Boston students stage walk-out to protest budget cuts, school closures

BOSTON — Students at Boston's public schools are staging their second walkout of the year to protest education budget cuts.

More than 1,000 students planned to join a march to City Hall to demonstrate their displeasure with cuts to high schools. Thousands of Boston students staged a similar protest in March.

School administrators were urging students to stay in class because standardized mathematics tests were being administered.

City Council member Tito Jackson said he invited students to attend a council hearing. Jackson has been pressing Walsh to increase next year's school budget by $30 million to keep pace with rising costs.

"This is taking civics to the street. And they're listening to one another. They're passing information along. We should be proud as adults that young people are standing up for something. And something real like education,” Jackson said.

>> Scroll down for full statement from Boston Public Schools

FOX25 spoke with Mayor Marty Walsh Monday, who said the students were being given bad advice.

"[The] thing that bothers me is behind the kids walking out are some adults," Mayor Walsh said. "I wish they wouldn't put kids in harm's way."

Walsh called Tuesday's walkout "inappropriate" and defended his administration's funding of public schools.

Walsh said he's reduced the budget deficit from $30 million to $5 million, but City Councilor Jackson says there's still a $32 million hole that needs to be filled.

In March, thousands of students from Boston's public schools marched out of class to protest budget cuts.  Earlier this month, students, parents and teachers protested before the start of class at four different Boston schools to protest the amount of money being spent on charter schools in the district. 

Statement from Boston Public Schools:

Boston Public Schools (BPS) believes in the importance of student voice and advocacy on issues that matter most to them and the school community, and invites students and families to attend a public forum on Tuesday, June 7, at 6:00 p.m., in the School Committee Room of the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, to discuss issues that have been raised by students. BPS is continuing to work with the BPS Student Advisory Council and other student leaders to build forums into the academic calendar to ensure additional engagement opportunities in school regarding the budget.

BPS strongly discourages students from missing instructional time in the classroom. Students who participate in a planned walkout on Tuesday, May 17, will be marked absent for any missed classes, and families will receive automated phone messages informing them of any absences. The date of this walkout is particularly concerning because it is the first scheduled day for grade 10 MCAS testing in math, which is a graduation requirement.

Cox Media Group