BPS Budget is Slashed by $50 Million

By Sienna Kwami ‘17

Chart shows the budget cuts

On January 12, 2016, homeroom teachers handed out blue sheets of paper to every student in BLA. These sheets, sent from the superintendent, promised BPS parents and students that the $50 million budget cut would not result in any BPS school closings in the upcoming school year.

It would, however, result in a $500,000 slash to Boston Latin Academy’s budget and almost one million dollars worth of cuts to Boston Latin School. 

Many BLA teachers, when asked about budget cuts, blame the system of charter schools for the decrease in budgets. Superintendent Tommy Chang alluded to this in the recent letter to families, “Please note that shifts in school enrollment and programming are also impacting individual school budgets.” 

As BPS student enrollment goes down each year and more enroll in charter schools, the budget goes down as well. This is due to the fact that BPS students who attend charter schools are paid for by BPS, but the school district isn't reimbursed for the money lost in paying for charter schools. The cost of reimbursement totals about $18.6 million. That's $18.6 million the state owes the school district. 

The cost of total reimbursements along with the decrease of student enrollment, has demolished the BPS budget. Superintendent Tommy Chang, told families in his recent letter that BPS appropriated $13.5 million (which is the largest in BPS history), but many programs will still be cut. One major change to the budget was the decrease of how much money BPS allots each student, “Adjustments were made to the Weighted Student Funding formula that resulted in schools across the system making a total of $10-$12 million in cuts.” With this change, each school’s budget is cut significantly since, on paper, each student doesn't need as much money.

High schools have taken a particularly hard hit as the burden of budget cuts has usually been held by elementary schools. Headmasters and high-school principals offered a 5-page ultimatum to Mayor Marty Walsh and Tommy Chang in protest of the cuts. On January 11th they met with both Walsh and Chang, but no reports of the outcome have surfaced publicly. In his letter, Chang only briefly commented on the meeting saying that “BPS principals and headmasters, along with members of the Central Office, met with Mayor Martin J. Walsh to discuss the impacts of our current fiscal situation.” 

The community will be involved in “public budget discussions February 3, and the School Committee is scheduled to vote on the new budget March 23” as stated by Dr. Chang.