Annabel
Tavarez, Denise Caravayo, Karolina Sto Kaador, Mariani Romero, Wanda Tapia, Jessica O and Dor, Annabel Tavarez. for interpreter.
>> Good evening everybody. My name is Annabelle Tavarez. I reside in Dorchester. I do work as a mother metro the charter elementary school. I am a mother of another child that goes to Boston public school. mentor.
>> I am a a mother a mentor mother mentor thanks to the program at St. Stevens. >> I am here as a mother as a scholar mother as well as a university student as well. >> All this because someone believed in me.
When I arrived at St. Steven of the organization itself, I just wanted to get involved in my daughter's education. But actually, I found much more than that. >> I found confidence in myself and that's as a potential tool to be able to grow
myself and move forward. So that support that I got there at St. Stevens gave me the motivation to start my uh college to studies. >> When I do my daily work, uh there are very important things things that I see there when I go to work on a daily
basis. Bilingualism is a strength in itself. I have to say as well that in Boston we do not have many bilingual schools. >> I have to emphasize that the sensivist program not only support students they support parents as of they support us
and they provide us guidance. They made us uh collective allies, active allies in terms of working directly with schools. the families are struck, our kids are more successful. >> So, being able to support bilingualism
and the program at St. Stevens itself, it is uh we're talking about is supporting equity, inclusion, and better decisions in our community. Bilingualism is not a barrier itself. Is identity is culture. It is connecting
with others. >> Your language is very important. Your family is very important. >> Gracias. >> Thank you very much. >> Sorry. Our next Denise Karavay is not here. Carolina is next speaker.
She has difficulties with her camera. >> Cherry, is it okay if she doesn't turn on the camera? Okay. My name is Carolina Sto and I do live in Dorchester. I am a mom of a student that goes to the Boston public schools.
I also have to say that I'm a coordinator of the as a parent and mentor of the St. Stevens organization. >> I go directly to a charter school to exercise that role. I'm not speaking as a coordinator today. I'm speaking as a mom. as a mom that is
involved in the community, as a mom that believes in the power of education. >> Because you build education with the family and be next to the family. I do remember the first day that my uh child went to school. I was very proud
of my child. At the same time, I felt nervous and I did not know how to participate. I was skeptical in how to participate there. language itself and the school system as well made me feel that I did not belong completely.
>> So everything changed when I became part of the uh parenting mentor program. It was not only a an invitation to be a participant, it was an invitation to be a part of something to belong to something. That meant having the ability to sitting
next to the teacher in that class to be able to teach not only my son but the other students and to be able to support them in their education. At that particular moment, I understood that my voice as a mother was very
important. I have seen I have witnessed myself how this program has transformed the lives of many. We have families that were uh very skeptical and participated and did not ask any questions. stayed in silence.
>> They have the ability to express themselves. They do ask questions and they defend the causes of their kids. When the parents see that the kids, their children are getting involved in their education that brings a lot of
confidence to the parents as well. So to being able to support the parliamentary program is not simply supporting one program in itself. It is supporting a community, a family, the collective well-being. I do ask uh the uh school committee
members to continue supporting the parent mentor program so other parents will have the same opportunities that I've been having in being part of this program. >> Next speaker is Mariani Romero. Marian Romero.
Romero. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Mariani Romero. I live in Roslandale. I am a mother mentor of the Hurley school through the St. Stevens program. So I would like to share my testimony today from my personal experiences I've
been having as a mother. I have to say that it's been very valuable to me being having the opportunity being involved in a bilingual school. ability to participate in programs such as the programs that St. Stevens offers
that opens up opportunities and doors for mothers to be able to participate in our children's education. >> I have a 10-year-old daughter. She goes to Boston public schools. I >> have to say she's a very intelligent
girl and her first language is Spanish. I >> have to say that sometimes whenever she has to take a test it could be a little difficult for her because the test is administered given in English. However, I have to say that the fact
that she goes to a bilingual school and her teacher speaks also speak also English and Spanish. He has the ability to perform well in those tests satisfactorily. So that makes me think about the other kids given the fact that they live in a
different neighborhood that they don't have any bilingual school. They don't have the ability to to do so. So it makes me think about them too. So it could be frustrating for these kids something that is as simple as going to school and being able to to
learn what you go there, what you learned there. That is why firm believed that that budget allocated to BPS school part has to go to create more bilingual schools and part has to go to very important organizations like science students that
are promoting a better future for our students. because I have to say that being bilingual is a superpower and that's something that we have to consider so our kids will have a better future. >> Gracias. >> Thank you very much.
>> Gracias. Our next speaker is Wanda Tapia. >> Wanda Tapia. Good evening everybody. My name is uh Wanda and I'm here not only to tell my personal story. >> I am here also to recognize the very
positive impact that this sense program has had in my personal life. >> When I arrived to the program, I was looking for direction. And I was looking for tools and I was looking for opportunities. But actually found something very
important, very comforting. I found a community that wanted to believe in me. When I was trying to believe in me, they made me believe in me myself. I did not only get the support there. It was not only that I did get the orientation. I get uh plenty of
empowerment as well that was coming from them. So that particular program promoted the my abilities, my skills, uh I helped me in developing myself and also allowed me to become a better person in the future.
I feel nowadays much more confident, much more prepared and ready to serve my community. So that is why I'm speaking tonight from my heart to those who firmly believe in transformation. >> I'm speaking tonight to those who
believe in opportunities. I'm speaking tonight to those who believe in involving the right people, the right persons. So that financial investment is not just a don donation in itself is an opening to hope and opportunities
>> for many people many mothers like myself. It is a real growth in the life of every person. energy growth of the life of a woman of people like myself. I are ready to get better and better every day.
>> So I do invite you from my heart to become an active program of this very important mission. So any support big or little regardless of the quantity of the support have and will have the power to change lives like
myself >> and to be able to start new lives with new hopes for many more people like myself. Thank you for believing in us. Thank you for supporting us and thank you for enabling this particular program and continuing transforming lives.
>> Gracias. >> Thank you very much and good night everybody. >> Gracias. Our next speaker is Dora. Dora. Doral. >> Hello. Good afternoon. My name is Dora
Sandoval. I live in Roxbury. I am the mother for the third grade student in the Hurley school. I also I work with the coordinator for the parents mentor program where I support and work with a parents
mentors who help teachers and students inside to the classroom every day. I'm a bilingual person and I'm a very good example of what could happen when you give the opportunity of a map to develop to grow herself.
Transformer >> this program itself the parent mentor program not only supports students it transforms the lives of their parents as well. So we learn many different things how to support students inside of the classroom but we have uh trainings on a weekly
basis and we learn all of those things things through the program have to say that this particular program give us something very important which is the opportunity to grow professionally. I have to say that thanks to this this
program I I had the opportunity to go to urban college and I did have the opportunity to take the leadership or leader teacher program and the par professional test which I did pass last year. had the opportunity to participate in in
different programs in GL in uh before learning English but none of the programs before gave me the opportunities that St. Stevens program is giving me the parent mentor program. >> So I'm here to ask for something very simple.
So I'm only asking for something very simple. The opportunity to work as a par profofessional as a professional bilingual par profofessional at the Boston public schools. That is my simple petition tonight. We do hear constantly that there are not there's not sufficient bilingual stuff,
but we are here to help. We are parents. We are here. We are leaders and we want to be part of the solution as well for a better education. >> We are here. We are prepared. We went to help. Thank you for the opportunity and
thank you for listen. >> Thank you very much. >> Our next speakers are Cassandra Cribs, Nicole Ferrara Bazil, Elante Bish, and David Jambatist.
Cassandra Cribs. Hello. Good afternoon. Sorry. Good evening. My name is Cassandra Crebs. I was raised in Boston. I live in Dorchester and I'm a proud I'm proud to serve as parent mentor for with St.
