After multiple meetings of discussion and debate, on April 6 the School Committee — including Mayor Marc Laredo — approved by unanimous vote one of the two budget proposals put forth by Superintendent Anna Nolin for the next school year (FY 2027). The approved budget of $314.5 million will increase Newton Public Schools (NPS) funding from the City by 5.75% over the current year’s total of direct City funding and one-time cash allocations. Additional FY 2027 funding from non-City sources such as the state, student fees, building rentals, and grants will bring the total expected sources for NPS to $340 million.
The budget includes funding for middle school math interventionists as part of the NPS proposed “Math Pathways” curriculum next year. Although the increase in City allocation was termed “historic” by the voting members as well as by Dr. Nolin, much of the Committee debate and public comments over the prior weeks centered on cuts to the NPS Central Office of administrators, particularly those who provide support and supervision to Newton’s Applied Behavioral Analysts, who work with some of NPS’s highest-need students. Many commenters also advocated for the continuation of full time Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) and [environmental] Sustainability administrators, which will both be reduced in the approved budget, as well as in favor of Math Pathways.
Jonathan Greene (Ward 6) opened the budget topic with a tone-setting nine-minute speech acknowledging the difficulty of some staff seeing their future employment play out in public hearings, and he thanked the public and students for their engagement. Greene then appeared to address specific public comments by saying:
“to the handful of people who have come to hurl insults at Committee members, chide this Committee for not valuing a particularly important priority to you, or to use the budget process as marketing exercise for a consulting business, that is your right. But I ask that you consider the example you’ve set for our students in an age of painfully dysfunctional national politics and whether there was, in the end, a better way.”
Greene’s reference to a ‘consulting business’ appeared to allude to a public commenter at multiple budget meetings who stated that she owned a DEI consulting firm that, according to her statement at a prior meeting, helps “white women [with] diversity challenges.”
Greene continued by saying that the budget process “should have been an unmitigated win for everyone,” noting the significant increase in funding and – in his view – improved budgeting processes. He then said it didn’t feel that way for many due to rising costs limiting the amount of funds for new initiatives. Greene then defended the Math Pathways curriculum and noted that NPS per-pupil spending is not significantly different from that of neighboring districts. He concluded his remarks by making a motion to approve the proposed Path B budget, and this was seconded by Alicia Piedalue (Chair, Ward 7).
The seconded motion initiated formal debate on Path B, with every Committee member indicating support but with varying degrees of confidence regarding whether this year’s budget consternation and funding gaps will continue into future years, and the degree to which the Math Pathways program will “bend the cost curve” — meaning fewer students in the future will require special remedial support — or reduce racial achievement gaps.
During this debate, Tamika Olszewski (Ward 4), moved to amend the budget motion, seconded by Victor Lee (Ward 8), by mandating that the School Committee reconvene to decide how to allocate any new funds or surpluses that arise during FY 2027. However, this amendment to the budget failed by an 8-1 vote (with only Ms. Olszewski voting Yes) following members’ concerns that it was not consistent with the Superintendent’s authority to manage the spending through the year, and that mid-year spending needs are often driven by circumstances such as incoming student transfers requiring new educators.
An alternate Path A budget, not moved for a vote, would have made the contested staff cuts but not funded the Math Pathways program, nor continued funding for the Calculus Project. A third option, to go back to the drawing board and create new budget choices, was presented but not debated in detail, with Ms. Piedalue stating it would inevitably entail reductions in programs like art, music, theater, and classroom teachers.
Unlike last spring, when the School Committee approved a budget in excess of the City’s proposed allocation – an act described by Ms. Olszewski as the Committee saying “allocation shmallocation” – this year the approved budget matches the allocation. Mayor Laredo remained consistent with his repeated declaration over the past several weeks that “the allocation will not change”, as opposed to prior school years when various “one-time” cash sources were identified as budget supplements. The Committee-approved budget now moves to Newton’s City Council for approval.
Other Agenda Items
Prior to the budget debate and vote, the Committee addressed the following:
- In her regular Superintendent update, Dr. Nolin responded to public comment criticizing the Math Pathways curriculum as a reversion to older methods by stating that NPS was “not re-instating an old program of mathematics.” She then said the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) had asked Newton to present on the Pathways program, which DESE will be endorsing as a model for math education “if fully implemented.”
- Superintendent Nolin reported on NPS’s meeting with approximately 35 local realtors to provide information about NPS to prospective homebuyers. Dr. Nolin stated when the realtors were asked who were were the most likely homebuyers, “the overwhelming answer was elementary families.”
- NPS Chief of Data and Research Katy Hogue presented a private school enrollment report, which showed 22% of school-aged Newton children attending “non-public” schools. This percentage has stayed generally consistent since the 2020-2021 Covid school year, when Newton delayed in-person learning relative to most other school districts; prior to that, the percentage was in the range of 16-18%.
- The Committee conducted a “first read” of the state-required biennial review of the NPS Bullying Prevention and Intervention Policy. NPS General Counsel Jill Murray Grady framed changes to the policy itself as relatively minor “tweaks to language” to comply with evolving state law, but she noted that NPS will be proceeding with a broad Phase 2 community stakeholder review of the procedures that NPS uses to uphold the policy. Both the policy and procedures are expected to go back to the School Committee in the fall following Phase 2.
- The Committee finalized (assuming no further school cancellations this year) the last day of this school year for students to be on Thursday June 25, due to NPS being closed for four snow days earlier this winter. A brief discussion ensued regarding whether snow days in future years should result in vacation weeks being shortened, due to NPS ending late in June the past few years.
The meeting replay can be viewed on NewTV.
