QUEST on Facebook:
"For most schools, the income level and social connections of high-earning parents seems to be the determining factor. Hence the Eliot School in the North End with a 19.4 percent low- income student body, which had $669,667 in 2018 and the Higginson Lewis in Roxbury with a 90.7 percent low-income student body, which had $17,000 and just $7,024 in 2024. QUEST members are calling on BPS to [publicly] track all school fundraising."
Private donors lift select BPS schools; most lag well behind - Dorchester Reporter
www.dotnews.com
Funding is tight in Boston’s public schools (BPS), with budget cuts forcing layoffs for more than 500 teachers as rising costs, flat revenues, and the loss of federal funding has put a hole in the c...
Article about the City Council on Private Fundraising on Tuesday and a few choice details --
"A budget steering committee for the district in 2023 recommended that officials collect and publish the private revenue schools raise in order to provide a fuller picture of the resources available to each. So far, the city has not taken that step."
Some Boston public schools are magnets for private dollars. Most aren't so lucky
www.wbur.org
Public dollars fund Boston’s public schools. But many communities supplement with private donations — and those dollars aren't spread evenly across the city. Now, a Boston city councilor is callin...0 CommentsComment on Facebook
Here's a recording of today's hearing on Private Fundraising in Boston Public Schools.
Speakers highlighted work done in New York City to increase transparency, the wide range in funds across Boston's schools, and next steps Boston could take in addressing the issue.
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The Boston City Council will hold an online public hearing on Tuesday, September 22 from 2:00-5 pm, to examine transparency, accountability, equity, and oversight related to private fundraising, school-affiliated nonprofit organizations, and privately held funds supporting Boston Public Schools (Docket #0406).
Please add the date to your calendar, and attend remotely if you can. The hearing will stream live at boston.gov/city-council-tv. To testify or to get the Zoom link, email City Council staff contact Meghan Kavanagh at [email protected].
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Say NO to federal vouchers for private schools and sign the petition below.
From the petition site: "The federal "tax credit scholarship" voucher program takes public funds away from public schools and students to subsidize private schools, with little accountability. It was established under Section 70411 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and is part of the federal administration’s attempt to dismantle the federal Department of Education and slash federal funding for public education — negatively impacting public schools and students. Massachusetts has one of the strongest public education systems in the nation because we invest in public schools that serve all students. We should be focused on protecting and strengthening public education, not privatizing it."
Sign the Petition! Tell Governor Healey to Say No to the Federal School Voucher Scheme
actionnetwork.org
The federal "tax credit scholarship" voucher program sends public funds away from public schools and students to subsidize private schools. It was established under Section 70411 of the One Big Beauti...0 CommentsComment on Facebook
Schoolyard News once again going deep — looking at how BPS stacks up on test scores, growth scores. The conclusion: though it gets a really bad rap, BPS performs about average compared to the rest of the state, and far better than the 3 districts run by the state.
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Advocacy for Quality, Equity, and Transparency Within the Boston Public Schools System
Boston City Council hearing on private fundraising within the Boston Public Schools
QUEST has long been concerned about the role of private fundraising in Boston Public Schools and participated in a City Council hearing on the issue on September 22nd.
Speakers highlighted efforts in New York City to increase transparency, the wide variation in fundraising across Boston’s schools, and potential next steps Boston could take to address the issue.
Press release 9/18/26: Boston City Council holds hearing on private fundraising in Boston Public Schools
Press release 4/13/21: BPS parents release analysis of Boston Public School Fundraising Inequities
Schoolyard News, 4/27/21: QUEST documents huge inequities in private donations to BPS schools
Boston school facilities data project
Have you heard rumors that BPS is planning to merge and close schools in the district?
In 2023, Boston Public Schools embarked on a project called Reimagine School Funding, seeking to update its school funding policy in a collaborative way. BPS invited a variety of stakeholders and personnel to work on the project, including a steering committee, a principal working group, a funding policy design working group, and consultants, sixty people in all.
At the end of the yearlong process, a report was written making recommendations and reviewing intended impact. To date, the report has not been released publicly, despite requests. QUEST believes that the work of the Project should be made public and in the interest of transparency, is releasing the report here.
We especially applaud the recommendations of the committee that BPS “collect and make available all revenue information by school, inclusive of philanthropy, fundraising, and other private sources” (page 28), echoing QUEST’s ongoing work on equity in funding and private fundraising in schools.
NOTE: When the Reimagine School Funding project was announced, QUEST asked to bring our historical knowledge and equity perspective to the new plan through a seat on the working group. Our participation was denied.
Current issues QUEST is focused on:
Facilities, Resources and School Closings
Quality education requires a commitment by the school district to the efficient, sustained, and equitable use of resources.
Privatization of Education
Public education, including its physical facilities, is a public good that should be under community control.
Student Assignment
All students should have equitable access to quality school options through a transparent and accessible system of school assignment.
ABOUT QUEST
QUEST (Quality Education for Every Student) is a volunteer grassroots organization of parents with children in Boston Public Schools. Founded in 2012, the group initially came together over concerns about the inequities of proposed changes to the BPS assignment system. We continue to ask how education policies and practices can help to dismantle past oppression, increase opportunity, and provide greater access to quality education for all.
Copyright © 2018 QUEST
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