Stevens at the Metah Hunt School um working with the prek children who also speak um Haitian Creole. St. Stevens has helped me take sorry has helped me take the first step towards my goal of
becoming a par professional through their programs. I have grown not only as a mentor but as a mother. I now have a deeper understanding of how our children solve problems and navigate their emotions and work through just their
daily activities and you know thoughts. But for our children to truly thrive, the support cannot stop at the classroom door. We need to bridge the gap for our families. This means addressing the lack of reliable transportation that keeps
parents from participating and creating more dedicated programs and enrichments for our children. Not not just our children but our our boys as well. I am here to advocate for both this program and our school. I am asking for
continued increased funding because the parent mentor program and the matahun are two sides of the same coin. When we invest in both, we ensure that our schools, our parents, and most importantly, our children receive nothing less than the best of the best.
Thank you so much for hearing. >> Thank you. >> You're very welcome. >> Our next speaker is Nicole Ferrara. Hi everybody. Um, and thank you for allowing me to speak. My name is Nikki Ferrer and I'm a social worker for Boston PreK. I have worked for Boston
public schools for 20 years as a social worker in many different capacities. And for the past several years, I've been a part of the behavioral health team of social workers and psychologists providing students facing supports to the children of the Boston PreK program within the community based settings
throughout the city. I am here today to speak about the central office funding for BPK. Of the 10 studentf facing positions in BPK, including speech therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and social workers, the district has access excessed nine of those positions.
While I believe all of these positions are essential, for the purpose of today and my two-minute limit, I'm going to focus on the reduction of social work staff. There are currently two social workers servicing the nearly 1,400 students within BPK which results in a ratio of 1 to 700. We have been able to
provide supportive collaborative evidence-based interventions to children despite that ratio helping them to be successful in programs. I know that some of these kids we have worked with would have been suspended or expelled without the support of BPK behavioral health team.
By eliminating these positions, students will lose access to an equitable education, increasing children's risks of suspension and expulsion, which has significant long-term implications on students and families. In addition, these cuts will eliminate children and
families access to linguistically appropriate services by removing access to K4, >> Spanish, and Haitian Creole speaking behavioral health staff. Boston public schools website promises BPK BPK families equitable inclusive environments where children have access
to specialized services and supports as well as screenings across the to a range of services similar to BPS students. By accessing these positions, BPK kids will no longer have those services and the promise is now not there. I ask you to
please reconsider these cuts and thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Edith Pazil. Need it for them. Edith Brazil, can you please accept the prompt?
There seems to be a problem. So, we will continue come back. We will transition to our two last speakers who have um who needs uh support with Haitian Creole and David.
Okay. David. Oh, excuse him. Please unmute yourself. >> Thank you. You can start. >> Good afternoon. Okay. Good afternoon, honorable um committee. My name is Elant Abishan. I
live in High Park and I'm am a happy parent of a student and I am proud to be part of the program. I'm here to speak because I am worried about the future of our kids. >> Cutting the budget of the Boston public
schools is not the solution. the schools is already um doing a lot. The teachers are doing a whole lot plus the parents are doing a lot of sacrifices. And the kids are doing the best they
could every day as we required, >> but they also need our support. >> In my role as a parent mentor, I see how the program has changed the lives of the family. I help parents understand the school system
>> and to communicate what >> to um how to communicate with the teachers and participate in their kids education. When parents are implicated uh then the kids uh feel more comfortable
>> and they come to school more prepared >> and they have more chance of succeeding >> I'm asking please I am asking to please protect the budget of the school. Um add more to it um for programs that um involve parents so that
um the the parents can help the school to succeed. because the kids are the future. >> Thank you for listening with attention to me. >> Thank you very much. Our next speaker is David Jean Batista. Enough.
Okay. Okay. Yeah. Can we hear? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Good evening everyone. I greet everyone who's part of the committee. My name is David Jin Baptist.
>> I live in Mipin. I am a guardian of two children. I am a mentor in the program St. Stevens. There's a saying that goes um education is the base for the future or um of um
children in the law. >> That's why I'm here today to encourage everyone as part of the panel. today. There's a true necessity to continue to help and invest in the kids
especially in um the special situations >> because in education >> development the development of physical, social and emotional development. our kids need more of these um base pro
basic programs in the schools >> to support them. It'd be best. It would be best if we do more investments in the programs. Um, for example, the program St.
Stevens, which is a really great uh program for parameters and also a good resource. Okay. >> Yeah. Myself as a parent mentor um who have um there are parents with kids with
special needs and when they hear they're going to cut the budget Thank you. Your your time is up. >> Uh yes. Um, so I as a parent mentor when the the people heard um that they were cutting some of the programs uh it
really bothered them and so I would ask that they continue to instead of cutting budget but add more finances towards certain programs especially the kids that need it most so that the kids would have um a good foundation um for their
future. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me. >> Thank you very much. We will try with Edith Bazil again. Brazil, please accept the prompt. Oh, now it worked. Oh no, my video's not on.
Yeah, the video is stopped working. >> I'm so sorry. I have no idea what happened. Uh, thank you and good evening. In a 1.7 billion system where 80% of black and brown students and over 90% of students with disabilities cannot
read proficiently. The issue is not just spending. It is strategy, accountability, and how effectively the district aligns dollars to results. Decades of literacy research show that 95% of students, including those with disabilities, can learn to
read. But the special education budget is not reaching students with disabilities. Inclusion depends on professionally prepared, stable school-based teams engaged in ongoing planning and co-eing.
Cutting studentfacing special education staff while expanding outsourced instructional services by $29 million weakens the district's ability to support students with disabilities and scale inclusion. While some outofd
district placements are necessary, an additional soaring $68 million cost reflects the district's failure to build and sustain strong in district programs as referenced by Mr. and Mrs. Carl. Four
recommendations. Number one, confront the literacy crisis. Replace the failed focused curriculum with an evidence-based curriculum capable of meeting the needs of at least 80% of the students. Two, hire reading specialists in every school to provide expert instruction supporting struggling
reading readers and build teacher capacity and evidence-based literacy strategies. Three, align spending with measurable outcomes and clear annual proficiency targets. Four, rebuild in district instructional capacity by
prioritizing school-based staff over expanding contracted services. Students cannot wait for strategy to catch up with spending. Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much. >> Um, chair, that concludes public
comment. >> Right. Thank you, Miss Parvox. And I want to thank everyone who spoke tonight. Your input is critical as we consider the superintendent's budget recommendations for fiscal year 27. Now, we'll open it up to questions and
comments from the committee. Thank you. Dr. Hawkins. >> Um, yes. Uh, thank you to um, uh, thank you for the presentation. Sorry. Um and just hearing um first just
about uh how central office has uh attempted to restructure itself as to support and prioritize particularly studentf facing uh services. So, with that, I have a few questions um
that I think speak to some of what we've heard tonight in in public um comment. So first I'm I am curious as to how either
reductions um any reductions that we are seeing in uh support for either par positions uh non-permanent um teacher positions um are affecting
or what you project the impact will be on our academic outcomes as we continue to to measure those. So that's a that's one question. Two, um I do have a question around um specifically the
fifth quarter summer programming. So, I've been asking about this for a while, but just thinking about how are we evaluating the outcomes of the summer programming to actually figure out what
students are attending the summer program and how that's impacting their academic outcomes. Do we see differences in those students who are participating in that in terms of recovery? I'm pretty sure. But do we see students that are in some ways accelerating their learning by
becoming a part of that? Um, so I'll start I'll I'll just start with those two questions there. >> I'll pass it to David for the first question about the reductions to parents and teachers. >> Um, yes. I'm um
I think in particular um there you know without speaking to some individual examples that were referenced um I do think there's a combination of things going on in our schools. The first is we are seeing reduced
enrollment and so there are some reductions to teaching and pair professional positions that are happening alongside that enrollment. And you know all reductions are hard and um you know we definitely deeply appreciate the work that our teachers and pair
professionals are doing um and the advocacy we heard tonight. The other thing that's challenging in terms of our provisional staff is um the management of lensure um and qualification for positions. So in
addition to positions that are reduced for enrollment, we also have a number of staff who have been sort of told that their their job is not guaranteed pending them passing a test um for their qualification from DESIE. um per our
state regulations, we have to notify all of those teachers every year. If they haven't passed the test yet and gotten their full license um that they um are required to do that, they can reapply for their position and then apply to Desi for a hardship waiver if there's a
special circumstance, but that's actually not fully in our control. Um, and so without going to any examples that were made specifically tonight, you know, there's a few different situations going on. Um, I think what we're really trying to
do is ensure though that we're able to continue the services for this the reduced number of students who are going to continue in the district. um and um really support you know the adults going through the transition
um as much as possible to find positions maybe in different schools but still with the district um as much as is possible. Yeah, I would just add to that that I I think in the Paris situation case this is um attached to the number of closing
