Boston School Committee approves budget proposal

[UPDATE: The Boston School Committee unanimously approved the budget proposal described in this press release.]

BOSTON – Superintendent Carol R. Johnson today will recommend to the Boston School Committee a balanced budget for the upcoming 2010-2011 school year. The revised budget of $821.4 million represents a slight increase over the current school year appropriation and includes new investments to support the Boston Public Schools’ five-year “Acceleration Agenda.”

Despite an initial budget gap nearing $60 million, Dr. Johnson has developed a spending plan that minimizes reductions on schools and classrooms.

“We always make our budget recommendations with the needs of our students and families at the forefront,” said Dr. Johnson. “We are committed to offering a wide range of enriching learning experiences for our students that will help us prepare all students for success after graduation. We have worked diligently to ensure this budget will allow us to carry out year two of the five-year Acceleration Agenda for the Boston Public Schools – designed to close achievement gaps and raise academic performance in every classroom in every school.”

Mayor Thomas M. Menino today announced he would increase the target appropriation by $3.5 million, closing the remaining gap in order to advance educational priorities and prevent the need to close any schools in the next school year.

“We can make no better investment in the future of our city than in our public schools,” said Mayor Menino. “Despite the economic difficulties we face, we are guided by one principle: providing the best educational opportunities for our children. This will require more tough decisions to be made in the future, but we will not compromise quality education in the process.  I am proud to support Superintendent Johnson as she leads the Boston Public Schools through an exciting era of change and innovation that will position Boston to continue to be a leader for all urban school districts in America.”

The budget proposal seeks to limit the number of cuts to classroom teaching positions, and results in a net reduction of only 10.4 full-time classroom teacher positions from school budgets district wide.

Among the new investments detailed in the budget is approximately $10 million that will be used for the instruction of English Language Learners (ELLs). The majority of those funds are being used to hire and train teachers certified to work with ELL students. The budget also identifies resources for turning around the district’s lowest-performing schools and makes strategic investments to maintain and expand high-quality program offerings, such as arts and physical education classes, that families value.

Dr. Johnson expressed her confidence that the investments contained in this budget will continue to move the Acceleration Agenda forward, noting that even after several challenging years of fiscal constraints, the district’s investments are showing significant results:

• Earlier this month, BPS announced that the dropout rate has reached its lowest point in two decades. In addition, the State recently released new four-year graduation rates, with Boston exceeding 60% for the first time.

• Boston students demonstrated significant gains in Mathematics, outscoring their urban peers across the country on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card.
• BPS students continue to make progress on the MCAS exams – not just at the passing level, but also in the “proficient” and “advanced” categories.

 Reductions and efficiencies identified in the FY11 budget include:

• The elimination of 83 custodial positions; a reduction of nearly 25% from the original 107 position reduction recommendation.
• The reduction of central office administrative and support staff.
• The consolidation of bus yards.
• Deferring preventative maintenance on school facilities.  

“Given significant financial constraints, the reductions included in the revised budget recommendation were necessary, but not made easily,” said Dr. Johnson.

In the weeks since her preliminary budget presentation on February 3, Dr. Johnson and the School Committee have hosted multiple community meetings and solicited feedback about the budget proposal.  The final budget proposal reflects many of the concerns raised by families and staff.State law requires the Boston School Committee to vote on the Superintendent’s budget proposal by the fourth Wednesday in March. The Committee will vote on the recommendation tonight, Wednesday, March 24, in a meeting to be held in the Winter Chambers of the Boston Public Schools building, 26 Court Street, Boston, at 6:00 p.m. The Committee’s recommendation is then submitted to Mayor Menino to include in the total City of Boston budget proposal to the Boston City Council.  

While the additional investment from Mayor Menino allowed Dr. Johnson to present a balanced FY11 budget that does not require closing large numbers of schools for the 2010-2011 school year, Dr. Johnson stressed that BPS will be forced to look for ways to “right-size” the district in the future. This includes beginning a thoughtful and inclusive process this fall for closing and consolidating some schools in school year 2011-2012.

 “We have far too many empty seats in our schools, particularly in our elementary grades,” said Dr. Johnson. “While some may consider tonight’s budget vote the end of a grueling budget season, we see this as the beginning of a process that will require us to find more ways to be even more efficient as a district. We are committed to finding ways we can best utilize tax payers’ money to advance our academic goals. We are looking down a road with much to be excited about, but to get to our destination we will be required to make more tough decisions – including school closures in the school years to come.” 

For more information, visit www.bostonpublicschools.org/budget