Weekly Transcript Round-Up for 9/26/24: BPI on NBC10; Wu & Spilka meet abt CRE Tax Hike, Council discusses it; MA Ed Chief talks BPS' late buses; On Universal Pre-K Boston talks, Cambridge acts
Another week where Boston's budget woes and late school buses dominate public meetings & press coverage
This week saw Boston continue to wrestle with two unresolved issues:
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s home rule petition to raise commercial property taxes over the state-mandated limit was proposed almost six months ago and it continues to dominate the conversation, getting discussed at the Chamber breakfast, appearing on a City Council docket, and prompting a meeting between the Mayor & Senate President Karen Spilka.
The state’s education secretary finally weighed in on BPS on-going inability to get students to school on time, and the issue was on the agenda for three different meetings this week - as the subject of testimony before the Commonwealth’s Board of Elementary & Secondary Education, in a 17F request for data at the Council, and all over Wednesday night’s School Committee meeting.
In addition, there was discussion this week on the Boston City Council about Universal Pre-K, a program that Cambridge began implementing in earnest this school year. Cambridge is way ahead of Boston - read to the end to find out how, and learn how the two cities pre-k programs compare.
CRE TAX HIKE PROMPTS CHAMBER QUESTIONS, COUNCIL ACTION, & SENATE PRESIDENT MEETING
This week Mayor Wu answered questions about her proposal to raise commercial property taxes over the state-mandated limit at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce event, then met with State Senate President Spilka about the same issue. NBC10 did a great job summarizing what was happening - check out this clip, which includes a line from BPI’s Executive Director Gregory Maynard:
The home rule petition was also on the agenda of this week’s City Council meeting with docket #1445 - the discussion of this hearing order starts at the 54:01 mark in the transcript. This docket represents the first time that City Councilors are talking about how little Mayor Wu’s home rule petition does to protect home owners from rising residential property tax rates. Here is the important paragraph:
Councilor Flynn is making the case that the proposed CRE tax hike does little to benefit home-owners whose house is worth less than $1.5M and provides most of its benefit to owners of residential property worth over $5M. Left out of the Councilor’s argument is how short the Mayor’s proposed tax shift is after the compromise she struck with House Ways & Means Chair Aaron Miclewitz - the shift would only be in effect for three years.
This resolution shows that the Council is beginning to think longer term about Boston’s impending budget trouble. The unique problem presented by falling office values, sky-high and rising home values, and an intense cost of living crisis for renters means the next few years are uncharted water for Boston and its elected officials. Whether or not Councilor Flynn’s specific proposal is adopted, or something else like increasing the current 35% residential property tax exemption, it is a promising start.
MA ED SECRETARY TALKS BPS’ LATE BUSES, ISSUE DISCUSSED AT STATE BOARD, COUNCIL, & SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Councilor-at-Large Erin Murphy and District 2 City Councilor Flynn have joined parents in publicly criticizing Boston Public Schools’ (BPS) for its on-going struggle to deliver students to school on-time and it appears those complaints have gotten a response from the Healey administration. This week Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler put out a press release that was covered by the Boston Globe:
[Secretary Tutwiler] said it is “not acceptable” that the on-time performance metrics of BPS buses continue to fall short.BPS must come up with a plan for meeting those metrics, he said, and ensuring students can make up lost learning time as result of late buses or no-show buses. “Having the buses run on-time is essential for parents, and it’s essential to make sure our kids are getting the learning time they need during the day,” he said. The education department is in “constant communication” with BPS, Tutwiler said, and will take additional steps, depending on the the district’s progress.
The response from Secretary Tutwiler appears to mark the first time that anyone from the Healey administration has gone on the record to criticize BPS over late buses and pledge to take steps to fix the issue.
In addition to Secretary Tutwiler’s comments, BPS’ late buses was discussed at three meetings this week:
Councilor-at-Large Erin Murphy and District 2 City Councilor Flynn both testified at the Commonwealth’s Board of Elementary & Secondary Education (BESE) about Boston Public Schools’ (BPS) on-going struggle to deliver students to school on-time. This testimony follows a letter that both Councilors signed & sent to the BESE earlier in September about the issue. Check out the end of Councilor’s Flynn testimony and all of Councilor Murphy’s here.
Councilor Murphy also filed at 17F at this week’s City Council meeting seeking data on school bus performance delivering students home in the afternoon - she is Speaker 8 and this docket is announced at the 59:30 mark in the transcript. BPS releases data on morning performance, but so far has done the same for afternoon performance.
Superintendent Skipper provided a transportation update at this week’s School Committee meeting. The Superintendent provided the morning on-time numbers for that day - she is Speaker 6 and begins speaking at the 3:02 mark in the transcript: “This morning, just as another pulse, 84% of the buses arrived on time with 96% arriving within 15 minutes and 99% arriving within 30 minutes of time.” As a reminder, the 15 and 30 minutes increments are after the start of school. You can watch it here, it starts at the 10:36 mark of the video.
As a reminder, Mayor Wu signed an agreement with the state back in June 2022 pleding to hit a number of goals and that agreement expires in June 2025. A number of goals remain unmet as BPS enters the final academic year of the agreement, including 95% on-time buses and a detailed long-term facilities plan.
ON UNIVERSAL PRE-K CAMBRIDGE ACTS WHILE BOSTON TALKS
Universal Pre-K is an idea that you have probably heard discussed for years by candidates & holders of elected office from school committee up to President of the United States.
A few weeks ago in Cambridge, it actually started - here is what the Boston Globe wrote:
Private preschools that participate need to be licensed by the state, meet standards for curriculum, training, and class size, and pay teachers a minimum salary. In turn, the city pays providers a flat rate of $30,372 per student — more than what officials said most private schools charged. The program comes with a substantial taxpayer pricetag: Funding in this fiscal year is set at $34 million.
This week Boston’s City Council was talking about pre-k as well, where a program called “universal pre-k” exists, but does not actually serve all the children who may want to participate. Comparing how the two cities talk about universal pre-k is helpful to understand the differences between the programs.
Here is how Ellen Semonoff, Assistant City Manager for Human Services & the City official in charge of implementing the program, described it in a memo to their Mayor over the summer - this is the memo named ‘DHSP PreSchool Update 8.7’ in this Cambridge City Manager’s update:
We are proud of this exceptional community milestone, providing all 4-year-olds and some 3-year-olds in Cambridge with access to a school day high-quality preschool education at no cost beginning this September.
Here is what Kristin McSwain, Director of the Office of Early Childhood as Director and a Senior Advisor to Mayor Wu said at the budget hearing focused on Pre-K this past April - she is Speaker 18 and begins speaking at the 3:11:18 mark in the transcript:
“We through UPK [universal pre-k] have made a commitment to meet the needs of 3 year olds and 4 year olds in Boston. We've begun each year over the past several years, we've added between 250 and 300 seats in UPK, both in our community based classrooms. Also last year, we added an additional 100 in Boston Public Schools for 3 year olds. This year, we added 250, and we're taking a look at all the changes you just heard that are taking place in inclusion. So expanding the opportunities for 3 year olds to participate in BPS classrooms means there may be fewer seats for 4 year olds.”
This past Monday, the Boston City Council held a hearing about the serious shortcomings special needs pre-k students are experiencing and what BPS is doing to solve them. However, despite the Council’s invitations both Superintendent Skipper and Kay Seale, the Chief of Specialized Services, both chose not to attend the hearing.
Reading the transcript for that meeting, it is clear that Boston is far away from being able to claim the same the cut-and-dry success at pre-k as Cambridge.
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