schools classrooms that we have um very much uh it's also as you know we've added PAR positions right like we are adding uh for bilingual we're adding those first and second grades so there is kind of like the the reduction and
increasing and shifting of staff um in the power role so I think Um but this is very much in alignment with when classes come off line if they had a parer attached that paraher would um you know would then need to either get a
different position within the school or uh within the district and so we're working we will continue to work hard with human capital to help understand and see where those vacancies are to be able to go into them. Um I think in terms of the fifth quarter question um this is one that we continue to use
fifth quarter data to uh make decisions each year about a number of things. One is the partners that um are performing the fifth quarter. So we're really looking at not just um not just who fills the seats and strong attendance
but what the outcomes are for those students in the program with particular baselines. uh some of those are academic baselines, some of those are um self-identified uh in terms of social emotional benchmarks for the kids. Uh and then on our SLAs's which are our
learningmies, we're actually helping to map as the kids come back into schools what then happens in that first quarter in terms of looking at their first test administration with MAP. And what we see in general is a strength of correlation between students that participate in
that summer programming on a consistent basis, meaning at least three to four times a week and those that are returning um both in what the skills that they're learning from the program and the skills in general in math and English that they're taking back in or in the case like multilingual learners
um socialization and language acquisition. So we are tracking that Dr. Alkins. Um it is part of the summer data set and every year we keep refining um the partner set for the ones that we know um are getting the highest outcome
and the highest ratings from the students and families. >> Thank you. Thank you for that. And I guess also like there's a question that that bubbles up for me around the
and you know chief bloom just based upon also like what I've heard. What are the types of conversations that you've from that central office has had with individual schools? And I'm thinking particularly about how they're using transitional funding um to sort of
offset some of the things that we're we're we're seeing here. um have you started to have those conversations yet? Um and you know what what has been the nature of them? >> Yes. Uh we actually the superintendent and I earlier this week finished what I
think will be the last round of reviews um with a few other folks on the team um of the last few conversations. And I'm not going to be specific about them because we actually haven't finished notifying the school communities yet of the last bits of transition funding. I
think um you know we heard tonight from a representative of the Charles Town High School community and um I think I have nothing there's nothing I
have to specifically counter that testimony. Right. It's it's such a hard thing that that community is going through with such a significant enrollment decline. And so really the work there has been um
not using the transition funding to avoid the hard decisions, right? But really thinking about what are the most key things for the student experience to maintain. Um, and at Charleston in particular, that involved multiple
rounds of conversation between the school leader, community at the school, our central office team. Um, we had an initial recommendation on transition funding levels. They came back with a counter proposal. We looked at some of the information about it and arrived at
their final funding level. Um, like any compromise, I would say like no one's perfectly happy with the result. I think the community wishes they had gotten a little bit more. I am sort of a little bit uncomfortable with how much they got, but I actually think it it reflects a good balance, right, of
meeting the needs of the students, supporting the school through transition, and you know, being responsible to the system we've set up for equitable funding across the district. Um, that's just one example, but I think sort of as we as we move
back and forth with the communities involved, we're really trying to ground it in student need. And one thing I I very much appreciate about all of the school communities involved in these conversations is that's how they've approached their requests and conversation. here's the specific thing
that we think is impacted by the reduction, why we think it's potentially temporary and what might change for next year, right? Or here's why we maybe only need the transition support for one year because, you know, something about our
conditions will be different. And so that is really sort of where we've gone to with each community getting the transition funding. And when we send you materials next week, um the final set of materials will have sort of the written
explanation for each school, um what their transition funding is for and the amounts, >> right? Uh thank thank you. Um and I think just and this can be also part of a conversation uh for another time. And
just really to to drive the point home, um what I am particularly concerned about is of course being able to as as we've said being able to maintain the investments across priority areas. Um
and also expressing the same concern around what we know are cuts. And the reality of it is is that that can change our expected progress towards valuable academic outcome targets. And so I just
think we also need to have an honest conversation about what progress actually means on an annual basis. And um I'm I'd appreciate sort of just projections as to what we're thinking
about um across like across the district. Um because it does look like we are going to experience schools individually are going to experience like first this period of weathering the storm. We have the you know the best
faculty um and administrative staff um and we still know that this is this is going to be a challenge as we're trying to move forward and you know in a in a with urgency like along this. So, um, not a question, but just, you know, I'd
appreciate in conversation like just some projection of what we're thinking about with regard to academic outcomes. >> Thank you again for the presentation. >> Yeah, I would just I I would say um Dr. Hawkins, I think this is a really good point. I I do think we're trying to do
our best strategically by putting the resources toward the schools to preserve the priority areas and to continue to build the foundation that we believe is going to be moving the academics um in these key areas. And so, uh I I think
that's, you know, to David's point, that's the conversation we then end up having, you know, at the school level is to figure out how to best map those resources. Um I also think that in you know in terms of the um investment side
the the good piece of this is that the investments and the priorities are in our multilingual learners are in our special education students are in closing gap work um you know are in our high schools and uh in continued early literacy. So the priority areas we've
laid out should continue to have a positive outcome impact on our students as long as we hold them as priorities and continue to protect them as such with the resources. That means sometimes letting go of other things that aren't directly correlated to those priorities.
Uh, and it's not that those other things aren't important or of value to communities, but if they're not touching those direct priorities, this is the kind of budget where we have to make those hard decisions. >> Miss Palano Garcia, >> thank you, Madame Chair. Thank you for
the presentation. Sorry, I'm not hearing the translation. Lyn, I think we need to bring the Spanish translator back to this channel. >> Yes, we're not hearing anything. >> Excuse me. Um, >> I'm I'm hearing it in the English
channel. >> Yeah. No, they should get out of their channel. Um, Juan, please. We can't hear you. Hello. Yes, Lina Cintia was supposed to be interpreting, but I'll be happy to take over. She was supposed to be
removed from the channel, not me. But was the other interpreter supposed to interpret, not me? Just to clarify. So the reason I'm asking the question right now are we um allocating this budget providing the the size of the uh the needs that we have at the present
time or we are just in the position of are adjusting the budget year by year is that the case right now that's the reason why I'm asking the the So I I I I will take a shot at what I I think the question is asking um member
Palanka Garcia. So we are um we are allocating the budget that we have in that there is compliance that we have to ensure and make sure happens which includes how we staff classrooms and
there are our priority areas that the rest of the money goes to ensure there is overlap there. Um but that the guide for the budget is actually the priority areas. um that's based on a budget that
reflects three the needs of 3,000 kids less in the system. And so um because there is uh in the budget um the tension of
things costing more and we have 3,000 students less. We are in fact adjusting the budget to first meet the needs of the students that are in each of the schools. The number that we're projecting that will actually be
serving. And we're ensuring that the priorities inclusion um bilingual education, uh secondary work, um protecting social emotional things like that. that those things are for in front
as we're delivering those dollars to the schools. Um but the the budget itself is less when we think about how how much it has to stretch because things cost more. And so that's meaning some different
choices but protecting those priorities. >> I think I think that's what you were asking David. I don't do Do you have a different answer to that or No, nothing beyond what you said, superintendent. >> Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much. The
the the reason is because um when talk to about the inclusion, right? Uh the classroom inclusion classroom need support. The student needed uh uh too
many too many people provide support and then maybe uh some school uh receive new new person especially specialist specialist for the purpose of working in the inclusive environments to
be able to work with them specialists I'm referring to So at the same time so question is we are having challenges here. How is it that we are going to be able to provide continuity in the services that are very critical in inclusive environment but at
the same times we are uh cadeting uh cutting budgets as well. So how can that continuity continue happening while at the same time we are reducing the budgets and allocations. Yeah. >> So we are we are in we are continuing to
invest money in something like inclusion but to do that that means we have to not put as much money towards some other things but we are keeping inclusion as a priority. every school has gone through
service mapping um which means they look at the students that they're going to serve and they ensure that they have the staffing to be able to support that in inclusion. Um and it may mean that there's something else that they can't
fund but we want inclusion bilingual education. These are the things that are the priorities we want them to continue to focus on. Thank you. Um I have a question about my note is about
um um talking about the taking into account about the call centers. and central office. >> Um, so how can we guarantee that these administrative cuts don't um generate
>> issues, additional issues for these families that don't speak English. and that face inequalities and that they also they face these inequalities. Is there an an a plan to resolve that?
