This hearing of the Boston City Council's Ways and Means Committee focused on the FY27 Boston Public Schools budget. It covered topics including chronic absenteeism, unhoused students, student supports, athletics, alternative education, career and technical education, and early college. The panel included Superintendent Mary Skipper and other BPS officials. Public testimony was taken, and councilors raised concerns about funding, student services, and operational efficiency.
Good morning. My name is Ben Weber. I'm the city councilor for District 6 and the chair of the Boston City Council on Ways and Means. Today is April 16th, 2026, and the exact time is uh 1010. Um this hearing is being recorded. It's also being live streamed at Boston.gov slash city-council dash TV and broadcast on Xfinity Channel 8, RCN Channel 82, and FIOS Channel 964. The City Council's budget review process encompasses a series of public hearings beginning in April running through June. We strongly encourage residents to take a moment to engage in this process by giving testimony for the record. You can do this in several ways. One, you can attend one of our hearings and give public testimony. We will take public testimony at the end of uh each departmental hearing and also at two hearings dedicated solely to public testimony. Uh the full hearing schedules on our website at Boston.gov/slash council-budget. Our scheduled hearings uh dedicated to public testimony, which call listening sessions, are in person in City Hall on Tuesday, April 28th at 6 p.m. and in person in City Hall again on Thursday, May 26th at 6 p.m. You can give testimony in person here in the chamber or virtually via Zoom. For in-person testimony, please come to the chamber and sign up on the sheet near the entrance, which I'll just point to for anyone. And uh for virtual testimony, you can sign up using our online form on our council budget review website, or by emailing the committee at ccc.wm at Boston.gov, or by emailing Krishma Chohan, that's K-A-R-I-S-H-M-A.CHOUHAN at Boston.gov. Uh when you are called to testify, uh you can yeah, please state your name and your affiliation, your residence, and uh limit your comments to two minutes to ensure all the comments can be heard. Um email your written testimony to the committee at ccc. Or sorry, two that's one is show up in testify in person. Two, you can email your written testimony to the committee at ccc.wm at Boston.gov. That's so you can submit written testimony. Or you can, number three, you can submit a two-minute video of your testimony through the form on our website. For more information on the city council budget process and how to testify, please visit the city council's budget website at Boston.gov slash council-budget. In-person public testimony will be taken following the first round of counselor questions. Uh individuals will be called on in the order in which they have signed up and will have two minutes to testify. If you wish to sign up for public testimony, have not done so already. Please email Krishma Chohan or Central Staff Liaison. Again, her email is K-A-R-I-S-H-M-A dot C H O U H A N at Boston.gov for the zoom link and your name will be added to the list. This morning's hearing on docket number the numbers 0733 to 0740 will focus on the Boston public schools. This hearing will cover topics including chronic absenteeism, unhoused students, student supports, athletics, uh um uh uh alternative education, career and technical education, and early college. This is one of a series of hearings to review not only the uh the FY27 budget but the BPS budget. Um I want to note uh and just remind my colleagues that uh BPS central office budget is relevant to discussion at any of our BPS hearings, given the overlap of this budget with many of our specific subtopics. In the case of this particular hearing services uh that are either completely or partially central funded or are things uh we can uh expect uh our panelists should be expected to be able to address you know at certainly this hearing, I think or this afternoon's hearing, I believe tomorrow as well. Um these matters were sponsored by Mayor Michelle Wu and referred to the committee on April 8th uh 2026, is that right? Um I'm not sure that's when this was referred. But anyway, uh today I'm joined by my colleagues in order of arrival, uh Councillor Braden, Councilor Fitzgerald, and I received a letter of absence from Councillor Flynn. No, I'm just kidding. He's right here and he was here first. Um I have received uh a letter of absence from Councillor Culpeper. Um, based on our practice, we're we're waiving uh uh uh opening statements from counselors, which is if you have a presentation, let's hear it and you know I will give my colleagues some more time so they can make any statement they want to before they get to questions. So uh I just I'll introduce the panel. Um we're joined by superintendent of Boston Public Schools, Mary Skipper, Chief Financial Officer for Boston Public Schools, David Bloom, Chief Student Support Chief of Student Supports for Boston Public Schools, uh Corey McCarthy, senior deputy superintendent of operations, Dr. Sam Dupina, uh Deputy Superintendent of Academics, uh Dr. Simone Wright, uh welcome. Uh this is your first budget process with us, right? Um secondary uh superintendent for college career in life readiness, uh, Brett Dickens. Is that okay? Uh and um did I have all the panels? I had uh director of educational operations, Carlos Diaz on the on the list.