A resolution seeking expansion of the mayor’s free museum initiative to all Boston schoolchildren was defeated by the City Council, effectively shutting down a more than three-month push by two councilors that often led to disagreement.
The Boston City Council voted, 6-2, with three councilors voting present and two absent, on a resolution filed in February by Erin Murphy and Ed Flynn that sought expansion of the mayor’s “BPS Sundays” pilot program — thereby defeating the measure by falling one vote shy of the seven votes needed for majority approval.
Murphy and Flynn vowed Thursday to keep advocating for expansion of the initiative, which waives admission fees at six cultural institutions for Boston Public School students and up to three family members on the first two Sundays of each month through at least August, saying that thousands of city children who attend charter and private schools, along with METCO students, are unfairly excluded.
“It can cost over $100 easily for admission alone so the high cost prohibits many from these cultural experiences,” Murphy told the Herald. “Expanding this opportunity to include all our children in Boston is a priority for me and I will work hard to make that happen.”
Murphy said she plans to file a new hearing order seeking further discussion around expansion of the program, and another 17F, or a request for information from the mayor’s office seeking data on how many BPS families participated in the $1 million pilot program and whether it most benefited low-income families.
She called for the matter to be brought before the City Council near the end of Wednesday’s meeting with a “green sheets” pull that, per the body’s rules, was allowed since 90 days had passed since the measure was filed.
Murphy and Flynn saw their push to bypass a hearing and seek a favorable vote on Feb. 28 blocked by Councilor Sharon Durkan, a former employee of Mayor Michelle Wu who received her endorsement in last fall’s election, which automatically sent it to committee.
Another Wu-backed councilor and former employee of the mayor Henry Santana, who chairs the Education committee, canceled a hearing on the resolution in March and had not scheduled a new one, citing a desire to wait until final data was available after the pilot phase.
Durkan also voted ‘no’ on Murphy’s request to bring the matter up for discussion and approval on Wednesday, which, per Council rules, needed seven votes since Murphy was a member seeking the action, rather than Santana as committee chair.
Murphy and Flynn’s advocacy for low-income families, primarily those of color, who attend schools excluded by the mayor’s pilot initiative, received support from four of their colleagues, Tania Fernandes Anderson, John FitzGerald, Enrique Pepén and Brian Worrell, the latter of whom spoke about his own experience as a METCO student in high school.
Pepén, another former Wu employee who received her endorsement, said he saw an avenue to expand the program, but also defended the mayor’s intentions, saying that she may have wanted to include all city schoolchildren, but was limited by what the participating museums could afford.
Voting against the resolution were Councilors Benjamin Weber, whose children attend BPS and have taken advantage of the free museum initiative, and Durkan.
Weber spoke of the many families who chose to take their children out of BPS and put them in parochial and charter schools because of the greater resources provided there, and how he didn’t see a problem with the mayor putting forward an initiative for BPS students, who he said have the least amount of resources.
Fernandes Anderson said she didn’t see the matter as a “zero-sum game,” saying there was no way to determine whether families of children who attend non-BPS schools were more or less privileged than public school families.
Durkan said the program was still in its infancy, and therefore, a lot more work needed to be done to ensure that it could be expanded.
Voting present were Councilors Santana, City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune and Liz Breadon. Julia Mejia and Gabriela Coletta Zapata were not in the room when the vote was taken.
BPS Sundays has been paid for by $300,000 apiece in ARPA funds and donations from Amazon and other for-profit businesses, with the rest coming from philanthropic individuals and organizations.
Wu previously told the Herald there is not funding to expand the program to more students during the pilot period, and the exclusion was not politically motivated.
Flynn, like Murphy, vowed to keep fighting.
“Every Boston family should have the opportunity to visit, learn and experience the wonderful museums and cultural institutions in our city,” Flynn told the Herald. “Boston is a city where no one should be left out or overlooked.”