>> Thank you for the question. for the call center reduction. Um, we took a look at callos. >> We took a look at the call center um volume over the last couple of years. Um and through that the data that we
reviewed um we found that we'd be able to reduce the number of staff in the call centers and the team um the call center team would then work to identify which >> would be necessary for um families
calling in, >> right? So the data includes member Palano Garcia things like uh what language the call came in, you know, what was needed in terms of interpretation, also when the calls come in. There's certain times that there's more than others, certain days of the
week. Uh we also have multiple H help lines and one of the things we're working to do is to be more efficient with all of that staff. But language is a key piece of what we have to preserve so that we are able to communicate with
our families easily. So we can reassure you of that. >> Okay. Um, thank you. And I know that there are three areas that are mainly going to be impacted. It
is uh food, the facilities maintenance and then also safety. And I am sure that there must be some concrete indicators to make sure that the quality of those um settings, those
students will not be impacted. Um, yes, because I would like to hear a a bit more about what are those concrete indicators. that will be used. Uh for instance, it's going to be impacted like who will be making the food. This is going to
directly impact the maintenance and also the safety. I would like to hear more from that. So I can jump in superintendent and and David and Blair. So with regard to um safety services, what we find every year is that we do maintain a level of
vacancy throughout the year um for various reasons. Some people um move on to um work at Boston police or any other law enforcement and they usually use our um safety services department as like a stepping stone for those type of careers. So it's just natural transition that we have. Uh so what we're finding
with safety services, we always have a level of vacancies that just occur naturally. And we think that if we can just stabilize um the staffing levels with what we have, we can maintain a more uh service level of continuity with what we have instead of relying on the
vacancies and have a lot of people come in and out and repeating the training. With regard to our food services department in central kitchen, we're just very excited to finally after um some of us have been working on this for 20 years or more reestablishing our central kitchen. So with uh bringing
back our central kitchen online, that gives us an opportunity to continue to provide and make fresh um meals for our schools that um uh don't have the ability to uh have us u their own uh kitchen in their schools to prepare and heat the food. So we're able to bring
that food to those schools and not rely so much on our vendor invented meals to do that. So we brought that in house. In addition to doing that, we can create those meals at a lot um cheaper rate um than what we purchase them for. So it allows us the opportunity to save money. It doesn't impact um the service to the
students because we're going to continue to make sure they get the meals um u um from the central kitchen. And then with the building and facilities, um we always prioritize health and safety um u investments in in our buildings and we
respond um to those emergencies as they arise. And we also have a level of uh future planning that we do with our facilities department through our operating dollars as well as our capital dollars and we're really mindful of um um the decisions we make around those investments so that we can spread those
dollars out throughout the year. Sam, I think the last one was safety. I I can take that at where you can >> I addressed that first, I believe. Yeah. >> Okay. >> The how we rely on how we just rely on the current staff and levels we do have and then there's always a level of
vacancies that we just naturally have and we're going to try to continue to stay within that line. >> Yeah. So, so Chief Maro has identified and looked at that to make sure that all of the regions would be covered. Um, and so really these are positions that would
normally be vacant that we can't fill. And so that's the reduction in that particular area. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss No. Hi um superintendent. Thank you so much
for your presentation. Um I have some questions regarding the central office cuts. So basically I saw that there was a $32 million um reduction to central office budgets.
So um which specific departments or initiatives were reduced and how will the district measure whether these cuts affect school support? So Blur, David, do you want to answer from the budget side and I can do context context? It's a great question,
Miss Nor. >> Yes, thank you. Um, so on the central side, reductions were made. Um, that was the efficiencies section in the presentation. And so we made reductions to our operations departments,
transportation facilities, food and nutrition services um as well as safety services. There were also reductions made um across the call centers in central office. Um those
are housed in transportation as well as the office of family and community advancement. We also made an across the board cut um across central office for stipens and contract positions. These are
contractors that use BPS um resources. And then there were a series of other smaller reductions made across many central offices. Yeah, >> each deputy um Miss No, each deputy of
academics operations and um OFKA and our office of community and family engagement um they worked with their chiefs to look at areas that we felt would not directly impact student
service, family service, um or um schools. And so that doesn't leave a huge amount, but what we were able to do was to be like very strategic in the things they offered up as reductions. Um, so it's a good question and it is a
lot of money. It is also the third year in a row just to remind everybody that we've cut Central. First year was 5 million, second year was roughly 11. This is the third year. So we're we're starting with central to get to the point where when we talk about impacting
service, that's where we'll start to we're we we don't really want to be able to we won't be able to go much deeper there without that being felt. Um, another question of so what are like the top priorities in the 2026 2027
budget and how were these priorities determined? So the priority areas are the good news is they are the ones that we have sort of established for the last three and a half years and we're keeping with them. So it starts in the academic piece with
strong academics and that is everything from the way we're approaching literacy to making sure every school's got high quality instructional materials. It's our inclusion plan which we are in year two of implementation. There's several more years left of it. Um it is also
expanding our bilingual and dual language. um in terms of working with the communities um in expanding so that every region has opportunities for students and families that are looking uh for bilingual and dual language. uh at the secondary level it is definitely
around strong student support and it's around our early college and career which I know at the O'Bryant um you know you have some of so uh really those are our priorities they remain our priorities and most of them have a plan
that is multiple years >> um thank you another question I have is what investments are being made in like professional development and teacher support cuz when we talk about like you know money these things require money
too. So with this budget planning, how are we like managing um professional development, teacher support? >> So I'll actually um I'll ask uh Deputy Wright to come on. Um she can speak a little bit on the academic side, but you
know, a key component of most of the plans that we have is strong professional development for our staff. And so we will continue to invest in that whether that's in our inclusion work or whether that is um you know training and making sure um that uh in
our bilingual programming um that we're supporting staff on implementing a bilingual curriculum um or whether that is uh training in CTE um so really and then obviously literacy uh which is our big focus and our content areas. So we are not going to
compromise on the PD pieces. Uh some of those may be delivered in different ways. Some at the school sites, some of those at the central sites. Um but that will be that continues to be a main way that we build capacity in the field. Uh and then um I don't know if Deputy
Wright if there's anything else you want to add to that. >> Um thank you, Superintendent. I'm not sure that I would add much more. Um I think one thing I do want to acknowledge is the 12 hours of professional learning the central teams have been working to
implement with the launch of the inclusion plan and just acknowledging that we'll continue to revise um what that looks like um to tighten our support to strengthen our implementation of inclusion and the utilization of HQIM. Thank you, Superintendent.
>> Thank you, Simone. Um lastly um how will the budget support after school activities, athletics and arts education? Great. So these are all you know we see these as core uh before and after
school. Many of the schools have programming already that they fund through different mechanisms. We are working with our hub schools. This is a big initiative of the city as well. And so we're working with our hub schools first. Uh so that we have more universal
before and after school programming in the hub schools and the 20 hub hub centers. Uh so that is that's reflected in the hub model. Um and that is something we're working across sector including philanthropic on. Uh in terms of arts um you know we have built our
art uh through uh investors. We've built up a lot of our art capacity um within music, visual arts, physical art. Uh we will continue that. Um in some cases there may be may have been extra positions within schools. So they're
offering other kinds of uh opportunities um besides the scheduled ones. Uh but I think in general uh that will be a very stable area for us. And in terms of the athletics, uh I know that Chief McCarthy's been uh doing some creative work uh particularly at the middle
grades uh to do some reconfiguration so that more middle students, middle school students would be able to participate um beyond intramural in other kinds of athletic opportunities. So these are all areas that we want to continue to maintain and support um and invest where
we're able to. >> Thank you so much, Superintendent. >> You're welcome. It's always nice to see you, Miss Nor. >> Thank you, >> Miss Torres. >> Thank you to everyone. Um, superintendent, uh, the presentation
um, and all the comments that uh, were made by the public. My question is continue to be about inclusive and I know that we are at the beginning of the inclusive program and the bilingual education. There are many teachers, paras and staff
that are positions are being no longer needed. We mentioned our inclusive education and bilingual education in all our presentation and that is a priority for our system. My question is what is the process for collecting data to know
that we are in compliance of our special ed students and to know what is working and how the district is making sure we are meeting the needs of the program and the allocation of money needed from central office in school.
