Boston School Committee considering request to seek state funds for Madison Park project Wednesday
The city's sole vocational high school could be one step closer to a proposed $700 million rebuild, as the Boston School Committee is considering a request to seek state funds to help support paying for the Roxbury project.
Both the School Committee and the City Council will have to sign off on the proposed request for funding from the Massachusetts School Building Authority, administrators said Wednesday.
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'It is maybe the most important investment that we could be making, because we know that investing in Madison Park doesn't only benefit our students, but it benefits our entire region, and our city,' Superintendent Mary Skipper told the School Committee Wednesday.
The City Council is expected to hold a hearing on the proposed state
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If the city sends the funding submission this spring, it could hear back from the state by year's end, administrators said.
The estimated cost for the Madison Park Technical Vocational High School project, if it moved forward, would be the most expensive school project in state history.
The proposed new school would be more than a half-million square feet, and serve 2,200 students. That would include about 800 students enrolled in newly added Grades 7 and 8. The campus would feature new facilities and include an auditorium, performing arts spaces, and a media center.
That would double the size of Madison Park, which has a current enrollment of 1,121. More than half of its students are Latino or Hispanic, and 41 percent of its students are Black, according to BPS data. Most of the school's students are from low-income backgrounds, according to the district.
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The move to seek state assistance was a reversal for Mayor Michelle Wu, who had originally proposed the city pay for construction itself, and have work begin this year.
By seeking state funds, the project isn't expected to begin for a few more years. But it also frees up district money for work on other buildings, officials said.
But several School Committee members raised concerns about the future of the project if the state doesn't provide financial assistance , including committee member Chantal Lima Barbosa.
She asked administrators to come up with a plan soon in case the state doesn't approve funding, and cuts are needed to reduce the project's cost.
'In the event that we don't get the money, the support from MSBA, what are we going to have to cut in terms of programming?' Lima Barbosa said. 'I think it's important to know now. It shouldn't be a conversation in (the) spring of 2026.'
New name proposed for merger of two Roslindale schools
School officials proposed naming the merged Philbrick and Sumner schools as the Sarah Roberts Elementary School, honoring a Boston 5-year-old who was at the center of the
The School Committee approved the merger of the
The Philbrick and Sumner schools will be moving into the renovated Washington Irving Elementary School building beginning September 2025, according to school administrators. The two school communities include large populations of Latinx and Haitian Creole families, officials said.
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The name, Sarah Roberts Elementary School, 'symbolizes the fight for educational justice in Boston and connects both school communities together,' administrators said in filings submitted to the School Committee.
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In 1847, Roberts' father Benjamin Roberts applied for his daughter to attend a white school close to their home, according to a School Committee memo. School administrators denied the request on the basis that Roberts could attend the local school for Black children instead, according to BPS.
The School Committee is expected to vote on the school name at a future meeting.
Without MCAS, School Committee OK's new graduation requirements for 2025
The School Committee voted unanimously on new graduation requirements in the city for 2025.
The change was needed after voters across
Each school district is required to develop new competency requirements, Skipper said.
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Under the plan approved by committee members, Boston Public Schools students can show competency with a passing grade in identified
Previous Globe coverage was used in this report.
John Hilliard can be reached at
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