Murphy hopes to facilitate greater communication and transparency with the public on staff union contracts if elected. (Photo Courtesy of Jim Murphy)
With nearly 40 years of experience in education, Jim Murphy aims to give educators a stronger voice in Newton’s policymaking by running for a seat on the Newton School Committee (NSC).
“I’ve spent an entire career encouraging students that it’s important to stay involved in their community,” said Murphy.
It appears Murphy is now taking his own advice.
Murphy said the idea of running had been in the back of his mind for over a decade. During his goodbye speech to the Parent Educator Council in Newton, when he was a member, he suggested that he wanted to run for the NSC.
“I found myself approached by a couple of parents to do just that,” Murphy said.
Motivated by the issues related to the 2024 Newton Teachers Association (NTA) strike and continued budget strains on Newton schools, Murphy decided to throw his hat in the ring.
“I would say the strike and the budget are probably the two things that were most immediately responsible for my getting involved,” Murphy said.
The 11-day strike was the longest in the city’s history and deepened Murphy’s suspicion of Newton Public School leadership and their ability to negotiate with staff unions.
“It became pretty clear to me, you know, that the problem was a school committee that was not negotiating in good faith, ” Murphy said.
Murphy hopes to facilitate greater communication and transparency with the public on union contracts if elected.
“There has to be communication,” said Murphy. “It has to be ongoing.”
Murphy’s plan to achieve further transparency ties into another reason for his campaign: filling the school committee with more educators. Murphy believes the lack of people with teaching experience impedes a school committee’s ability to function at its best.
“I think the school committee needs more educators—people who know what it’s like to stand in front of a classroom and see how policy plays out with real students,” Murphy said.
Murphy also promised that his being endorsed by the NTA would not create bias when negotiating with them—something that his opponent, Victor Lee, disagrees with.
“In my race… I am the only candidate who can say that I have no conflict of interest or affiliation (past or present) with either the NTA or MTA [Massachusetts Teachers Association] unions,” Lee wrote on his website.
Murphy said accusing him of bias doesn’t make sense, given his current position in Newton.
“It kind of ignores that I’m a retiree on a fixed income,” Murphy said.
National issues also play into Murphy’s campaign, as he is committed to reviving an idea of civic education he believes has been lost in America’s public education system.
“We have really pushed America the idea that, you know, going to school and getting an education is a very individual thing, and schools’ job is to train people, equip them for the marketplace,” said Murphy.
Instead, Murphy wants to reinvest in teaching children the value of helping others in the community and being an active citizen in a democratic nation.
“Schools are the first and most important place where a kid learns what it is to live and be part of a community outside of one’s family,” Murphy said.
Built around his belief that someone who has helped teach in and run schools would be best suited to create policy and mend relationships, Murphy’s campaign, he emphasizes, is not about him.
“This isn’t about ambition,” Murphy said. “It’s about service.”
Update (10/23/2025, 6:45 p.m.): This article was updated to reflect that Lee believes Murphy’s NTA endorsement—not his career as an educator—is a conflict of interest.