>> Um thank you for that member Torres. I'll I'll jump in to start with the compliance side. I I might then defer to Dr. right on some of the academic outcomes. Um but on on the compliance side, we have a pretty robust and
multi-layered process for ensuring students are getting their required services. So for both special education and that process starts with the service map as the superintendent had mentioned
looking at the ex the needs of the expected students and making a plan for which teachers will provide which types of support that students need. Um we then continue to monitor through so that happens in the winter before the
school year in question. Then through the spring, we're monitoring student assignment to see if anything is changing that might require different staffing. So that happens sort of during the spring and summer, and we're actively making adjustments to school staffing if something has changed
unexpectedly. Finally, in the fall, our assistant directors in the office of specialized services and our compliance team and and instructional coaches and are out in schools in every region ensuring that
students are actually getting the services that we've planned for on paper, that their ESL minutes are being met, that their special education services are happening, and we continue to then add resources and support if anything changes and more support is
require. >> So uh and to continue with the same um line of question, how can we ensure that we will have the budget to continue to provide all these services that we that we think is what our system need?
>> Yeah. I mean I think um you know as a district we have this amazing tradeoff where in Boston we don't raise our own tax revenue which some districts in across the country do.
uh instead we work with in collaboration with the city of Boston and I think we have the tremendous privilege of of being in a city that in is values public education and those services the support for English learners um multilingual
learners and students with disabilities are our core priorities whenever we go to the table um that's what we start with first um and we are amazingly privileged to work with a mayor and uh that um doesn't need to be convinced um
that that should be the priority. Um and so really what we spend our time doing is we say okay first we need to make sure we're investing in that that happens first. Then we sort of are looking at everything else to say okay given how much health insurance costs and this costs and that costs what else
can we afford to do around the outside knowing that supports for multilingual learners and students with disabilities is our core work. I just have one more question. It is around um on page 2022
on our presentation to uh materials for the public. Um I just wanted to know how can we make sure that this document are explaining ways that this transparent to the public you know because uh a lot of the uh
acronyms and a lot of the uh presentations is like very hard for people that are not in education to understand what is it that we trying to do or we trying to say.
>> Yeah. I I really appreciate you continuing to push me on this and push us as broadly as a district. Um I think it's something we will continue to work to get uh better at and I've certainly appreciated your feedback and other members of the committee on areas where
we can make things more clear. Um our goal with our transparency is not just to publish documents on the website, but it is to publish them in ways that are able to be understood. So, I think we've collected a lot of feedback, especially around the reimagine school funding
formula and the ways that that can be more clearly explained and we'll spend a big chunk of our next year in the finance team working on ways to make those documents more easily um available and understood. Um we are also working
on that through the budget book process as we engage with the budget book which we've now shared a draft of with you. Um, we're looking at ways now that we've sort of done it twice and we have a sense of what we need there, um, to be able to make it perhaps a
little bit more electronic versus a PDF, uh, maybe a little bit more dynamic and something that's more easily engaged in. Um, and then the last thing I'll say, and apologies, this is not I don't mean this entirely seriously, but you know, my team has been telling me a lot about
this whole AI thing, and apparently AI can be really helpful in breaking down complex topics. Um, and so my team really is looking to see, you know, we have a five, we're going to end up with a 500page budget book. Is there a way we can somehow use AI
um uh not to replace any of our work, but to help enhance it and make things more clear? Um I know there's a couple members of my team who will be very happy I mentioned it publicly tonight. So, we are committed to continuing to explore sort of every avenue to try and break down um the topics that we're
sharing with you and with the public and make it more clear. One thing about AI, you have to make sure that things are very like clear and not what AI think it is, but yeah, >> what the document is really saying.
>> Yeah. And we we'll be really careful about it. Um, >> have to reread anyways, you know. >> Yeah. It's it's definitely not my area of strength, so I'm taking some advice from trusted colleagues about how to use it correctly. So, um, we're we're working on something, but we wouldn't
roll anything out until we feel very confident that it's accurate. >> Thank you. Those are my two questions that I have. >> Thank you, Mr. Feralta. >> Thank you so much. Uh, Chair Robinson,
David, um, when member Torres was asking about simplifying the re reim reimagine a school funding formula, I was vigorously nodding because
the the other formula where a school gets X number of dollars based on X number of students, that was very simple to explain the new one, the se several pages. Yes, whatever you can do to make
it more portable, that would be great. I had several other questions that been already asked by my colleagues here. So, I'm just going to have two more question. one um uh attributed to the magic of finances
or the course of finances whatever you want to take it. There are two realities that contradict each other and can be true at the same time as you explained many times which is we are reducing the budget and we are increasing the budget
that the two things are we are increasing the budget by 4.5% which is a lot of million dollars and at the same time our students will come back to our schools in September to
fewer adults in their schools And that's a reality. We need to acknowledge that it's something that they are feeling. Um I can tell you from my personal experience, I have two daughters. One is a teenager. The other one just turned 12
last week and quickly announced that she's now a pre-teen. So those comments that we heard early from our students asking us to keep the trusted adults in in their life in their
schools that has a lot of weight with me like it I'm telling you it's normally leave me alone type of thing and we have students here saying these these people are important in my life as a student as a person. So I know that you for example
at some point you you share with us some statistics that show that comparing what we are going to have in fiscal year 27 with what we had in fiscal year 2019 where is we are going to have even a
better ratio of student to to teacher I think is it will be 10 10 to one in in next >> correct yeah >> my question. Is that is that um
reality talking about wrong uh home room teachers or is that talking about in the in general the the adults in in in the in the system? Yeah, that the uh I really appreciate uh the
opportunity to clarify that um the 10 to1 ratio that I referred to in the school's presentation or the other presentation, I apologize, is um it's all teachers. So, it includes
um all of the sort of ES the all the home room teachers, but it also includes all of the ESL support, special education teachers, art teachers, music teachers. So, you know, the the class size in a home room will will be closer to 20 in elementary schools, will be
closer to sort of 25 to 30 in high schools depending upon need and um but the overall ratio of teachers to students across all types of teachers will be 10:1. Um that will vary by
school. um you know at a school like um some of our exam schools that are lower that have lower rates of students with disabilities or multilingual learners the ratio will be a bit higher a few more students per teacher um at you know
the Carter school um which serves students with sign uh uh entirely with disabilities the ratio is a lot lower um a lot a lot fewer students per teacher um and so you know each school has its own ratio. Um, and while we didn't give
an exact ratio for every school in the budget book, we do have for every school the number of teachers and the number of students projected. So, you can sort of if you're curious about any individual school, you can look at that ratio um from those materials.
>> Thank you. Yeah, I I'll take a look. My my other question is regarding the the office of multi-ingual and multi multicultural education. Um we had a
conversation about it's a 20 25% cut in their staff. You you explained to me that many of these position or several of this position has to do with the the compliance reporting that that
was needed from the schools uh to so we have the data needed to see how we are doing with our multilingual students. Um I I my concern is that we are trying
to catch 22 here in the sense of oh we have a problem we invest in the solution we improve the situation then we remove what helped to improve the situation and we go back and we have this circle and by the way there in the comments today I
something that I wasn't aware about uh the attendance supervisors I I think u saying that the we are exceeding ing our own goals about that's great and and it sounds like it's the same situation of okay we we are investing in in a issues
that we have identified and now how do we how do we maintain the gains that that we made there if we are going to reduce the people that help us to to reach those goals. Yeah, I mean, thank you so so much for that question.
