"The city’s highest-in-the-nation cost, of $31,397 per student during the 2020-21 school year, represented a nearly 13 percent increase from the previous year, or about $3,600 more per student, according to the census, which examined spending in the country’s 100 largest districts. During that same period, BPS enrollment dropped by about 2,500 students, according to the state’s annual Oct. 1 head count." BPS spending will likely increase again next year. The City Council is expected to vote in June on BPS’s $1.45 billion budget proposal for next year, which is up more than $70 million from this year — a request that some councilors have greeted with skepticism. City Councilor Erin Murphy, a former BPS teacher, said the schools’ repeated requests for budget increases while student enrollment declines doesn’t add up and she also questions how the district is spending its money. For instance, she noted, BPS isn’t devoting enough for athletics, extracurriculars, and before- and after-school programs, even though it has ample money to pay for it. “Where’s the money going?” said Murphy, noting schools often still have to scramble to fill in budget gaps. “Schools shouldn’t have to rely on fund-raisers to provide students with basic things like buses for field trips, smart boards for classrooms, and science supplies.”

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