Boston City Council Passes $1 Million Bus Monitor Pay Raise, Advances School Repairs

BOSTON — April 1, 2026 — Boston City Council approves bus monitor pay raise, advances $21.3 million in school repairs. The council unanimously passed two dockets — 0619 and 0620 — appropriating $1,046,178 from the city's collective bargaining reserve to fund fiscal year 2026 costs under a new contract between Boston Public Schools and United Steelworkers Local 2936, covering approximately 700 bus monitors and raising their pay from roughly $18 to $22 an hour over the contract's three-year term, which runs through June 30, 2028. Councillor Benjamin Weber, Chair of Ways and Means, said the monitors are "among the lowest paid city workers who are primarily immigrants." The council also gave first readings to a $20.2 million appropriation for window, door, and accessibility upgrades at Adams Elementary School — with $10.4 million in expected Massachusetts School Building Authority reimbursement — and a $1.1 million design appropriation for three additional schools. A home rule pension petition for injured Fire Lieutenant Leo J. Bracken passed 12-0 in an amended new draft after Councillor Gabriela Coletta Zapata restructured the benefit language for legal workability at the State House. Councillor Henry Santana introduced a new ordinance to create a pharmacy stabilization fund, citing 41 pharmacy closures in Boston since 2018, which was referred to the Committee on Government Operations.