And um I did I I I said something to you when I was talking to you yesterday potentially on behalf of the superintendent. I did have a moment to catch up with her today and confirm that I spoke correctly. Um which is that, you know, uh for the office of multilingual
and multicultural education, right? The the the staff we're reducing, we are very confident we're going to be able to maintain the level of service in our schools and with our families. um with the staff we have and are projecting to continue at the lower level. And we are
committed that if we see any indication um of uh backsliding or losing any of the gains we've made um the superintendent is very committed uh uh to like restaffing
uh more staff towards that um work. Um, I think our team is very confident under Chief Kamir's leadership that we're going to be able to maintain um the academic goals um uh and work that we're doing and stay in compliance with
minutes with the staff we have. You know, the team has done a really excellent job setting up systems and structures to make sure that this support will continue. Um, >> great. I'll I'll set up a reminder for November to check how we're doing. Um
I'll yield back my n 17 uh seconds that I have left. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Tran, do you have any questions before we move forward? Uh actually I don't have uh
uh any specific questions because most of the questions have already been that I thought of had already been asked. The uh but you know I just want to make a comment um to the finance team. Uh you guys did a
heck of a job. And um while I do appreciate the uh the new implementation of a of a budget formula uh compared to the previous formula,
I going to be remaining pretty guarded in in in hoping for the result. Um I do know that you have put a lot of work in it given the constraint of all these uh
um increases cost increases but you try very hard to maintain the type of uh services the type of accommodation the type of um uh assistance to multilingual
learner and students with disability. I do appreciate that. But um I will uh I will hope you know I I will hope that this new formula will somehow increase student achievement. I let's see
let let's hope at the end of the year and see how how it is. But uh overall you guys I just want to convey my my gratitude to uh to the team. You all did a heck of a job. Thank you. Thank you uh me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me member T Tran. I hope I hope we're
there to deliver the results when we look at it together next year. >> Okay, >> Vice Chair Scarren, >> thank you, Chair. Um thank you, Chief Bloom and Deputy Chief Dawkins for the presentation. Um and thank you to all of
the um individuals uh who shared at public comment. And I think this is um it's it's painful when um we have cuts this significant. I think that the um testimony this evening and at previous budget hearings really underscores the
personal implications both for the staff involved and for the their students and colleagues at their school communities. So um I know my colleagues spoke to this as well, but we absolutely hear it um and understand. And to that end, I think, you know, it's really incumbent
on us on the night of the central office cut presentation to really inquire around um the process to um ensure that all was looked at in terms of what could be cut at central office. And I
appreciate the superintendent's reminder that there have been previous years of cuts. It's important. Um but my question is um who was in engaged uh around whether the individual reductions by central office departments served the
larger goals of gaining efficiency while protecting our priorities. Um, as a specific example, was data obtained from school leaders regarding their thoughts on the most essential central office services or was it just the decision of the department chairs to make the cuts
where they felt was was best. >> Yeah. >> All that time. >> Um, thank you so much. So I think um school year feedback um has definitely been a key part of our central review
process um uh both collected from survey data that we get um and I can promise you as a department head that the superintendent looks at and I get feedback about um and
then also um uh anecdotally qualitatively through school superintendent. Um, and I think, you know, one of the things that we listened to from our school teams were,
um, what were the places where they were saying, "We see these people every day in our schools. They're in our classrooms. They're helping our instruction. Please like keep this service, right? It's a key part of what we're doing in our region." And other places where they might say, "It's not
that we don't value the work, right? and we understand why it needs to happen, but um we think maybe we could share a service between two regions or do some like collaboration there when we were looking at central office. Um and that so that was sort of one sort of
school-based it was very focused on you know those positions that the schools have the most contact with. Um on the flip side, all of our department heads were asked to look deeply at the services they provide and think about,
you know, is there any way to provide this work, you know, more efficiently or effectively. Um you know, I give the example of my team and, you know, we had expanded our work on our grants team. Blair talked about it earlier, um to try and meet some goals and and we've been
meeting those goals without needing one of the positions and so we're going to be reducing that position. Um I think uh and then I'll just say the superintendent and executive leadership uh was really deeply involved in looking
at all parts of the organization and in some cases sort of would go back to the department and say either no this isn't a this isn't a this isn't a reduction we can do like this programming or work is too important or would you come back and share some data for us or look at some
part of the organization more deeply. um to think about what's possible for reduction. So that was sort of a little bit more about the process we went. >> Yeah, it was really a zero someum budget buildback and that's actually like the healthiest way to do it. So everybody's
looking at every single initiative and program that's sort of happening and then data was a key driver in making the decisions as was different than in the past about whether something continued or didn't. um because we're often very
good at adding things but not very good at stopping doing things that aren't getting the outcome we need. So it was a lot of interrogation of thinking as we went through that process with central. >> Thank you. Um as we talk about investing
in in key priorities, we're also using the word maintaining a lot this year. Um, and just wondering if you can really speak on the distinction between the two, uh, in terms of investing to mean
expand, um, or, um, increase versus, you know, maintain existing services and make sure that those priority areas aren't um, harmed.
>> Yeah. I mean, I think this is a a key difference than in the past where when there was a cut needed, cuts would be sort of blanket across the system or across schools. Uh, and so things that were actually working, making a difference, those would be cut and swept
up in the cuts. I think this was much more intentional and deliberate that there were things that we would like to be able to invest more in and actually grow. Um but in a budget like this, we had to keep the priority areas as those
uh for investment. But that means that there's still an intentionality of directing resources to maintain and to not lose ground. And so where you hear us talk about maintaining, it's really about making sure that there's enough resource to continue the work that's in
there and that means something else doesn't get funded down the road. Um, and David, I don't from a budget perspective how you would describe that. >> I I that's that's what I would add,
right? It's um Yeah. Thinking about what are those important tradeoffs? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I think it's also extremely challenging because, you know, we're looking at, you know, direct services to schools like a
call center and thinking about, you know, um these reductions that are really a drop in the hat of a billion dollar budget. Um when you have this massive transportation budget that just
keeps growing. Uh for perspective, the central office departments cut $11 million, which is not insignificant at all. And the increase in transportation is >> So when are when is the conversation
beginning around rethinking how we can reinvest in direct school services? We're defining transportation as a directto service for understandable reasons. Um but it definitely doesn't impact outcomes. >> Yeah, it's such a important question and
I think um I guess the place I mostly go with it is there there are two ways we can be more effective effective and efficient with our transportation. Um there's sort of the around the edges of the system ways and we're working
really deeply and as fast as we can on those, right? Um things like, you know, doing some alignments of school bell times and sites so that, you know, one bus can take kids to the Roosevelt lower and the Roosevelt upper instead of needing two buses for the same family to
do that. Um these are small changes but important make our budget more efficient. At its core though, the transportation budget is about two things. School choice and uh required door-todoor services for
kids on their IEPs, >> right? And those those two plus our required services for private and parochial schools sort of make up the significant part of
our budget. And um without deeply >> I could just say I'm asking I I really am asking is the conversation about school choice going to begin? So that's that was >> I'll stop. Sorry. >> No, I understand. But I Yeah, there
there is there are so many things that you all are are working on for efficiencies, but it there there are some majorly large areas that would have the most implication. and so was wondering what the timeline or or what the thinking is long term. I know that
doesn't impact this year's budget, but just looking ahead and wondering what our thinking is around that. >> Yeah. So, I think the answer to that is yes. Um however uh the inclusion plan and the full implementation of it, the long-term facilities plan and the
continued optimization of schools um in regions and we would add bilingual, right, as bilingual and dual programming or programming in general. Like these are all of the things that impact access. And in order to really talk
about choice uh we also have to we have to be assuring families that there is proper access near where they live. So I think yes that conversation has to happen and for it to happen we need to make sure that those other things are
near complete or moving in that direction and that the highquality experience seats are prevalent in each of the regions and that's why I think those three things sort of are the tension points of getting those high quality seats to be everywhere in the regions
that then opens up access for our families. That then really allows us to be able to talk about choice. And it's in choice and giving services closer to home that we can start getting kids off buses. We can start cutting down the length of the
ride that a student has to be able to get those services. The the good news is that was that has never been a conversation here. And so it's really it's it's been talked about, but we've never seen where that's a possibility. Now with these long-term plans that are
now short-term, right, and coming into fruition, we will get to the point where we can actually be realistic about that happening. Rice chair, >> thank you. I appreciate that. Think about the long view and long-term planning, um the the facilities,
long-term facilities plan, um and the upcoming strategic plan. Um, can you or the team just speak to how those intersect and when we as a committee and the public can imagine some sharing of
the strategic plan and how um annual measures and targets will whether they'll be an element of that um as you know I know we've heard um a few many folks asking around that question. So >> yeah and so so the exciting part to this
is April 15th. It's it's not exciting because it's tax day, but it will be exciting because it will be on April 15th that we will be co-presenting the strategic plan alongside um a newly developed um and amazing uh opportunity
achievement gap policy uh for the school committee and it will really be those two things uh which we'll wrap the metrics around. uh school committee will be getting previews of those, having conversations around those, giving input to those uh as will the field. Um and
we're really excited because that is really going to be our north star as we think about where we're going and need to go and will continue to be the northstar for resource. So, uh April 15th, tune in. >> Great. Um and just uh hearing about some
of those um relationships that have been formed between students and um provisional teachers across the district. Um and uh any updates on efforts to preserve some of the diversity gains um and qualified hires
that we've made over the past few years um of provisional teachers in the face of the school closures and you know the necessary um protections of course of our permanent teachers. >> Yeah. So this is an area that the office of human resource capital is really
working hard on. Um in the schools that are closing for instance we've been doing teaching days uh where principles go out with their vacancy lists. They observe and watch um staff interact with staff so that they can make offer and be
able to um you know have teachers that have been very vested and are in the system but their school or grades may be closing or configuration might be changing to be able to keep staff in there. I think you heard David talk about we're doing a lot of work around certification.
