Matt Ruggiero for BTU

BTU Unafraid Week of Action

There are many ways to take action this week in support of our immigrant students, families, and communities.

Thank you to everyone working every day to make their schools safer, more human, places for learning and community.

https://btu.org/boston-teachers-union-hosts-unafraid-educators-immigrant-pride-week-of-action/

Thank you to all our BTU and AFT delegates.

We're on at least a 2-yr streak of conventions landing on beautiful spring days.

I would encourage anyone following the Boston Public Schools budget to check our analysis. Summary and recommendations on the page, as well as a link to the whole report.

At a time when there are daily headlines about falling revenues and rising costs for public services, we have to challenge the logic of austerity and ask, who bears the brunt of cuts? What kind of city we want to be? And how do we show that in who and what we invest in?

"The City of Boston must decide whether the transition to RSF will be financed primarily through reductions in student-facing staff or through broader municipal support. Both Mayor Wu and the City Council have the authority and fiscal capacity to mitigate disproportionate reductions in in-school special education, bilingual staffing, and high needs schools. The question in FY27 is how those pressures are managed and whether the transition to a more equity-driven funding formula advances or undermines the district’s stated commitment to equitable, high-quality education for every student."

btu.org

Grateful for Boston's families, students, educators, and communities standing together to call for more for our students and schools.

https://www.mobilize.us/aft/event/920391/

Join AFT Massachusetts as we unite with labor and social action organizations from across the state for No Kings III in Boston!

AFT Massachusetts @ NO KINGS III · AFT Join AFT Massachusetts as we unite with labor and social action organizations from across the state for No Kings III in Boston! Sign up here to receive updates and meet up details about the 12:30pm labor meet up & action before the main No Kings programming begins at 2:00pm. # # # No Kings III Boston:...

Great work and powerful voices highlighted in this month's Boston Union Teacher newspaper:

FINAL-BTU March 2026 for the website.pdf

Boston Educators, students, and families are standing together to call on the city to maintain its commitments to public education. Join us on Tuesday, March 24th at City Hall!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TWIuk9K6k7NE0wmE4S3Gq6sW-C0F2SIoHD05ARgViM8/edit?tab=t.0

Invest in our students and watch our future bloom! Join students, parents, educators and community members for a Stand Out before the City Council’s budget hearing this Tuesday at 5pm on City Hall plaza. 1% of the city budget would prevent any cuts to vital student services and staff positions!

Taken in part from the initial National Labor for Ceasefire Network statement, which the BTU signed onto in November 2023, an articulation that I find resonant, labor's duty to stand for peace:

"The road to justice cannot be paved by bombs and war. The road to peace cannot be found through warfare....

The rising escalation of war and arms sales doesn’t serve the interests of workers anywhere. In the end, we all want a place to call home and for our children to be safe. Working people around the world want and deserve to live free from the effects of violence, war and militarization....

It’s the labor movement’s turn to make our voices heard... Together, we can stand for peace, justice, and a better future for working people everywhere."

Mark your calendar for March 3rd for a Budget Forum hosted by at the Bruce C. Bolling Building. Come together with fellow families to learn how the latest BPS budget proposal is impacting school communities.

I think a good overview of the state of the Boston Public Schools budget in this month's Boston Union Teacher (along with a number of other great articles).

From Erik:
"As this is being written, Boston schools are facing devastating budget and staff cuts of a kind that haven’t been seen in years. The BTU and its members can and will resist the cuts and push back against a narrative that deprivation and dismantling are necessary. We live in one of the wealthiest cities in one of the wealthiest states in one of the wealthiest nations on earth. We must fund our schools at a level that meets the needs of our students."

BTU February 2026 for the website.pdf

A message for BTU members and anyone interested in (labor) history and public education:

Did you know the BTU and UMass Boston have a collection of public history related to BTU history, including newspaper archives, oral histories, and artifacts? It's a really incredible resource created and curated by union members and archivists.

This project is continuing this spring: What topics do you think should be focused on? Whose voices do you think should be interviewed?

Respond here or send an email to [email protected].

From the site:
The Boston Teachers Union Collection is a joint project of the Boston Teachers Union and UMass Boston. The project is co-directed by retired BTU Secretary-Treasurer Betsy Drinan and UMass Boston Assistant Professor Nick Juravich.

Exploring the Boston Teachers Union Collection – A partnership of the Boston Teachers Union and UMass Boston Welcome Scroll Down Welcome to our site exploring the Boston Teachers Union Collection at UMass Boston! Here, you’ll find resources and digital exhibits on the history of the Boston Teachers Union (BTU), which represents more than 10,000 Boston educators (active & retired), including teachers, nur...

Genuinely so inspired by the educators of Codman Academy and Neighborhood House (and workers everyone) who have taken the brave steps to form a union. They continuing to fight for their first contract, and you can support them here:

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/cacps-families-ask-for-fair-union-contract-for-staff

The staff at Codman Academy rallied in solidarity ahead of contract negotiations with administrators last night as they continue to fight for their first ever collective bargaining agreement. They’ve been fighting for more than a year to secure a contract that guarantees the resources educators need to commit their careers to the Codman community and to the long-term growth and success of their students. Thank you to AFT for the support and thank you to Massachusetts Jobs with Justice! & City Councilor Brian Worrell for standing in solidarity!