Boston Public Schools officials briefed the City Council’s Ways and Means Committee on Nov. 17 about early work on the FY27 budget, warning that a continued drop in enrollment and potential cuts to federal entitlement grants will force careful choices.

"Enrollment in BPS is down, and down significantly," David Bloom, BPS chief financial officer, told the committee, listing falling resident births, reduced immigration and rising health-insurance costs as drivers of the district’s fiscal headwinds. Bloom said the district faces a potential $8,000,000 liability if key federal entitlements are reduced.

The administration framed its budget work around three strategic focus areas: equitable literacy (including asset-based approaches for multilingual learners and students with disabilities), holistic student supports that include mental-health services, and higher-quality programming and facilities. "If we can have a coherent system of collecting data...the better we are going to be to think about pushing our resources in a way that actually moves student outcomes," Dr. Colin Rose, senior advisor for strategy, said.

Councilors sought specifics on enrollment projections, contingency plans and how service reductions would affect students. On enrollment, Bloom said final reconciled numbers that include all city students are pending a DESE matching process. On contingency planning if federal Title II, III and IV funding were lost, Bloom outlined three steps the district is building: identify low-impact reductions, use unspent two-year grant balances where available, and reallocate within the $1.17 billion budget to minimize student harm.

Councillors also pressed the district on the inclusion rollout, bilingual program expansion and capital priorities. Bloom said the district is rolling the inclusion funding to additional grades for FY27 and noted state earmarks have provided capital and community-organization funding for a number of schools.

Public testimony emphasized the human stakes: parents, parent mentors and nonprofit partners urged continued or expanded investment in bilingual programs and parent-mentor supports and warned that cuts would disproportionately affect multilingual families.

The committee did not take any votes. Councilors and BPS staff said they will continue budget briefings through the winter leading to the school committee’s spring appropriation vote.