During March 9-16, the School Committee and NPS convened three public budget meetings to review detailed information from NPS departments regarding their budgetary methodologies and priorities. These meetings continued the dichotomy of the Superintendent, Mayor, and School Committee all acknowledging what they say is an improved budgeting process and working relationship with each other versus previous years, alongside sharp cost inflation causing yet another gap between the funding NPS says is needed versus the amount the City will allocate.
For background, on March 2, NPS made public an anticipated $2.8 million gap between Superintendent Anna Nolin’s recommended $317.3 million “Bridge to Thrive” budget and the City’s $314.5 million indicated allocation. The City’s Fiscal Year 2027 (September 2026 – June 2027 school year) allocation represents a larger year-over-year increase, 5.75%, than the City has allowed in recent previous years. However, inflation of healthcare benefits, out-of-district special education placements, energy costs, and other expenses has prevented NPS from utilizing the higher allocation to implement a large portion of Dr. Nolin’s “Thrive” plan for correcting the NPS educational deficits accrued under prior NPS administrations and School Committees.
The meeting on March 9 began with Superintendent Nolin giving an expanded version of her budget overview presentation from March 2. The revised presentation contained a formal recommendation for the School Committee to approve the $317.3 million budget, but Mayor Laredo reiterated that the indicated $314.5 million allocation “will not change.” The context of the dialog — and Mayor Laredo’s firm affirmations of the City’s position at subsequent meetings — indicated that the Superintendent and School Committee are focusing on getting to a final budget within the $314.5 million allocation. This stands in contrast to last year’s budget turmoil, when the School Committee voted to pass an initial budget in excess of City’s allocation – which was then amended following several adjustments and “one-time” cash allocations, to conform to State requirements for a balanced budget.
Page 55 of the March 9 presentation contains the likely cuts and targeted savings to bridge $317.3 million to $314.5 million, including $1.6 million of Central Office cuts and reallocations, and a reduced assumption for healthcare benefit expenses for FY 2027 from the City’s self-insured health plan for all employees. Dr. Nolin then further described the need for $1 million of additional savings in order to fund math initiatives, including the Pathways math curriculum as well as The Calculus Project. Prior School Committee discussion and NPS community meetings this winter indicated that failure to launch the Pathways program would be a major disappointment for the district and NPS families.
After the Superintendent’s review, Chair Piedalue noted to the Committee that “we have a $1 million gap to solve,” implying the School Committee will consider further reductions in budget categories such as substitute teaching, building maintenance, and potentially elective curriculum such as art and music, in order to fund the math initiatives. These potential further cuts are described on pages 60-61 of the budget presentation.
Following Dr. Nolin’s overview and related Committee discussion, Assistant Superintendent Ayesha Farag presented the elementary schools’ budgetary methodology and priorities, and Assistant Superintendent Gene Rountree did the same for NPS middle and high schools. The March 16 meeting contained similar detailed reviews of the portions of the NPS budget dedicated to Teaching and Learning (the funds used for curriculum), and non-instructional areas such as IT, transportation, and human resources. Each meeting lasted over three hours.
The Committee’s questioning of the various issues raised during the department-level budget presentations included discussions regarding classroom sizes, long-term forecasts of healthcare expense, full-time or part-time MTSS supports, the number of Unit C aides, and student cell-phone policy.
The March 9 and March 16 meetings are available for replay on NewTV.
