Several Boston schools bracing for cuts to staffing, programs
schools and eliminating grades from other schools.
The district said it is changing the way it funds individual schools in an effort to better provide for students with the highest needs.
“As we balance the end of federal pandemic relief funding with the district wide implementation of inclusive Education, we are carefully and deliberately building the foundation to become a district that meets the unique needs of every student in every school no matter how they learn, what language they speak, or what neighborhood they call home,” Skipper said in a statement.
For Maggie bohara, the cuts generated by a $1.7 million decline in the Henderson’s budget next year run too deep. She and her husband have decided to pull her son, a prekindergartner, and her daughter, a first grader, from the school and move out of the city.
“I’m heartbroken,” she said. “if we stay, my daughter will end up being in a sub-separate classroom for most of the day. it’s not good for her social wellbeing or her confidence, and i question the value of those classrooms.”
bohara said she chose Henderson because it teaches all students, regardless of their abilities, in traditional classrooms, and the music and art classes provide critical opportunities for all students to connect and learn from one another. but those are now on the chopping block in the elementary grades. the cuts add to ongoing problems she has experienced in getting all the services her daughter needs amid changing leadership at the school, which has seen a sharp drop in enrollment.
Skipper along with Mayor Michelle Wu have tried to buffer the cuts with a more than $80 million infusion from the city’s general fund for the next school year. that helped bPS to retain 322 of the more than 670 positions funded this year with the federal stimulus dollars. the district also was able to make new investments in some areas, such as integrating more English learners and students with disabilities in traditional classrooms.
But with the loss of about 8,000 students over the last decade, Skipper has said bPS needs to make difficult decisions about streamlining costs to reflect current enrollment of around 48,000 students. to that end, the district plans to consolidate dozens of classrooms for next fall, UP Academy boston will merge with UP Academy Dorchester at the end of this school year, and the lilla frederick Pilot Middle School will close in June 2025.
More closings and consolidations are expected in the coming years.
In an effort to minimize cuts, the boston teachers Union is pushing for baseline budgets for every school to eliminate “impossible decisions about whether to keep the art or music class,” said its president, Jessica tang. Chicago Public Schools announced last week that it will provide its schools with baseline staffing and programs, starting next year.
Katie Cotugno Colleran, chair of the parent council at the Condon K-8 School, said that her school is seeing a “perfect storm,” losing nine positions funded by federal stimulus dollars known as ESSER and another 10 from the general fund. Overall, the Condon, where enrollment has declined from over 900 in 2018 to fewer than 600 this year, is facing a total budget decline of nearly 20 percent — one of the biggest in the district.
Cotugno Colleran said she understands the ESSER losses, but said the other cuts are hard to understand when the school needs support in its efforts to grow. the Condon serves mostly black and latino students, according to state data, and more than 90 percent of its students are English learners, have disabilities, or are from low -income families.
”it’s a school that serves a lot of really vulnerable students, and it’s a school that has not historically been invested in by bPS,” she said.
A recurring theme among many concerned parents is how the district’s proposed spending could undermine efforts to integrate English learners and students with disabilities in traditional classrooms.
Many families and teachers have held up Manning as a model. the school has long staffed classrooms with two teachers in an effort to reach the diverse needs of their students. but bPS now wants classrooms to share the second teacher.
Many parents at Manning are confused by the changes and feel BPS and school leadership have not done a good job explaining them. that confusion has several parents questioning whether budget cuts are fueling the changes. Overall spending at the Manning next year would only increase by about $67,000.
“From what i understand there will be fewer teachers per kid,” said Alejandra Quintanilla, whose son is a first grader at Manning. “i don’t understand how that would be better for kids.”
Manning would also lose a music teacher.
The Rev. Cheng imm tan, a member of the parent council at Quincy Upper School, said she and many other parents also are confused by the cuts their schools are facing, even beyond the loss of federal relief funds.
the Quincy school, for example, is losing three staffers, despite a 7 percent city budget increase for next year. the loss of federal stimulus dollars are partly to blame for the staffing cuts, but other factors contributing to the loss are not so clear.
The cuts will affect Quincy Upper’s prized international baccalaureate program, tan said, but also come at a time when the school’s enrollment is increasing, particularly with higher needs students like English learners.
”I don’t know that any of us really understand why there are cuts,” said tan, who also is the Diversity & inclusion Co-Chair of the Citywide Parent Council. “it’s painful for every one of us.”