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BPS says FTE reductions tied to closures; officials stress IEP-driven services will continue
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Summary
At an April 17 Ways & Means hearing Boston Public Schools told councilors the revised FY27 budget reduces about 179 special-education student-facing FTEs—mostly paraprofessionals—with most cuts tied to school closures or reconfigurations; district leaders said legally required IEP services will continue and described service mapping and SEAT as tools to protect delivery.
Chair Ben Webber convened the Ways & Means budget hearing on April 17, 2026, where Boston Public Schools officials described the net effect of FY27 personnel changes on special-education and student-facing roles.
The district’s chief financial officer, David Blum, said the revised FY27 figures show a net reduction of 179 full‑time equivalent positions in special-education and related student-facing roles. "Our revised number ... is a 179 FTE," Blum said, adding that roughly 120 are paraprofessional-type positions and about 44 are support staff. He told councilors that about 77 of those changes result from schools closing or being reconfigured and 51 reflect centrally funded position restructuring.
Why it matters: advocates and parents at the hearing said cuts to paraprofessionals, social workers and psychologists can immediately affect day‑to‑day supports that multilingual learners and students with disabilities rely on. John Mudd, an education advocate, told the council that outcomes for multilingual learners remain unacceptably low and urged a stronger commitment to home-language instruction and staffing.
BPS leaders repeatedly framed the adjustments as operationally driven, not a wake‑and‑decide removal of services. Superintendent Mary Skipper and academic leaders told the committee that IEP teams and statutory service minutes drive what a student receives. "We cannot cut those. Those are done through the teams," Skipper said, emphasizing that IEP-determined minutes and team plans determine personnel assignments.
The district described two operational tools it is using to manage shifts while preserving services: service mapping and a SEAT (special education adjustment team) response process. Christine Trevisoane, senior advisor for specialized services, explained service mapping as ‘‘compiling service delivery grids at every school so we can determine what services are needed, how long and by whom’’ and said the process is reviewed monthly. Trevisoane also said SEAT is the mechanism schools use to request immediate additional staff or resources when student needs change midyear.
Advocates at the hearing flagged an apparent tension in the budget: Katie de la Rosa of the Boston Teachers Union urged the council to restore ‘‘student-facing positions’’ and pointed to the district’s own numbers showing increases in special-education dollars alongside reductions in student-facing FTEs. She said cuts have ‘‘stripped away consistent adult support that the students need to thrive.’’
What BPS offered as mitigation: Blum and other leaders said some funds saved by consolidations are being redeployed to remaining schools, and the budget process includes set-asides for transition supports. They also committed to provide councilors with more granular reconciliations of the personnel and budget lines questioned during the session (page‑57 central office entries and stipend re‑proportioning were discussed in detail).
Next steps: Councilors asked for more concrete, itemized data on where positions were reduced and where transition dollars will be spent. BPS said it will return with more detailed counts and clarified that if a family reports that services are not being delivered, the SEAT process is intended to produce a near-term correction.
