Last Night At School Committee

Last night's School Committee meeting kicked off with some key updates from Superintendent Skipper. She started off by breaking down the district’s plan to cut around 568 positions. She explained this is a direct response to losing roughly 3,000 students over the last two years, though she promised a steady 10-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio would remain. The Superintendent also touched on summer pr...

Last night’s Boston School Committee meeting covered a wide range of issues, beginning with Superintendent Mary Skipper’s report on the district’s ongoing budget concerns, staffing updates, teacher diversity, as well as the implementation of a new cell phone policy. While district leaders highlighted student achievements and positive developments across Boston Public Schools, the public comment pe...

Last night’s Boston School Committee meeting was straightforward and relatively mundane, highlights of the evening included conversations about transportation, budgeting, and the district’s effort to prepare for the rapid growth of artificial intelligence in schools.  The evening began with a recognition ceremony honoring graduating seniors from the Boston Student Advisory Council. Superintendent...

Last night’s School Committee meeting touched on a number of critical issues for BPS, including a vote on a policy amendment to MassCore, an ask for more money to fill a budget gap, an update on decade old policy surrounding opportunity and achievement gaps, a new strategic roadmap, as well as an an approval for a new MSBA statement of interest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoic...

Last night was the first full meeting in a month after a series of budget hearings. The meeting covered three topics; vote on the 2026-2027 budget, update on MassCore and the annual discussion on school choice. We dig into each of these areas on our blog and on the podcast. We are also excited to unveil a new tool to help you better understand the BPS budget . Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...

Earlier this month, we recorded a special conversation with Boston Globe reporter Christopher Huffaker. Huffaker is a reporter for “The Great Divide” - an investigative arm of the paper that analyzes and reports on educational inequities throughout the state.  Huffaker spoke to our team about a prominent issue we have covered at length on Last Night at School Committee: MassCore . The interview be...

On Wednesday evening, the district held a hearing focused on the Central Office budget. In their presentation, district leadership stated that they prioritized "student-facing" investments that directly supported schools. Highlights from the central office budget (https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1772555621/bostonpublicschoolsorg/ohke7hrux3oayndphpag/FY27BudgetPresentation-CentralBudgetProc...

Last night, the district had a two-part meeting, beginning with a Budget Hearing for FY 2027 and then a short School Committee meeting. The budget hearing largely touched on many of the same financial themes we have heard from the district before, including transportation costs and collective bargaining expenses, while also highlighting some more granular fiscal challenges at the school level. Sch...

Last night kicked off the FY 2027 budget season with an overview and a release of all the budget documents. The district’s preliminary FY27 budget proposal totals $1.71 billion, representing a $74 million increase over current spending. This increase comes even as BPS serves roughly 3,000 fewer students than last year, continuing a multi-year trend of declining enrollment. On a per-pupil basis, th...

The Boston Public Schools (BPS) School Committee held its first meeting of 2026 this week, coming at a critical moment for the district with new committee members, the current $53 million budget deficit, as well as serious questions about inclusion and transparency. Superintendent’s Report: Staffing, Closures, and Next Steps Superintendent Mary Skipper began her report by addressing the district’s...

At last night’s meeting, many important issues were discussed and decided. These included an important memo about enrollment decline, a school closure vote, and a budget update. Conversations between the Committee and district pointed to long-term issues for BPS. The School Closure Vote:  The most anticipated item of the evening was the vote on school closures . Chair Robinson framed the decision...

Introduction:  The meeting opened with an executive session to discuss a tentative agreement with the Boston Association of School Administrators and Supervisors (BASAS), which the Committee will vote on at its next meeting on December 17th. Additionally, the Committee recognized Taylor McCoy, an Inclusion Specialist at Mattahunt Elementary School, as the 2025 Shattuck Award recipient . Members ce...

Last Night at School Committee - November 19th, 2025:  Here’s what happened Last Night at the Boston School Committee meeting. Superintendent’s Report: The Superintendent began with updates on transportation and enrollment, noting that the district has seen record-high transportation performance this fall. Morning on-time performance has reached 95% or higher on nine separate days, a remarkable in...

