Boston City Council demands answers on BPS's $53 million deficit and 426 job cuts

BOSTON — March 2, 2026 — Boston City Council education panel scrutinizes $53 million BPS deficit and alarming student outcomes. The Committee on Education, chaired by Councilor Julia Mejia, heard testimony Monday from BPS Chief Financial Officer David Bloom, who confirmed that approximately 426 school-based positions and 150 central-office positions will be cut for the 2026-2027 school year, with health insurance costs alone projected to jump from $134 million to $168 million — a $34 million increase driven partly by GLP-1 weight-loss drug spending. Outside panelist Mary Tamer, founder of Mass Potential and a former Boston School Committee member, presented MCAS data showing only eight Black third-graders in the entire district exceed reading expectations, and argued the district's continued use of the Focus literacy curriculum is "nothing short of malpractice." Ross Wilson, executive director of the Shaw Family Foundation and former BPS deputy superintendent, said the district has added bus routes despite losing 10,000 students over nine years and called for an independent transportation audit, charging that all four identified cost drivers are "in our control." Mejia closed by saying she has voted against the BPS budget every year she has served on the council and that the bar for a yes vote this spring has not been met.