Overview
- The City Council postponed its final vote on Mayor Michelle Wu’s $4.9 billion operating budget to June 10 after a long June 3 meeting and set a June 17 review of the mayor’s response.
- Councilors unanimously approved using $70 million from the city’s emergency reserve to cover current shortfalls for both city operations and Boston Public Schools.
- The council passed a $1.73 billion BPS budget that eliminates more than 400 student-facing positions, a move officials say is driven by rising health care costs and a nine-year enrollment decline of about 9,620 students.
- Teachers, the Boston Teachers Union, and more than 30 nonprofits have protested cuts and urged the council to restore roughly 40 grant programs that fund youth jobs, immigrant services, and food access.
- Mayor Wu says she will not raise the budget’s bottom-line spending or broadly draw down reserves, so the council’s amendments must reallocate existing funds and could face a mayoral veto that would need a two-thirds override to stand.