Tommy Chang, Ed.0., Superintendent Zz BOSTON Office of the Superintendent fou FRublic Schools syssarevespitatee So aacs coucsaaey Focus on Children Rovbury, Massachusetts 02119 617-635-9050 bbostonpublieschoolsorg Principals and Headmasters Superintendent Tommy Chang March 11, 2016 Budget update Recentiy, we've received encouraging information from the City about the prospects of increased state and federal funding for next year. 'm pleased to announce that this information will alow us to propose a revised budget to the School Committee which will restore the reductions we had been planning to make to our high school weights. While we will have to hold off on strategic investments until state and federal increases are finalized, its a relief to put the high school funding back in place. In particular, we are optimistic that the state will increase its charter reimbursement, which has been underfunded in recent years and which disproportionately affects the City of Boston. This is the single most important item for us to advocate for at the State. We've worked in deep partnership with the City on this ue, and thank them and the members of our community who have advocated at the State level. Our collective advocacy to the State must continue. ‘To summarize: ‘+ With our increased expectations for revenues, we will restore previous changes to the high school ‘weights in WSF © Barly next week, high schools will receive an updated FY17 allocation from our Budget Office We willbe in contact shortly with nextsteps. + We will put on hold all other strategic investments pending confirmation of addi two important exceptions ‘© We will fully protect previously proposed Special Education investments (© We will maintain the majority of our proposed K1 investment + Our revised proposal will maintain other reductions in order to address increasing costs and allow us to reach a balanced proposal for FY17 ynal revenue, with Unfortunately, we will not get confirmation on exact revenue figures until later this spring. However, we recognize that school decisions and school-based hiring cannot wait until spring, while our central initiatives can, Therefore, we believe that postponing those central investments isa calculated risk that is in the best interest of our students at this time. We remain deeply committed to our key investments such as expanding opportunities for 4 graders, but are willing to make some of the increased opportunities conditional on the success of our advocacy for additional state funding, While we are pleased that some of our reductions can be scaled back, we recognize that we are still facing challenges elsewhere in our budget, both for next year and years ahead. With the structural deficit perennially facing BPS, we want to join with you and our broader community in the coring months so that we together can begin discussing and tackling the longer term, structural challenges that face our district. I welcome your continued input to these critical decisions. {As you have heard me say before, itis always our goal to budget for the success of all youth and to do so, we are guided by our values of equity, innovation and coherence. Thank you for your continued commitment and hard ‘work on behalf of our students. | know that a billion dollar budget process with constantly evolving numbers can soem dizzying, 1 thankyou all for coming together in a Culture of We to ensure opportunity for the young people of Boston. oston Pubic Schools ‘ston School Cmmitoe ity of Boston “Tommy Chang, Superintendent Michael D.O'Nell, Chair Marin J Male, eayor