NPS Budget: What just happened? 

At its heart, this was a disagreement over the best way to secure the financial future of NPS. 

I believe the Mayor felt that the more money she added to the NPS operating budget, the bigger the hole we would have to overcome the following year and beyond. Compounding a budget deficit would lead to a true crisis for our schools and our city—and she, understandably, felt responsible for ensuring we did not go down that path. 

Many others, guided by Chair Brezski's analysis of the funding possibilities, believed that increasing the operating budget this year would not be harmful because there was (and is) a path toward solving the long-term financial issues. I obviously share this view and acknowledge that it will take a lot of work to get there. I also firmly believe that everyone's intentions here were good. I wish I could say the same for the methods.

The six weeks of turmoil were unnecessary and something the community and our educators did not deserve. I don't believe that "quiet conversations" are the way to do this work. An open and transparent NPS and city budgeting process is the only way to ensure citizens understand the trade-offs and trust the leaders guiding the decisions. As we head into an election season, I urge you all to demand that level of transparency in next year's budget process. At every School Committee meeting, I will be reminding everyone that the cost of running NPS for FY26 is 296.5M - this is 3.5M more than the city's allocation because the city has appropriated 3.5M in Free Cash to NPS for operating expenses. It is extremely important that we acknowledge the all-in number as the starting point for FY27 budget discussions. And, the number may well go up mid-year depending on what happens with Kindergarten Aides and with two special education programs.

While I wish the turmoil hadn't been necessary, I hope the community agrees that it was worth the fight. If a majority of the School Committee had not voted to approve the Superintendent's budget on April 2nd, I don't think we'd have ended up where we are today - with a budget that does not lay off additional classroom teachers and that does not significantly impact student experiences. We also wouldn't be here without the incredible support and engagement from so many City Councilors, due in great part to the family, educator, and community pressure to find a way to fund our schools.

I also want to highlight a great idea surfaced by Jason Bhardwaj (candidate for Ward 3 SC) as we attempted to come up with creative ways to find a solution. Jason suggested reviewing last year's invoices to see if there were some "one-time" expenses lurking in the charter maintenance line items (charter maintenance is basically all of our building/facilities maintenance). Finding "one-time" expenses matters because they may qualify for Free Cash appropriations from the city. We were able to review the entirety of the charter maintenance line items, and with a little research (did you know that we installed a super cool new UV system in the Newton North pool that kills microorganisms and chlorine by-products, making for a safer swim?), found that upwards of 40% of last year's maintenance items fell under the "one-time" definition the Mayor uses for Free Cash appropriations.. If you apply that 40% to the FY26 budget, it's an argument for an additional 1.5M in Free Cash to be appropriated to the NPS maintenance line for next year. This is just one example of the behind-the-scenes work that was going on, and it's also an example of community members working with SC and with NPS admin toward a specific solution. We should do more of this—across the many challenges we face as a district. If you see Jason, give him a high five.

This budget season was rough, but we have learned a few important things: Advocacy matters. Building trust and understanding matters. Digging in together to find solutions matters. I hope that next year we can add: Transparency matters. True investment in the education of our children matters.

I am always a sucker for a James Baldwin quotation and this one really sums it up: "For these are all our children, we will all profit by or pay for what they become."