Deep, painful cuts are coming to NPS next year once again. To avoid them, different solutions have been presented to Mayor Laredo, from free cash to establishing a special education stabilization fund, to considering school choice. All were swiftly shut down without discussion.
No alternative is more evident, viable, and prudent than using the Education Stabilization Fund (ESF) and its healthy earnings. Created in 2024, the $22 million fund is meant to bridge the NPS funding gap until Newton can reduce annual pension fund and OPEB payments. The drawdown schedule will exhaust the fund in FY2030.
The use of ESF for its intended purpose does not affect any other City service, and therefore does not present the false choice of funding our schools instead of our police or road repair.
Mayor Laredo is very close to achieving the historic feat of restructuring the City’s OPEB payments and turning around NPS’s cycle of funding shortfalls. Yet we are stumbling today over a few hundred thousand dollars, considering cutting roles that speak to our core values. NPS is about to walk away from DEI, environmental sustainability, behavioral aide supervision, and mental health coordination for the Covid cohort moving through middle and high school.
Eliminating these roles is neither frugal nor judicious and is not supportive of the Superintendent’s “thrive” plan.
The Mayor should take the final collaborative step: Increase the allocation to save these critical roles and secure a complete win for our most vulnerable students and our city.
Amelia Oliver
Newtonville