Um remembering that there's lots of reasons why a teacher may not um at the time of the budget may not have that reassurance. Um some of it may be the positions eliminated, but more often than not it may be because they're still
working through certification. Um, and that's something that our OC office is very much invested in making sure we're doing everything from in MTEL prep, uh, to helping them organize portfolio for their certification, whatever it's going to take. Um, I think we said at the
start to principles, this is a year that we don't want you looking to the outside of the BPS. We really want you to be hiring from within and keeping the talent that we've gone out and recruited. um particularly you know our staff who are diverse uh and uh with
language multilingual that is capacity that we want to be able to keep within our our system. Thank you. Um and my last question um to my colleagueu's good point about making sure that the information is accessible
uh and digestible by the public. I was wondering if um Chief Bloom or Deputy Chief Dawkins, you may want um to share a little bit about the distinction between central office required cuts to school budgets and school leader um or
school autonomy because school leaders don't make those decisions um in isolation. They work with their school site councils. Um, but as we hear public comment about very specific positions that have been eliminated, I think it might be helpful for folks to understand
um how those might um get decided and what is determined at the school versus the district level. >> Yeah. Um I'd be happy to help clarify that. So um at the district level there
are two sort of main types of um changes that would be sort of passed on to schools. The first would be some of our positions that are allocated based on certain ratios of students to staff
where a school might go from having um a coordinator of special education in their building four days a week to having one in their building three days a week. Um so we would sort of change that allocation. The school would be expected to update their budget to match that. Um and the person would then be
paired with a different school for the remaining days. Um, similarly for enrollment based reductions, we would say, okay, well, you're going from 20 home rooms down to 16. That would be a sort of district-led decision. Um,
at the school level, there's a lot of discretion around the types of specialty courses um or elective courses that are offered in a school. um which foreign languages are offered in high school, whether we're doing art, music, uh
theater, dance, um or other types of specialties at of the elementary level. Um and those decisions are happening at the school level in collaboration with the school leadership and the school site council. The last type of school-based decision
is staff retention decisions. So the a number of positions that are um staff who have been informed about losing positions are losing their positions or because the position no longer exists, right? There are fewer classrooms so that that teacher doesn't have a place
in that school anymore. But there are other teachers mostly provisional teachers who are being non-renewed um either for lensure reasons and that comes from the district, right? your teacher doesn't have the criteria to keep their position for another year or
for a school-based decision. Um, you know, any any any provisional teacher in their first three years, the school team can determine that that that teacher should not be um continuing in the community. And one of the challenging
things in terms of communication is this last group of decisions is very hard to make fully transparent. you don't really want to be um telling an individual's sort of personal employment decision in your broader school community. And so it
can sometimes be hard to clearly communicate, especially with students, um what's happening with an individual staff member, which of those sort of buckets they fall into. >> Thank you. Thank you um so much for the
presentation and I want to thank my colleagues for all of their questions. You've asked many of the ones that I wanted to ask as well. But um a couple of things I wanted to um go back to to get a little bit more understanding.
And um in one of the commenters this evening talked about the nine um staff cuts to the Boston prek support program that they're down to two social workers and knowing the whole issue
around giving our kids the strongest start. Can you give me a little bit more understanding of those positions and why that number of changes? >> Um, superintendent, I'm not sure. Do you want me to take a a shot at this first
or >> Sure, you can start and then I'll you know me, I'll chime in. >> Yeah. Okay. Um, so, uh, we are we're doing a little bit of a restructure to the way we're providing services, um, to students in our preK programs.
Um, as you heard earlier tonight, um, historically we've had a team of staff dedicated to those community-based providers, um, moving sort of all over the city between these different schools, um, and providing services
embedded in those. Um after some review and conversation and and thoughtful sort of discussion about how we're managing this, we've decided to sort of change our base model to be a more community-based model. So
um instead uh the our universal our sort of Boston prek uh external providers not be will be paired with their local BPS school and the um related service providers who are working in that school
will have some additional time built into their schedules to provide the services needed um for those students. And so that will help reduce travel time for staff, be more efficient and effective with the way we're using our resources, and we think we'll be better
overall for the system. Saying that, it is definitely disruptive for the team of people who have been tremendously dedicated to doing this work with a focus on the Boston prek system. And so I do want to just honor and respect that and the testimony that
came earlier tonight of this is a real change for those staff who had been working in the old model previously. But we do think this will deliver deliver um a higher quality experience overall. >> Yeah, this is this has been in direct
consultation um with the with the team. Um but I also think it's that we are taking more of the UPK classes internal to the BPS. Um, so we took an additional 10 classes in. Um, so this is just a it's a it's a it's cutting down on
travel time and it's also more likely that uh students may go to the elementarymentaries where they're in that area and so therefore they'll also get to know the staff or the families will get to know the staff. So that's always been the goal of UPK is to create
direct feeder into the BPS and strengthen those programs. So um this is the it's not taking resource away. It's just really redistributing the resource in a different way. But as David said um it is a different way of doing it. And so therefore it's we're definitely
acknowledging that for those that were on the team uh you know they were used to doing it that way. This will be done differently. So a number of the people that have currently been doing this are the ones that their positions will be completely
eliminated. Are these BPS staff members that will find or potentially will find additional, you know, other positions within BPS or these people who will not be retained in any way?
>> Yeah, I think it's a it's a combination. Um it's a combination. And there are some that were actually centrally assigned uh and they're just not going to be on that team. They're going to be doing other responsibilities. Uh early childhood is not an area that we thought we would have any issue with vacancy. We
feel like there'll be vacancies there for them. Uh David, I don't know if there's anything else you want to add on it. Yeah, I I can't comment confidential, you know, uh confidently about every individual position, but I will say overall I think we feel pretty confident that we're going to have a a
role available um for a staff any staff member who wants to return. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um similarly we we heard from the Blackstone which I think is one of the few schools that's having a full
strand cut from its um enrollment and the question was um prior to this were the classrooms across the grades full um are the classrooms
going to become fuller as a result of cutting the strand and will we still have the right ratios um class sizes or will they be much larger now then even I mean still within
the right limits but are they going to be larger because of the cutting of the strand >> yes in in general the schools in this circumstance if you were to walk through their classrooms right now the reason they're proposed to reduce a strand for
next year is is there are so few kids in the in those classes this year um that their class sizes are significantly lower than the district average. And so I would expect class sizes to increase. I don't think we we did not um reduce a
strand in any place where we thought that there was any significant risk of of a class size overage. Um but I just think so overall we're um class sizes will be larger in the Blackstone >> um >> in general.
