The School Committee meeting scheduled for March 20 will focus on the budget for Newton Public Schools (NPS) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025, which corresponds to the academic year from fall 2024 through spring 2025. The proposed budget totals $286.3 million, which is a 5.17% increase over to the current…
Posts published in “Budgets”
On March 7, the City Council convened as a Committee of the Whole in order to discuss the upcoming budget process with Mayor Ruthanne Fuller. Council President Marc Laredo opened the meeting by explaining that this meeting would take the place of a process in earlier years, in which the…
Following the week of February 12, when Superintendent Anna Nolin, School Committee Chair Chris Brezski, and Mayor Ruthanne Fuller conducted a presentation and discussion for Newton’s City Council regarding next steps for the Newton Public Schools (NPS) after agreeing to the recent contract with the Newton Teachers Association (NTA), the…
The Finance Committee met on Monday and voted to establish an NPS Educational Stabilization Fund and fund it with $22 million (see NewTV video). Chief Finance Officer Maureen Lemieux presented the item to the Finance Committee and explained that the impetus to create the fund began when the City accumulated a…
Newton will contribute $43.5 million to its pension plan in fiscal year 2024, $37 million of which (7.4% of budget) to fund our $300 million pension deficit by FY2032. Pension contributions will grow 6.6% per year, far outpacing growth in revenues. Without adjustment, the budget share going to pension contributions…
On January 31, the School Committee and Newton Teachers Association (NTA) continued to meet, and at the end of the day, each side acknowledged some progress was made and that the remaining gap is primarily financial. Late in the evening, the parties continued to meet as the strike continues. Schools…
Fig City News recently spoke with David Helfman, a Newton resident with significant experience in labor strike negotiations, advising unions on collective bargaining packages, as well as serving as a trustee on pension funds. The notes from this discussion are condensed for this article. FCN: You have a background serving on…
On the morning of January 28, the School Committee and Mayor Ruthanne Fuller each published detailed Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) documents responding to questions about the Teachers Strike and City finances. NPS and SC Frequently Asked Questions, issued by the School Committee, addresses 21 questions in a Google Doc that…
Regarding comments by NTA President Mike Zilles about Mayor Fuller’s designation of federal pandemic funds for Newton Public Schools (NPS), I’d like to clarify the information. Mayor Fuller invested over $28 million of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and CARES funds, approximately 40% of the City’s total, in the…
On Tuesday, January 22, Newton Teachers Association President Mike Zilles sent Fig City News this response to the analysis that former Newton School Committee Chair Matt Hills had provided to Fig City News the previous day.