Mayor Wu Delivers First Ever State of Schools Address

BOSTON – Tuesday, October 28, 2025 – This evening Mayor Michelle Wu delivered the first ever State of the Schools address to showcase the Boston Public School’s progress under the leadership of Superintendent Mary Skipper. Mayor Wu made a call to action for every sector of the city to invest in Boston’s success by stepping up for our families and our future. Mayor Wu’s goal is to connect every resource in the city to create opportunity, support, and accountability for every student to thrive.

Under Superintendent Skipper’s leadership, BPS has made substantial progress for our students. This includes implementing the inclusive education plan, expanding Boston Pre-K, driving down chronic absenteeism across every grade level and student group, launching 16 new bilingual education programs, expanding early college and career pathways, and carrying out the long term facilities plan.

During the speech, Mayor Wu announced a citywide goal to provide quality, enriching before- and after-school programming at every BPS school. The district is starting with new afterschool programs at each of the 20 community hub schools, in partnership with the BTU, YMCA, United Way, and the Lubin Family Foundation. Ensuring every school has before and after programming is critical for working parents to guarantee there is no gap in care between the end of the student’s school day and the end of the parent’s work day. Currently, 83% of schools offer before or after school programs.

Additionally, building on an announcement from the 2025 State of the City Address, Mayor Wu tonight announced the launch of Wicked Math, a new partnership with EdVestors, The Young People’s Project, and The Calculus Project to start advanced math clubs, strengthen math pathways, and train juniors and seniors to tutor middle school students. Wicked Math aims to address the shortage of opportunities for Boston Public School students who enjoy math or have demonstrated a high aptitude for it by providing opportunities for them to engage with math inside and outside of the classroom. These programs launched this school year.

Wicked Math is currently offered across 20 schools in three ways:

• Math Clubs led by teachers provides students with the opportunity to participate in math league and math olympiad competitions while refining their math skills.
• Young People’s Project (YPP) builds a culture of math and mentoring throughout a school community by hiring juniors and seniors to tutor 7th & 8th graders.
• The Calculus Project uses research-supported strategies to increase the representation and success of minority and low-income students in advanced mathematics.

Telescope Network will work with The Young People Project, and The Calculus Project to provide a professional development learning lab for teachers to support expansion of this programming.

Lastly, Mayor Wu announced the expansion of Great Starts, allowing parents and families to register online for Boston Public Schools in 10 languages for the first time ever. With Great Starts, families no longer need to visit a BPS Welcome Center. Great Starts is a citywide enrollment platform co-created by the Office of Early Childhood and Boston Public Schools in partnership with a number of state agencies and community-based partners. This platform offers families a streamlined, simplified dashboard of their school options in the City of Boston, including childcare, preschool, and Boston Public Schools. Through Great Starts, families can explore programs based on what matters most to their family: the size of the program/school, location, hours that match your work schedule, and the activities that will help your child thrive.

Mayor Wu’s first ever State of the Schools address showcased progress made by the district, while emphasizing there is more work to be done. In a moment when public education is being undermined by the federal administration, Mayor Wu is focused on making the oldest public school district in the country the first choice for families in Boston.

The remarks as prepared can be found here.