The Newton School Committee (NSC) met Monday to update the community on the district’s budget mandates, staff cuts that will increase responsibilities for remaining employees, and ongoing structural deficits.
“The current situation of our budget landscape is that we have been given a historic increase in our base allocation, and that gives us $17.1 million to work with,” said Newton Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Anna Nolin. “$12 million of which will go to mandated salary increases, $4.4 million to health care.”
Nolin emphasized that, although the budget allocation increased, the mandates leave the district with only about $700,000 for all other operations.
“That means that we have to make—at a minimum—$2.8 million of reductions,” Nolin said.
The reductions come after Newton Mayor Marc Laredo’s refusal to allocate an additional $2.8 million for the fiscal year 2027 (FY27) Newton Public Schools’ budget.
Nolin also factored in an additional $1 million for academic program improvements currently under consideration, which would increase the reduction needed. She expressed concern over the sustainability of these programs.
“I’m worried we’re going to be sitting here next year talking about whether we can keep the math program going or the elementary program,” Nolin said.
Because there was a collective desire to protect the direct student experience, budget reductions have targeted central office roles instead, Nolin explained.
“All of these different directors and leaders and the folks who also serve under them, including secretaries or custodians, all made the list,” Nolin said. “In terms of the number, that is quite large, $2.7 million worth of reductions. That’s a lot of individuals.”
Nolin acknowledged that these reductions will change the distribution of work among employees.
“Things are going to go to different people,” Nolin said. “There’s going to be impacts on assistant superintendents, principals, the business office, and myself. There are lots of folks that are going to take on coordination roles for the district.”
Nolin raised the possibility of Newton becoming part of the state’s Inter-District School Choice program, which would allow students in other districts to attend Newton Public Schools.
“I have to raise the specter of becoming a school choice district again so that we can bring in revenue on a regular basis and try to stabilize ourselves and get out of this situation we’re in,” Nolin said.
Converting to a school choice district would not only help alleviate the budget reductions they hope to make but also help fund mandates they have not been able to meet, Nolin explained.
“I feel that we are at a place where we have to ask for new revenue sources because we are out of options with our old revenue sources,” said Nolin.
Nolin and the committee face a series of “impossible choices,” and she explained that protecting the student experience is the number one priority, and hard decisions are going to be made in the process.
“Every single decision here that we are faced with is just an impossible choice of what can be cut when any number of groups say that what is up for consideration is core to them, and core to our mission,” Nolin said.
