The push for an elected faculty committee in Boston discovered a central place within the mayoral race on Tuesday, with Josh Kraft expressing assist for not less than some elected members as he kickstarted his candidacy.
“To improve our schools, we need a school committee that challenges city leadership and holds BPS accountable,” Kraft mentioned in a speech Tuesday. “It is time to have elected members along with appointed members on the school committee. And as mayor, I’ll make that happen.”
Boston voted to vary from an elected faculty committee to at least one made up of mayoral appointees in 1992, turning into the one faculty district within the state with a non-elected governing physique.
In 2021, a non-binding poll query asking voters if town ought to return to an elected faculty committee mannequin handed with about 80% of the vote.
Mayor Michelle Wu has lengthy opposed an elected faculty committee. In 2023, the mayor vetoed a invoice to section out the seven-member appointed faculty committee and transfer to a 13-member elected physique, which was narrowly handed by the Boston Metropolis Council.
Councilor Julia Mejia launched an identical residence rule petition in November, which Wu already acknowledged she intends to dam.
In a press release on the measure, Wu’s workplace reiterated that BPS “needs stability to continue the progress underway on long-term structural issues under Superintendent Skipper, Mayor Wu and the administration,” and he or she doesn’t assist transferring to an elected physique “at this time.”
Kraft, president of the New England Patriots Basis and son of billionaire Patriots proprietor Robert Kraft, introduced his candidacy for Boston mayor Tuesday in Prince Corridor in Dorchester. The brand new candidate didn’t specific assist for an all-elected faculty committee — as has been proposed by the Metropolis Council — however as an alternative floated the concept of {a partially} elected physique.
In mild of the brand new residence rule petition within the Boston Metropolis Council, the Boston Municipal Analysis Bureau additionally restated its opposition to electing faculty committee members in a press release launched Monday.
“The appointed system promotes mayoral accountability, fiscal responsibility, professional expertise, long-term strategic focus, and the prioritization of students’ educational needs rather than the needs of specific neighborhoods or political interests,” BMRB wrote. “The home rule petition would reinsert electoral politics directly into the district’s governance.”
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