Mayor Wu is optimistic about the future of Boston Public Schools

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu says she's approaching the new calendar year feeling hope about the future of Boston Public Schools. During an interview on Radio Boston Monday, she credited BPS superintendent Mary Skipper for much of her optimism.

"Between the leadership changes she’s made, the structural changes and the day-to-day management she provides, we really felt a huge change of direction and the sense that we’re headed toward something wonderful," Wu said on Radio Boston.

But Wu was quick to point out that there will still be challenges ahead in 2024. The biggest item giving her "anxiety in the short term" is the expiration of a federal pandemic relief funding program known as the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. BPS, like every public school district in the U.S., has until the end of September 2024 to spend its allocation of a $189 billion total pot of money.

By the end of the program, BPS will have received about $450 million. Since March 2021, the district has used the funding to support multiple efforts like literacy programming, expanded summer school offerings and tutoring.

"The transition away from that [funding] is very difficult," said Wu. She explained that over the last two years, the district has made progress ensuring that the costs of the new programs and staff can be carried by the district's operational budget. Wu also hopes to soften the transition by putting more money from the city's general fund into the BPS budget.

"The last couple of years the school budget has grown 5% year over year," Wu said. "This year we expect to see our local contribution be higher than that, given the federal funds transition."

Wu also expressed optimism over BPS's ability to meet two remaining significant year-end deadlines specified in a systemic improvement plan the district struck with the state in mid-2022. First, Wu says she feels confident that the school system will finish all of its required bathroom renovations. The official deadline was originally this past June, but Wu says those facilities upgrades are now on track to wrap up by the end of December.

The other large year-end deliverable — the long-term school facilities action plan — is set to be released according to schedule.

At this point, the contents of the long-term master facilities plan are still a mystery. But Wu says constituents can expect to see a document that lays out a roadmap for how the city and the district will decide which schools will close, merge or receive needed upgrades. That way, she said, there is ample time to research community impact and collect feedback from families.

Wu's administration and Boston Public Schools officials have faced criticism for not putting enough effort into collecting community feedback on proposed school moves. During a Dec. 5 City Council meeting, dozens of parents, teachers and alumni voiced their concerns about the plan to move the John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics & Science, one of the city's three exam schools, from its current home in Roxbury to a larger facility in West Roxbury. Many people said the news took the community by surprise and that it didn't feel like the city took their feedback seriously.

But according to Wu, the plan is not a done deal yet.

"My thinking was if we put a proposal on the table — that will be the most urgent way to get us going in the conversation, at least give people something to react to," she said.

She acknowledged that whether officials decide to move the O'Bryant to the soon-to-be renovated West Roxbury Education Complex or find a location closer to its current home, there will be trade-offs. Still, Wu says, time is of the essence when it comes to making plans about school facilities.

"If we want to see new schools built any time in the next decade, we need to get going on it now," said Wu. "There's a reason why our school buildings are falling apart. These are hard conversations that are complex and involve a lot of communities."

Click the red play button atop this post to listen to the rest of Mayor Wu's interview on Radio Boston. She discussed the city's new police contract as well as her goals for next year.