Tito Jackson Boston City Councillor, District 7 Chair, Boston City Council Committee on Education Boston City Hall, One City Hall Square, Boston, MA 02201 617-635-3510 • [email protected]

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Good morning, Secretary Peyser, Chairman Sagan, Commissioner Chester, and other members of the Board. I am Boston’s District 7 City Councillor Tito Jackson, and I am the Chair of the Committee on Education, serving 57,000 Boston Public Schools students, 75% of our school-aged children. BPS is the #2 school district in the nation for large urban districts. I respectfully ask for two things. First, to support Boston Green Academy, though rejecting the Commissioner’s 3rd recommendation. Second, that you NOT grant the proposed 1028 new charter seats in Boston. You’ve heard the statistics of my community’s BPS students: ● For 48%, English is not their first language; ● 20% have disabilities; ● 86% are students of color; ● 72% have high needs; ● Over 3,000 are homeless. My students of disadvantage, of special needs, of color, of trauma, of homelessness, ...and of excellence, those who choose BPS, will all be impacted financially, a funding dynamic even the Governor has come to acknowledge, which will play out in $119M of state money going to charters in Boston, but only $93M for BPS. This proposal will hurt every student in a school of their choice when enrollments shrink, and hurt students who remain in every other BPS school too, since special education supports, nurses, counselors, curricular aid are centrally funded. It will hurt commended BPS initiatives such as extended learning time and new teacher early hiring.

Our 4th grade combined NAEP reading and math scores ranks us as the nation’s number 1 urban public school system, and is on par with the national average even for suburban districts. We have 37 level 1 and 2 schools. This proposal will hurt every one of them. BPS faces a daunting deficit of $50M. Even students with autism, and with trauma face cuts. Even all three of our prestigious exam schools will be cut, though they have no enrollment issues! The 1028 additional charter seats will add a further $19.5M to our deep deficit. Let me be clear, the underfunded charter reimbursements nor Chapter 70 will not cover that. I recently heard a young man of color, Luis Aponte, plead to save the Diploma Plus program at Charlestown High, a program for high risk students that’s being cut. Luis was homeless and failing. But Diploma Plus gave him the guidance to succeed, and re-ignited his love of learning. He said, “If it wasn’t for the program, I would now be either a drug dealer, a gang member, or dead. I did not have hope.” He is now a Northeastern University student. I’m proud to hear his story, but I am also not surprised. According to the Boston Foundation, the persistence rate in college for Boston high school graduates, 42% have attended charters, but 50% were BPS students. We must be honest here. Luis is not the type of student served in almost all charters. BPS, focused on the achievement gap, was the only place he found hope. Please don’t dim that hope for the other 57,000 children who choose BPS, and are my charge, and your’s. Thank you.

_____________ District 7 Boston City Councillor Tito Jackson, Chair, the City of Boston’s Committee on Education 1 City Hall Square, Boston, MA 02201 617-635-3510