Boston Public Schools presents $1.73 billion FY27 budget as council probes enrollment, audits and priorities

Superintendent Mary Skipper told the City Council Ways and Means Committee that Boston Public Schools will submit a $1.73 billion budget for fiscal 2027 and stressed the district’s aim to protect classroom services amid financial pressure. “We appreciate having the opportunity to outline our $1.73 billion budget planning and overall strategy,” Skipper said as she opened the hearing.

The district framed the request around rising health-insurance, transportation and special-education costs, plus collective-bargaining obligations and a continuing enrollment decline that the superintendent said is partly attributable to national forces such as immigration patterns and lower birth rates. Skipper and her team said they have sought operational efficiencies while maintaining “93% of our funding to services and programs that directly impact and benefit our schools and classrooms.”

Councilors repeatedly pressed for clearer, program-level evidence tying line-item investments to student outcomes. Councilor Flynn cited a School Committee chair’s earlier remark that she wished for an audit; the superintendent responded that the district and its external partners have produced programmatic audits and reviews and that the request was primarily for data aligning spending with student outcomes — “the return on investment,” she said.

Committee members also focused on several program areas during the morning session: chronic absenteeism (where BPS reported multi-year reductions and a roughly 90% daily attendance rate), athletics (how and when assistant coaches are provided), and services for students experiencing homelessness. Cory McCarthy, senior deputy superintendent for operations, explained that assistant coaches “have not been built historically” into the athletics funding model and that staffing is triggered by roster sizes and school-specific conditions.

The hearing included detailed questioning about how central office and school-based roles will be preserved or reorganized in the face of cuts. District leaders said they are prioritizing direct, school-based positions and will seek to reassign or restructure central duties to protect student-facing services. No formal vote occurred during the morning session; the committee plans further hearings later in the week.