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Council hearing: advocates and students warn BPS staffing cuts threaten bilingual and special‑education supports
Summary
Community leaders, students and Boston Public Schools officials testified at a City Council committee hearing about proposed FY26 staffing changes, warning cuts to bilingual teachers and paraprofessionals would undermine inclusive education even as the district points to modest early gains under its inclusive‑education rollout.
Boston City Councilors convened a joint hearing on March 10 to examine Boston Public Schools’ spending and services for multilingual learners and students with disabilities. Community witnesses and student leaders pressed the district for clearer plans after testimony that the FY26 budget would eliminate coded bilingual teacher and paraprofessional positions, while BPS officials said the district is refining service‑allocation tools and rolling out transitional bilingual programs in selected schools.
Ari Brands, co‑executive director of St. Stephen’s Youth Programs, told the council the city is losing bilingual capacity: “We’re losing a 110 bilingual teacher positions and 28 bilingual para positions,” and urged a 10‑year plan so “every family that wants a bilingual seat can have one.” That testimony echoed the student and parent witnesses who said supports described on paper were not consistently present in classrooms.
BP…
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