Expert Analysis: Superintendent's progress report on BPS-DESE agreement
BPS falls short of goals laid out in June 2022 agreement that prevented the district going into state receivership as BPS' FY25 Operating & Capital budget remain unpassed by Council
Check out the previous analysis Erin wrote in January at the half way point of the BPS-DESE agreement.
As several Boston City Councilors express concern over the lack of improvement at Boston Public Schools, the Boston Policy Institute, Inc released a new memo raising further questions about the efficacy of the 2022 agreement that prevented Boston Public Schools from going into state receivership. The Council’s Ways & Means Chair Brian Worrell wrote in a public letter on May 18 that frustrated City Councilors had discussed the consequences of not passing BPS’ budget in an untelevised working session and BPS CFO David Bloom laid out how the district would respond to such a move while answering a question from District 7 City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson at a budget hearing held on May 23.
Here is Councilor Fernandes Anderson’s question and CFO Bloom’s answer she is Speaker 9 and brings up not approving the budget at the 57:55 mark and he is Speaker 6 and his answer starts at the 1:08:35 mark in the transcript:
The memo, authored by education expert Erin Cooley, analyzes and summarizes the testimony of BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper to the state Board of Elementary & Secondary Education (BESE) on May 21, 2024. Skipper was giving an update on BPS progress on the Systemic Improvement Plan (SIP), which was put in place in June 2022 following an agreement between the City of Boston and the Department of Elementary & Secondary Education.
“With just a year left on the SIP student enrollment is declining, there is no plan or timeline or budget for students to get modern classrooms and facilities, and many of the academic goals remain unmet,” BPI Executive Director Gregory Maynard said. He added: “Not passing BPS’ budget would represent a real escalation by the Council, but it is really clear some think that is the only way to stop kicking the can down the road when it comes to public education.”
BPI has provided an analysis that Cooley conducted in January 2024 of BPS' progress on the SIP through its first 18 months; offered questions Cooley wanted to see BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper answer at a March hearing before the Boston City Council's Ways & Means Committee; and provided updates on discussions of SIP goals during the Council’s budget hearings in April and May. These updates can be found in BPI’s newsletter archive.
Erin Cooley is an educational policy expert who has spent her career analyzing public school data. She worked nearly six years at the Boston Public Schools. She currently serves as the managing director at one of Massachusetts’ leading education policy organizations.
Read more about the Board of Elemenary & Secondary Education’s meeting on May 21 in BPI’s ‘Weekly Transcript Round-Up: BPS Long Term Facilities Plan Edition,’ published back on May 24, 2024.
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