The City of Newton indicated a $314.5 million allocation for the Newton Public Schools (NPS) fiscal year 2027 (FY27) budget, anticipating a $2.8 million gap from NPS Superintendent Anna Nolin’s recommendation of $317.3 million.
While this is an improvement from the previous contentious school committee budget, residents and NPS members still expect more.
The Newton School Committee and NPS have been reviewing the budget for FY27 throughout March, meeting three times from March 2–16 and holding public comment on March 18.
“We all had a lot of energy, both to learn and to communicate more clearly to the Newton citizen taxpayer what we are actually spending each year,” said Nolin.
Newton Mayor Marc Laredo repeatedly made it clear that, despite the gap between the allocation and the superintendent’s recommendation, the portion allocated by the city would remain the same.
“I just have to be very clear with my colleagues, and I want to be very clear with the public: the allocation is the allocation,” Laredo said. “It is not going to change, so this committee and the department will have to budget for that allocation.”
Ward 7 Commissioner and Chair Alicia Piedalue ended the committee’s March 16 meeting, explaining that the committee will have to work with Nolin in order to understand what her priorities are if cuts need to be made to bridge the allocation gap.
“I think it’s time to go back into problem-solving mode, put our thinking caps on, and to that end, I think an additional request, Dr. Nolin, should the committee need to direct you to make additional cuts … we’d like to understand what your priorities there would be,” Piedalue said.
In the March 18 public comment meeting, Newton citizens expressed their frustration with Laredo’s inflexibility with the city’s allocation.
Newton resident Enrique Rosero said he didn’t understand the purpose of these budget discussions if the city would remain firm on its allocation either way.
“The allocation is the allocation,” Rosero said. “I’ve heard that at least twice at every budget presentation, repeated with the arrogance of determinism. So what’s the point of holding hearings or even having this committee discuss the needs of our district if the amount was set long ago at the mayor’s office?”
Newton resident Lindsay Golden expressed similar concerns, saying that while she would love to see the committee push back against the mayor’s allocation, she hopes that, at the bare minimum, they are transparent with the community.
“Just because Mr. Laredo says the allocation is the allocation does not mean you cannot do what is right and stand up for what your superintendent is telling you she needs,” Golden said. “The community is depending on you to do what you said you would do, which was to be independent advocates of the schools. Mr. Laredo is one member of the school committee—all of you have the responsibility to stand up to him.”
In response, Laredo clarified that there are reasons for the allocation amount, stressing the time and thought that went into the amount being determined.
“We have given this tremendous thought for a long period of time,” Laredo said. “We came in with the allocation with a very clear understanding of what the schools’ needs were, what we could do, and that we were going to break this cycle of, frankly, playing games—I don’t believe in that.”
Newton resident Tyler Vazquez then criticized Laredo’s stubbornness on the allocation, emphasizing that he believes there should be a way to work collaboratively to find solutions to bridge the funding gap.
“No one person is going to know the nuance of every single issue we have to solve,” Vazquez said. “And I don’t think we can just shut down and say this is the way it is, work with it…I don’t know what the point of any of this is if it’s not going to be a collaborative process.”
The school committee has yet to make a final decision on the budget, and will meet next on Monday, March 23, to take a straw vote.
