The March 17 School Committee budget meeting centered on the Fiscal Year 2026 budget (for academic year Fall 2025 – Spring 2026 ) for IT and non-instructional items, with no public comment period. This follows the Committee’s recent FY 2026 budget meetings on March 10, which focused on elementary education, and on March 12, which focused on middle and high school education.
Unofficial results: Alicia Piedalue wins Ward 7 seat
On March 18, Alicia Piedalue was elected unopposed in a special election to fill the vacant Ward 7 School Committee seat, according to unofficial results. Ms. Piedalue will not be sworn in until April 2, which is expected to be after the School Committee votes on next year’s budget. She told Fig City News that she will continue to attend current meetings in the meantime. Ms. Piedalue further stated:
I am thrilled to be joining the School Committee. There is so much good work to be done – and many challenges to take on. I am deeply grateful to the community members, educators, and families who have taken time to share their NPS experiences and opinions with me during this campaign. I hope that engagement only grows and that we come together to forge the school system our children and community deserve.
— Ward 7 School Committee Representative-Elect Alicia Piedalue
Budgets for information technology and non-instructional areas
For the March 17 budget discussion, NPS Director of Information Technology and Library Services Steven Rattendi and Assistant Superintendent/Chief Financial and Administrative Officer Liam Hurley gave a presentation detailing the expenditures within those areas, including building capital projects, food service, technology, ongoing building maintenance, and human resources, as well as the overall budget architecture.
Notable comments by Committee members about the presentation included:
- Emily Prenner (Ward 5) asking about the future of NPS-provided student computers and if the 1:1 policy will continue
- Tamika Olszewski (Ward 4) requesting more analysis from the Mayor’s office regarding the historical detail of the “one-time” funds and expenses listed on page 22 of that evening’s presentation
- Paul Levy (Ward 6) questioning whether the state Attorney General should investigate lack of competition for school bus transportation
- Anping Shen (Ward 3) and Mayor Fuller engaging in extended discussion with Mr. Hurley regarding how to account for both the amount and timing of state-provided “circuit breaker” funding, and understanding how NPS views rolling forward portions of that funding across fiscal years
Budget gap
Following the department presentations, Committee Chair Chris Brezski (Ward 2) noted that the overall budget situation remain unchanged with a projected deficit of $3.6 – $4.4 million between the Superintendent’s “Level Service+” FY 2026 budget and the currently stated City allocation for NPS funding. Mr. Brezski stated that at the next meeting, on Wednesday, March 19, the Committee would need to debate three fundamental scenarios:
- For the School Committee to approve a budget with reductions to the current NPS proposal
- For the City to increase its allocation ahead of the NPS budget vote
- For the School Committee to knowingly approve an NPS budget in excess of the stated City allocation
Implied in the final scenario, since the approved budget is still in many respects only a forecast of actual revenue and expenses incurred during next year, is that NPS would continuously navigate during FY 2026 the prospects for further funding, while taking risk of mid-year expense cutting including layoffs. Citing pension obligations of the City, Mayor Fuller then reiterated her position that, except for possible small increases during April due to further analysis of the City’s Free Cash, the City allocation could not increase meaningfully further. Mr. Brezksi rebutted to clarify that he did not believe he had suggested the City take actions that would reduce benefits to City pensioners, but that he had previously suggested reducing the rate of growth of City pension contributions in order to free current additional funds for NPS. Mayor Fuller defended her track record of funding NPS, noting during her mayoral term the City has never “cut the budget” of NPS and has increased its allocation every year.
The Committee debate then centered on Mr. Brezski’s proposition that the School Committee could approve an NPS budget in excess of the City allocation. Regarding whether this would put NPS in an untenable position where expenses exceeded funding, Mr. Brezksi stated NPS was “in an unsustainable situation under any circumstances as long as the City’s allocation remains unchanged.”
Follow-up discussion by Rajeev Parlikar (Ward 1) and Mr. Levy centered on whether or not there was a functional difference between:
- Inserting a “plug” on the expense side of the budget for “efficiencies” to be gained during FY 2026 that would nominally lower budgeted expenses to match the current allocation, allowing the School Committee to technically approve a funded budget, and
- Explicitly approving a budget with higher expenses versus allocation.
Mr. Parlikar also suggested that NPS could revise its list of “one-time” budget items that it could use to advocate to City Hall for additional FY 2026 funding, however Dr. Nolin cautioned against the Committee and Mayor thinking that funding a list of one-time expenses would solve structural problems in NPS funding. Dr. Nolin further stated she has observed other School Committees in different municipalities approving budgets above the allocations specified by their local governments.
Complicating the dynamic between the City allocation and an NPS-approved budget is that Mayor Fuller has announced she will not run for re-election this November, and therefore a new Mayor will be sworn in on January 1, 2026, in the middle of the next school year. Complicating even further is that the only currently declared candidate for future Mayor, Marc Laredo, is presently the President of the Newton City Council, and will be voting on the overall City budget later this spring, though the City Council has very limited, if any, ability to change the budget. Mr. Brezski alluded to this dynamic when he stated that NPS interacts with the Mayor’s office “over a 12-month period.”
During the extended discussion, it appeared that Mr. Parlikar (who previously had spoken about assuming expense efficiencies) and Mr. Levy were somewhat open to consider an NPS budget that does not reduce the current NPS requested funding on Day 1 of the budget. Ms. Olszewski stated she would likely not vote to approve a budget that did not clearly match the City’s allocation.
Title IX guidelines
After over three hours of this budget-related presentations and discussion, the final agenda item was the School Committee’s approval of reverting NPS to its federal Title IX guidelines that existed prior to the current school year, as a result of the federal Department of Education reverting its discrimination policies to their status in Year 2020. NPS general counsel replied to several questions from the Committee regarding any practical impact on NPS students to the change, saying that the change relates only to any complaints brought by students under Title IX and does not change the district’s policies toward compliance with Massachusetts state non-discrimination laws. Current state law notably includes gender-equity provisions.
The meeting replay is available on NewTV, with the substantial budget debate between the School Committee and Mayor beginning just after the 2:21 hourly time mark. The next meeting, on Wednesday, March 19 will be a public hearing on the proposed budget.