NTA EBulletin: April 6, 2025

NPS Budget

On Wednesday, April 2nd, the Newton School Committee voted 6 to 3 to approve the "Level Services Plus" budget recommended by Superintendent Nolin, which requires $3.7 more in funding than Mayor Fuller has proposed allocating to the schools. This is a bold move. The mayor effectively gave them a choice: Take it or leave it. They chose to leave it, to refuse to be backed into a corner.  

To be clear, they voted for a budget that meets the district's minimal needs. The budget passed is not a "aspirational budget." It is a "tread water" budget to keep conditions in the schools from deteriorating more than they already have. In fact, the budget passed still underfunds the schools. This budget:

• does not include funding for kindergarten aides. 

• cuts the Teaching and Learning department by approximately $500k

• cuts the METCO program by $100k

• cuts 10 elementary classroom teachers.

The additional $3.7 million in cuts Mayor Fuller is demanding would go much, much deeper. In fact, Superintendent Nolin's team has not yet fully determined where all of those cuts would hit. But she projects that, among other cuts, there would be a reduction of 5 more elementary classroom teachers and the elimination of SEL interventionists.

Some of the cuts she projects, to be frank, I don't even know to be possible. How do you cut 10 Special Education Aides, when these are required by IEPs? How do you cut MCAS stipends for those who coordinate MCAS administration, when these are required by contract, and the MCAS must be administered by law?

That said, Nolin is between a rock and a hard place: Does she go back to +30 math and science classes in the high schools? Does she increase team sizes to 100 in the middle schools? How big can she make elementary classrooms with student needs so acute?

This is why the six school committee members' refusal to vote for more cuts is so important.

Voting for the superintendent's Level Services Plus budget were:

• Rajeev Parliker, Ward 1

• Chris Brezski, Ward 2

• An Ping Shen, Ward 3

• Emily Prenner, Ward 5

• Alicia Piedalue Ward 7

• Barry Greenstein, Ward 8

Voting against the budget were:

• Tamika Olszewski, Ward 4

• Paul Levy, Ward 6

• Ruthanne Fuller, Mayor

The three School Committee members who voted against the budget argued that the Newton School Committee must approve a budget that fits within the Mayor's allocation, in spite of the fact that this would entail $3.7 million more in cuts.

It is notable that Olszewski and Levy, along with Mayor Fuller, have chosen austerity over necessary investments in the Newton Public Schools during the previous three budget cycles.

Moreover, Olszewski, Levy, and Fuller (along with former committee member Kathy Shields) were the core members of the committee that forced the NTA into protracted contract negotiations, and, eventually, a strike. While I understand that it may not be helpful to look back and point the finger, in this case, it is essential: Fuller, Olszewski and Levy continue to impose upon the schools the same austerity policies that have ravaged the Newton Public Schools and last year landed NTA members and Newton residents in the longest strike in Massachusetts' recent history. 

They should know by now that gutting education in the name of "fiscal restraint" is not sound stewardship of the City of Newton nor the Newton Public Schools. 

What are the implications and consequences of this vote?

The Good: Superintendent Nolin forcefully argued that the NPS could not tolerate yet another round of debilitating budget cuts. Every PTO in Newton opposed the cuts, and the Newton PTO council co-presidents spoke out against the cuts at the school committee meeting. The parent community is becoming actively engaged in opposing the cuts. When these six school committee members voted for the Superintendent's budget, they bought time to continue their negotiations with the mayor, and for the Newton school community to organize and advocate. This is a profound change in how Newton politics are conducted.

The Bad: In the end, Mayor Fuller will have the last word. The school committee will eventually have to pass a balanced school budget, and Fuller unilaterally decides how much the city will allocate to that budget. That must happen sometime before the end of May or early June. 

The Ugly: There could be a long period of uncertainly for Newton educators, parents and students. Educators will not know who among them may be laid off. There is the possibility that, because of this period of uncertainty, some Newton educators will seek employment in other districts where staffing levels are more stable. The entire school community may not know what supports and staffing will be in place for students until June, maybe longer if some employees resign near the end of the school year. 

Health Insurance

Mayor Fuller dropped a bomb during the school committee meeting on Wednesday, informing the committee that the week before, City of Newton CFO Maureen Limieux, working with the city's health insurance consultant, had determined that health insurance premiums would go up 11.2% rather than the 7.8% they had originally estimated. The original estimate was relatively low by statewide standards, below the increases municipalities and their employees are facing statewide. 11.2% is in line with increases across the state. Nonetheless, coming on top of the over 13% increase in premium costs this year, with this increase, next year our health insurance premiums will have gone up 25% in just two years. 

In solidarity, 

Mike Zilles, President

Newton Teachers Association