The Boston Teachers Union (BTU) today released a new report calling on city leaders to take immediate action to prevent deep cuts to school staffing and protect critical student services in Boston Public Schools.
The report, “When Student Needs Rise and Staffing Falls: An Analysis of FY27 Budget Decisions of the City of Boston and Boston Public Schools,” outlines how the proposed FY27 budget would eliminate hundreds of school-based positions — and presents a clear set of recommendations the City can adopt now to avoid those impacts.
The findings in this analysis demonstrate that projected reductions fall disproportionately on:
- Schools serving the highest concentrations of high-needs students
- Special education paraprofessionals and in-school support staff
- Multilingual learner services, despite multilingual students comprising more than one-third of district enrollment and prior documented reductions in ELL funding (BMRB Research Updates, March 2024; February 7, 2025)
- A paraprofessional workforce that is more than 70 percent Black and Latino
The City of Boston must decide whether the transition to RSF will be financed primarily through reductions in student-facing staff or through broader municipal support. Both Mayor Wu and the City Council have the authority and fiscal capacity to mitigate disproportionate reductions in in-school special education, bilingual staffing, and high needs schools. The question in FY27 is how those pressures are managed and whether the transition to a more equity-driven funding formula advances or undermines the district’s stated commitment to equitable, high-quality education for every student.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Commit 1% of the City Budget to Protect Student Services: Allocate an additional 1% of the City’s operating budget (approximately $48 million) to reduce the projected school-level impact of FY27 cost growth and protect student-facing services during the first year of RSF implementation.
Establish Guardrails for High-Needs Schools During RSF Implementation: Ensure that the transition away from hold harmless and soft landing funding does not produce disproportionate staffing reductions in schools serving the highest concentrations of high-needs students.
Redirect Vacancy Savings to School-Based Staffing: Track salary savings from unfilled positions and automatically reinvest those funds in school-level staffing before the end of the fiscal year.
Protect School-Based Special Education Services: Ensure that projected increases in special education spending do not coincide with reductions in in-school support staff by restoring paraprofessional capacity and publishing a detailed breakdown of special education spending growth.
Ensure Multilingual Staffing Adjustments Are Proportional: Review reductions in bilingual paraprofessional and language-specific instructional positions to ensure staffing reductions do not exceed enrollment decline in schools serving multilingual learners (MLs).