Last night’s Boston School Committee meeting was filled with votes on various topics crucial to the future of the district, including an adjustment to the Exam School Admissions Policy as well the Competency Determination for the Classes of 2026 and 2027. Here’s what happened:  Superintendent’s Update: Food Security for Students Superintendent Mary Skipper opened with how the district is respondin...

Last night’s Boston School Committee meeting covered declining enrollment, the Superintendent’s contract and an update on transformation schools. Enrollment and Graduation Rates:  Member Brandon Cardet-Hernandez raised two key questions about district trends, enrollment and graduation rates, both of which have been ongoing areas of concern. Superintendent Skipper confirmed that enrollment is decli...

At last night’s Boston School Committee meeting, members dove immediately into another discussion about the Exam School Admissions Policy Recommendation , foregoing the usual Superintendent’s Report. In response to committee requests from the last meeting, the district presented new simulations that gave equal weight (as opposed to 70% grades and 30% MPA score) to both GPA and MAP assessment score...

The Boston School Committee held their second meeting of the school year last night, primarily to present a proposal to change the exam school admissions policy. This was the sole report of the meeting and much of the public comment surrounded this proposal. After the Superintendent’s report, Member Cardet-Hernández pressed for updates on graduation rates and summer school outcomes. Superintendent...

Last Night at School Committee – September 10, 2025 The Boston School Committee met last night for its first meeting of the school year. The meeting covered a wide range of topics, from the district's back-to-school updates to the ongoing discussion of the exam school admissions policy. Here’s a recap of what happened: Mayor Wu Makes a Surprise Appearance:  Mayor Michelle Wu kicked off the meeting...

Note: This episode originally aired June 12, 2019. In the final installment of our series about MassCore, Jill Shah interviews Orin Gutlerner about the challenges of scaling rigorous and engaging curriculum and teaching practices. They dissect a report called “The Opportunity Myth,” which attempts to answer the question of whether K-12 schools are fulfilling the fundamental promise that if student...

Note: This episode originally aired May 29, 2019. In part 2 of Understanding MassCore, Jill talks with Paul Reville, a key architect and advocate for MassCore, about topics that are key to understanding the intentions and context for this policy, such as: The role of globalization and the standards movement in the crafting of the MassCore policy; How and why the state viewed it through a lens of e...

Note: This episode originally aired May 15, 2019 In the spirit of enrichment and connectivity, we offer this three part series on the topic of MassCore. Part 1 looks at the context of graduation requirements in BPS High Schools. Stay tuned for parts two and three that will be released over the next two weeks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this bonus episode, Jill and Ross touch upon two main themes significantly impacting the district: enrollment decline and graduation standards. We discuss how enrollment has dropped over the past half-decade and dive into those numbers. Ross and Jill then use analysis and insight from some of our first episodes in 2019 to touch on the key components of MassCore and why they matter for Boston Pu...

Last Night at School Committee – July 9, 2025 The only Boston School Committee meeting of the summer opened with a goodbye to a leaving member, included a summary of the Superintendent’s progress, and ended with more questions than answers. Here's what happened last night: The meeting began with another goodbye to Committee Member Lima Barbosa who previously announced that she will be leaving the...

Here's what happened last night: Saying Goodbye: Committee Member Lima Barbosa announced that next month’s meeting will be her last. Her departure will create an opening on the Committee, yet we did not hear about the process of filling her seat. Host Ross Wilson announced that he will look into potentially joining the committee in her stead. Public Comment: Eid, Henderson, and Equity: The Eid Coa...

Last night’s Boston School Committee meeting began with an executive session, during which members received an update on a labor agreement between the district and the Administrative Guild, which represents the secretaries and clerks working in Boston Public Schools (BPS). The public portion of the meeting opened with a hearing on the Massachusetts School Choice Plan for the 2025–2026 school year....