>> Yeah. In in cases where we've done that will we take a close look at the current outcomes in those classrooms who may be smaller um and whether you know where are concerns about student outcomes in
those classrooms. I'm worried about um the decrease in some places of paras um growing class sizes and wondering about um outcomes if they're already having difficulty
with um student outcomes. How will we see this improving versus are we more concerned that more kids, fewer educators, greater issues?
>> Um yeah, I mean I think overall um often what we're seeing in a case of a school like the Blackstone is um the reduction in class size has been a very temporary measure. You actually heard from a me one of the members of the
community this this evening. There was a time a few years ago where the Blackstone was very full, right? and and classes were full and um you know we are hopeful that the new dual language program we're building
there will get us back um over time as that dual language program rolls out to a very fully subscribed um school. Um, so I think um, the lower class sizes have probably been a short enough term
experience. I wouldn't expect a significant um, impact on achievement, but superintendent, I'm not sure if there's anything you you'd add to that. >> No, I would just say I think the Blackstone is working really hard as a team and a staff um, you know, to bring
up some of the academic achievement um, and we'll continue to support in all those ways. I don't think based on you know as you can imagine our with our multilingual learner numbers and enrollment that has been one of the major things for the Blackstone
enrollment. Um so I when we look at it I don't think that the as as hard as that is because it is a number of classrooms as um you know you heard that's it's part of the community coming out and that's what you're hearing. But in terms
of the students and the class sizes, uh they they're not going to be disrupted to the point where they would um not allow them to continue the positive work that they're that they're committed to.
>> Okay. Um last two questions. Um wanting to follow up about school choices and I continuously have the question, are we offering more choice than we can support? Um we we we always want to talk about
giving parents choices but my question is are we giving them choices that we can fully support in terms of with inclusion etc. Um we've not done enough evaluation yet to understand how we are
funding and supporting classrooms if the re-imagine funding formula is really funding the supports we completely need. Um even though I know we have a rubric that helps us to understand you know how
we want to fund a particular classroom or students need but how will we evaluate that what we've been doing to date is really been enough before we continue to both grow the program but change how
we've been staffing classrooms. So um I so I it's a complex question right first chair um everything ultimately gets measured on student outcome right that is that is our business right is is kids learning
and so whether it's inclusion or long-term facilities or bilingual education whatever it is it's about our kids gaining and kids learning um we in the second year of implementation of the inclusion plan it may feel like it's been forever but it's really the second year of imple implementation. It's
really the fourth year cuz two of them were deplanning. >> Um so it won't be until we complete that that we'll start to be able to to tell you um exactly those impacts as we do the study. What we do see is that we see
um in multiple grades more parents and families electing inclusion. Um and so we're starting to see that evolve in the data. Um and so as we get more and more uh students in inclusive classes, that's where we're going to be able to do the
deeper measurement on it. Um at the same time, year to year, we'll be coming out with our academic data. And so we'll be able to to as much as possible correlate those two things. And that's whether that's academic data, whether that's access data. I think we know with our
multilingual learners already we've seen you know just in this past year the access scores were so much more improved across all sets of grades. Um we also saw but the seal of by literacy literally almost doubling each year. Right? These are all healthy signs for
our multilingual learners that we continue to we'll continue to build on. Uh there'll be some other data sets that are coming out. We have uh graduation rate and dropout rate that will come out toward the end of this week. Um, so we'll be looking at those and seeing how
that's impacting as well. So, you know, each one of these sets of data we'll be looking at and we'll be looking at it through the different initiatives, but particularly with inclusion to see what those impacts can be. >> Okay. Um my my last question really is about
staffing because as I look at the central office budget of the um increases, the health cost of 34 million and the collective bargaining of 29 million means that 63 million plus of
the increases are on staff whereby transportation and and special needs are only a third of that. Is that correct that those are the that's how those um increases are falling out?
>> Yes. Yeah. More or less. Yeah. So, I guess my question is, you know, how do we account for in this budget and take a clear look at all of the dollars that are going into our staffing costs
and supports um versus, you know, studentf facing supports because there are significant dollars that are spent on our staff. Uh we heard tonight and we've heard often
around the concerns when the district has made strategic plans around the layoffs or decreases of staff and in its impact on schools. But there's another piece of this we never discuss which is
in a regular school year the number of um issues that will impact staffing in schools that weren't planned whether it's um long-term disability um
pregnancies FMLA any number and when I added up the information I got from this past year, it felt like there were almost 700 of these um issues that were impacting
um staff. These were not planned. And I can only imagine what it must be like to be a school leader trying to lead a school where you've got people retiring early and leaving kids with long-term subs, you
know, leaves, etc. How do we how do we acknowledge these two very true things happening at the same time and look at the impact that they are having on the day-to-day experiences of our kids in our schools. I'm not sure what we can do
about it, but I I just really really want to acknowledge that these both of these things are happening at the same time >> and wanting to understand how we are impacting the student and family experience as a result.
>> Yeah. I mean, this weirdly from personal experience, so my uh daughter is taught by a long-term sub right now who is excellent. Thank you, Mrs. Barbudo. You're amazing. Um And I think, you know, there's a difference when um a school is able to make a plan for a
disruption versus when a disruption is unexpected. So, for example, there are reasons why a teacher might need to retire mid year, right? There there al there are some real reasons there and a a very many a significant number of our
staff who are retiring will take advantage of our early retirement incentive or um early notification incentives or work with their school leader to say look for this reason or that reason it makes sense for me to retire in September or October and then we have a process where we work with
that school so that they can do an early hire to help fill that seat and they don't even though one of those changes you just described chair happened, they don't disrupt it. So, in my daughter's example, right, her the woman who would have been her teacher knew she was due
to have her baby in the early fall and so they had a plan for the long-term sub and a orderly transition and and so obviously there are always going to be life events that affect our staff that we can't um control and we just need to do our best with. Um but when we have
the opportunity to work collaboratively with staff to make a plan um that's where we have the best experience for our students and families. And so I think the main thing we've been working on with our union partners and others in collective bargaining is how do we
create the right set of incentives to make sure that we're making this a predictable and clear process as much as possible for getting you know that information together um to support you know our schools and in building the right experiences for kids.
>> Great. Thank you. So, those are all of my questions for this evening. And um if there's nothing further, oh, Mr. Tron, not a question, but just a request for for a request for data.
Uh, Superintendent Skipper mentioned that um since the inception of uh inclusion uh
there is an an increase uh maybe last year there was an increase I I I would like to have the data on uh how substantial was that increase
that's one and was the in was the class, you know, the the two groups of students that I have certain interest in um the multilingual and students with disability.
Uh did they you those two classifications of students increase as well and how substantial is it? I I I I like to have that kind of information just for >> Exactly. Yeah. Do I think for the
students with disabilities, it was um I believe it was a 10% increase. Um David, you can correct my memory, but I'm pretty sure it's a 10% increase and it would had the particular grades that we had first rolled. So, it would have been like K2 K21
79, I believe. Um >> yeah. And and one of the the the data point that was most striking to me was we went from under 35% to over 30 over 45% of our of our new placements from early
>> um intervention were for inclusive settings versus a separate setting. So that's a really big shift. >> Um >> yes >> in that. So that that was super exciting and that's only in year one, right? That's you know hopefully that will continue to grow as we get better at it
as a system. Uh, >> well, we'll we'll pull that together for you. Member Tr. >> Thank you. >> Great. All right. Again. All right. If there's nothing further, I'll entertain a motion
to adjourn this budget hearing. Our final remote budget hearing will take place on Wednesday, March 18th at 5:30 p.m. Thanks. That concludes our business for this evening. And if there's nothing further, I'll entertain a motion to
adjourn the meeting. Is there a motion? >> So move. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Is there any discussion or objection to the motion? >> Hearing none, Miss Pavix, will you please call the role? >> Thank you, chair. Dr. Alkins, >> yes.
>> Mr. Peralta, >> yes. >> Miss Palanco Garcia, >> yes. >> Miss Torres, >> yes. Miss Tran, >> yes. >> Miss Garrett, >> yes. >> And Miss Robinson, >> yes.
>> The meeting is adjourned. Thank you all and have a good night. >> Good night. >> Thank you.