"We're Being Left Behind": Boston Families Sound Off on $1.2 Billion School Budget Cuts

The Boston Public Schools budget crisis has moved beyond committee rooms and city hall corridors, landing squarely in the conversations of families who say they bear the real cost of proposed cuts. With the School Committee approving a $1.2 billion budget that eliminates music and art programmes in elementary schools and reduces special education support staff, voices from Roxbury, Dorchester, and the South End are expressing alarm about what the 2026-27 school year will look like.

At a community forum held last week at the Orchard Gardens school in Roxbury, parents spoke candidly about their frustrations. Families with children in special education programmes say they're watching vital support disappear. One parent from the Dorchester neighbourhood described the impact: with fewer paraprofessionals and specialists in classrooms, children with learning differences face longer waits for evaluations and reduced one-on-one assistance. The waiting list for speech therapy assessments now exceeds four months, according to district data.

The cuts also affect extracurricular opportunities. At English High School in the Jamaica Plain area, students have learned that the drama programme—one of the city's strongest—faces elimination unless additional funding emerges. Athletics programmes at schools across Boston, from Madison Park Technical High in Roxbury to schools throughout the South End, are similarly threatened.

"My kid was supposed to have orchestra in fifth grade," said one Beacon Hill resident at a separate June community session. "That's gone now. Where's the cultural education in all this?" Boston's arts education has already ranked below state averages, with only 52% of elementary students having access to arts instruction compared to the state average of 68%.

Some educators themselves have become vocal. Teachers at schools across neighbourhoods like Mattapan and Hyde Park report increased class sizes and fewer planning periods, creating what many describe as unsustainable conditions. The Boston Teachers Union has called the budget "a betrayal of our students" while acknowledging difficult fiscal realities.

Community organizations on Huntington Avenue and elsewhere have also stepped into the conversation, with groups like The Boston Plan for Excellence convening parent meetings to discuss advocacy strategies. The consensus appears clear: families want to be heard in whatever comes next.

The School Committee will revisit the budget in July as state funding decisions remain fluid. Whether the voices raised by Boston families this month will shape those conversations remains uncertain.

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