Politics

Boston City Council votes to support switch to an elected school committee

The bill now falls to Mayor Michelle Wu, who reiterated her opposition to an elected school committee on Tuesday.

An empty Boston Public School bus in the early morning light drives down South Street in Jamaica Plain. David L Ryan/Globe Staff

By Abby Patkin

February 15, 2023

3 minutes to read

The Boston City Council voted by a slim margin Wednesday to support an elected school committee, advancing legislation that could overhaul the district’s school board within the next few years.

Passed by a vote of seven to five, the home rule petition would eventually create a 13-member, fully elected school committee, taking appointment power away from the mayor. The proposal would also put two student members on the committee, and the city council easily passed a second home rule petition to grant those students voting rights.

Proponents describe the legislation as a way to promote accountability while staying true to the results of a 2021 non-binding ballot question, which saw nearly 80% of Boston voters express their support for an elected body.

“The city as a whole spoke overwhelmingly and resoundingly in support of an elected school committee when this was on a non-binding referendum,” said Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, who sponsored the bill with Councilor Julia Mejia.

School committee

“Specifically, I see this as in line with the will of our constituents, the will of our voters, to have control of our school committee returned to them,” he said, adding that Boston’s model of mayoral control is unique in Massachusetts and “has not served us well.”

Meijia added: “This is the will of the people, and we know who we serve.”

Boston has had a mayoral-appointed school committee for more than three decades, following a 1991 home rule petition that abolished the city’s elected school committee.

“As a BPS graduate, as a BPS parent, and as a BPS advocate, I see this as one of the biggest voting rights issues here in the city of Boston, because it’s about an opportunity to restore the trust in what democracy looks like,” Mejia said. “It’s an opportunity for us to give the people back the power in our Boston Public Schools.”

To move forward, the bill needs approval from Mayor Michelle Wu, the state Legislature, and Gov. Maura Healey. If it clears those hurdles, nine district school committee positions would be on the ballot in the following municipal election, likely 2025 at the earliest. Four at-large members would remain appointed until the next municipal election two years later.

However, the proposal may not make it past Wu’s desk; the mayor reiterated her opposition to an elected school committee during an appearance on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio” Tuesday.

Though she came out in support of a hybrid model while on the campaign trail, Wu asserted that making a change now would stoke further instability in the city’s school system.

“I ran not being for a fully elected school committee and this moment also is one where we need to have a focus on stabilizing and getting our school facilities up to date and mental health supports and some of the academic changes that we’re making,” she said.

Wu “will be reviewing the school committee dockets voted on by the Council today in the coming days,” her office told Boston.com in an email.

Echoing the mayor, City Council President Ed Flynn questioned the timing of the proposal.

“Now is not the time to make a major change in the governance of our public school system,” he said. “Mayor Wu and Superintendent [Mary] Skipper deserve a chance to show us what they can do. I think there needs to be a strong and powerful role for the mayor, and that’s about accountability in our school committee structure.”

He said he would favor a hybrid model if the council still feels the need for a governance change after a “reasonable amount of time” has passed.

Asserting that the proposed 13-member body would be “unwieldy,” Councilor Michael Flaherty offered an amendment that would whittle the elected committee down to seven members.

“Keep it tight, keep it simple, move it forward,” he said of his proposal, which failed by a vote of four to nine.

Flaherty later joined Flynn and Councilors Frank Baker, Erin Murphy, and Brian Worrell in voting against the home rule petition; Councilor Kenzie Bok voted present.