March 27 and April 1 meetings addressed IT, Food Service, and School Choice program.
The School Committee held a special budget meeting on Wednesday March 27 to focus on the Fiscal Year 2025 proposed Newton Public Schools (NPS) budget for non-instructional areas such as technology, transportation, and human resources. This followed previous budget meetings on March 20 and March 25 that focused on in-classroom components of the proposed budget. Of the $35.5 million requested in FY 2025 for non-instructional expenses, the largest cost components are $6.9 million (net of state reimbursements) for out-of-district tuition for 135 students, both for residential and day school programs (see page 160 of the proposed budget), and $8.8 million for transportation, including $5.2 million for special needs transportation. However, the School Committee discussion and comments following the budget presentation did not address these cost drivers. The March 27th meeting video is available on NewTV.
The April 1 School Committee meeting was comprised of a public hearing regarding the budget, followed by a regularly scheduled meeting. In sharp contrast to prior years, when numerous advocates made public comments to rescue programs being cut, in this meeting (in a year in which no budget-related cuts were made to existing programs) there were only two commenters. The first asked for more information about the budgeting process, and the second shared her family’s personal experience while speaking in favor of Harbor-High School. Following both comments, the Committee voted to conclude the public budget hearing.
The next special budget meeting and straw poll budget vote is scheduled for Thursday April 4, with a final vote on the FY 2025 budget anticipated on April 9. Following a suggestion by Paul Levy (Ward 6), Chair Chris Brezski (Ward 2) left open the possibility of a final budget vote also on April 4, given the generally amicable nature of the budget discussions.
The regular meeting began with three additional public commenters, two of whom reiterated generally pro-union/anti-School Committee and anti-Mayor sentiments they had made in prior meetings. Following a brief Superintendent’s update, Amy Mistrot, NPS Director of Business Operations, reviewed her recommendation for NPS to contract with a new food services vendor in FY 2025: Chartwells. Ms Mistrot’s memorandum contains the form of RFP utilized, the competing vendors, including NPS’ current food vendor (Whitson’s), and the criteria by which Chartwells was selected. Ms Mistrot stated that Chartwells “understood Newton’s desire to elevate our program to be an exemplar Food Services program in the state of Massachusetts.”
The meeting then turned to the latest discussion regarding whether Newton should become active in the state Inter-District School Choice Program. This program would allow a certain number of K-12 students not living in Newton to attend Newton Public Schools, with the number of open seats determined each year by NPS. Similar to meetings on January 8 and February 8 when School Choice was discussed, there remained divisions on the Committee. Rajeev Parlikar (Ward 1), Tamika Olzsewski (Ward 4), Emily Prenner (Ward 5, Vice Chair), and Mayor Fuller all expressed concerns ranging from unknown costs, using students as budgetary tools, and the modest $5,000 per-child state reimbursement. Anping Shen (Ward 3), Paul Levy (Ward 6), and Barry Greenstein (Ward 8) made statements in favor, with Chris Brezski and Amy Davenport (Ward 7) appearing undecided. A public hearing on implementing School Choice for the next school year is scheduled for April 23, with a final vote on May 6. The April 1st meeting video is available on NewTV.
Ed. note: We revised this article to clarify that no budget cuts were made this year to existing programs.
NOTE: We have updated our March 26 article, School Committee budget meetings reflect stability, as indicated in that article, to reflect additional context to provided by Newton Public Schools.