Boston City Council members heard hours of testimony Sept. 29 and reported back to the full council Oct. 1 on proposed changes to Boston Public Schools’ exam school admissions policy, but took no final vote and left the matter in committee for further review.

Councilor Santana, chair of the Committee on Education, summarized the Sept. 29 hearing and said the panel heard from Boston Public Schools officials — including Superintendent Mary Skipper, Monica Hogan (chief of data, information and systems improvement) and Dr. Colin Rose (senior advisor for strategy and opportunity gaps) — and from a community panel with advocates and parents. “We were able to hear a lot of feedback from both the administration and from the public,” Santana said, noting the committee had follow-up questions and planned additional oversight.

The administration’s proposed changes — to be voted on by the School Committee in early November — would remove certain bonus points and create a citywide tier for 20% of seats at the three testing schools, part of a suite of options intended to expand access for students who lack economic advantages that can affect test performance. Councilor Weber urged policymakers to ensure the system rewards students who would have tested well if given the same resources as higher-scoring peers: “We have to have a system here that rewards not just kids who test well, but kids who would have tested well if they had the same economic advantages,” he said.

Council members across districts asked for more detail about the proposals’ likely effects and emphasized parallel investments in earlier grades. Councilor Braden and others said improving early-grade literacy and strengthening district high schools should accompany any changes to exam-school admissions. Several councilors asked the committee to obtain additional data the administration did not answer during the initial hearing, including invitation and demographic trends and how changes would interact with housing-related bonus points.

Councilor Santana recommended the docket remain in committee; the full council accepted that recommendation. The committee will follow up on unanswered questions, seek the requested data, and continue to solicit public comment before any council-level action is scheduled.

The hearing included testimony from community organizations and parents both in favor of and opposed to the proposed changes; the committee asked the administration for a dashboard to track invitation and enrollment trends over the proposed three-year pilot.