Committee raised NPS activity fees, facility fees, and non-union pay rates.
In the regular January 13 School Committee meeting, the agenda focused on primarily non-academic topics such as the district’s facilities BERDO compliance, facility fees, hourly rates for certain non-union employees, an update on long term facilities planning, and newly proposed restrictions on Parent Teacher Organizations and Booster clubs.
Assistant Superintendent Liam Hurley presented a 12-page memorandum to the Committee recommending that in Fiscal Year 2026 (the September 2025 – June 2026 school year) fees charged to users for various Newton Public Schools (NPS) ancillary and building services would be increased. These services include items such as student busing, certain extra-curricular student activities such as drama and orchestra, athletics, student parking spaces, and third-party rentals of NPS facilities. These fees generated $4.47 million of revenue for NPS in FY 2024, and the increases are forecast to generate an additional $289,000 in FY 2026. The increases were approved by the School Committee in a 6-1 vote, with Emily Prenner (Ward 5) voting No.
The School Committee also approved increases to the compensation rates paid to non-aligned workers who are not party to collective bargaining agreements. These workers include substitutes, Newton Community Education (NCE) instructors, and Extended School Year (ESY) summer teachers and specialists. The rate increases were approved by all Committee members present, with the exception of Mayor Fuller, who abstained. Mr. Hurley estimated the cost to the district of these rate increases at approximately $300,000. The agenda items for both the fee increase and the compensation increase were continuations of Committee discussions initiated prior to the new year.
Next, the Committee discussed but did not vote on significant proposed compliance changes to NPS “Booster and Support Organizations,” which during the meeting was explained to include Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs). The changes were summarized in a memorandum from Mr. Hurley to the Committee, and they include adoption of new guidelines. These organizations would further be required to be “recognized” by the Superintendent on a regular basis, and to submit annually all planned fundraising activities for approval by NPS.
However, the memorandum, guidelines, and ensuing discussion uncovered lack of clarity within the proposed changes. The memorandum states that any fundraising activities must not conflict with NPS’s “educational strategic plan, goals, and activities,” but NPS is still composing its strategic plan and has stated that is a multi-year process. The guidelines appear to conflate the activities and operations of PTOs and athletic Booster organizations, which are distinct from one another. Further, the guidelines do not appear to contemplate that large portions of PTO fundraising are not earmarked for specific expenditures, nor for donations to the district. PTO and Booster organizations are organized as independent 501(c)(3) entities, and procedures for disagreement between NPS and these organizations were not in the guidelines. Fig City News requested clarification from NPS regarding the intent of the draft guidelines.
Several Committee members expressed uncertainty regarding the proposals, particularly Rajeev Parlikar (Ward 1), who presented several hypothetical situations. Superintendent Anna Nolin stated that the PTO Council had requested written guidelines codifying the best practices that Dr. Nolin had discussed with them over the past year, and said these draft changes were previewed for the PTO Council prior to the new year. However, the PTO Council has no formal relationship with individual school PTOs, which are independent entities, and during the meeting the Superintendent alluded to several PTO boards not yet being aware of the proposed policy changes.
The discussion ended with expectation of a possible vote at the next Committee meeting, and a request by Committee members to the Superintendent to provide more detail regarding incidents over the past year at specific Booster and Support Organizations that led to this policy recommendation. The meeting concluded with an update on further restricting middle school cell phone use by students, with expected implementation of Yondr pouches at all middle schools by January 27.
The meeting replay is available on NewTV.