On May 19, the School Committee – after months of debate, meetings, public outcry, and negotiation with City Hall following the initial February 26th disclosure of a large forecasted NPS budget deficit – voted to implement a budget for Fiscal Year 2026 (Fall 2025 – Spring 2026 school year) that conforms to the City’s $293 million allocation to NPS proposed by the Mayor and approved by the City Council.
This vote supersedes the April 2nd School Committee budget vote that approved a budget in excess of the City’s allocation. However, significant changes to the funding of NPS operations – that occurred outside the official NPS budget, since the April 2nd vote – mean the most severe service reductions that had been feared will be avoided for next year. This includes the saving of 16.6 full-time-equivalent educator positions.
Superintendent Anna Nolin began the budget discussion by referring to a memorandum she said she had circulated just prior to the May 19th meeting, which contained a revised FY 2026 NPS Budget recommendation. [This memorandum has been requested by Fig City News and has not yet been posted in the School Committee’s public meeting materials folder.]
New for the final budget version, Mayor Fuller agreed to divert $1.1 million, out of a previously announced $2.5 million City Free Cash allocation for NPS facilities maintenance and repair (and additive to the $293 million allocation), toward different specific line-items of building and equipment “charter maintenance” projects that previously had been part of base $293 million NPS uses of funds. This change allowed NPS to use that $1.1 million toward other items in its budget. The remaining $1.4 million of the $2.5 million Free Cash appropriation to NPS will remain earmarked for those facilities projects for which it was planned.
Further, NPS will pool $350,000 of current cash in its various activity-specific accounts to create an additional amount of “carryforward” funds into FY 2026. Finally, while the restoration of full-time Kindergarten aides (at an estimated cost of $800,000) is not included in these figures, Superintendent Nolin stated the district may receive approximately $800,000 in Chapter 70 funding from the state of Massachusetts. The existence of this potential source of funding lowers the risk of unfunded costs arising in the middle of the coming school year.
Even with the most drastic cuts avoided, NPS will still not have funding for certain components of Dr. Nolin’s “Level Service Plus” recommended budget plan, such as MCAS tutoring and field trip stipends, and late-day school buses. The proposal also postpones certain initiatives regarding an additional Newton Early Child Program (NECP) preschool class and the REACH program at Lincoln-Eliot elementary school.
Both Dr. Nolin and the Committee members noted that almost $5 million of total NPS expenses were being funded directly by the City, outside of the NPS budget, and they expressed concern that next year it may appear as though NPS requires a large percentage increase in its funding allocation from the City if these items are included as NPS expenses. Multiple members indicated the likelihood of a proposal for an operating override in the near future .
The final budget vote can be viewed as a partial victory for Committee Chair Chris Brezski (Ward 2) as it is essentially a version of what he had advocated for, including in a Fig City News op-ed on April 10. However, during his comments toward the end of the budget discussion, Mr. Brezski expressed continued frustration at the opacity of how the City funds NPS, notably the quantity of items funded with Free cash outside of the official NPS budget allocation. During the discussion, Mr. Brezski questioned Mayor Fuller regarding whether the $1.4 million of remaining Free Cash allocation for facilities improvement could be removed from the overall budget motion and potentially saved for unexpected operating expenses, though this change was not made. Mayor Fuller has historically highlighted the importance of Newton’s AAA credit rating and the need to avoid the appearance of the City devoting too much of its free cash explicitly to recurring NPS expenses, leading to the special Free Cash allocations to “one-time” expenses.
The meeting replay is available on NewTV.
Fig City News Coverage of FY 2026 NPS Budget
- February 26: Budget Workshop Reveals Deficit
- March 10: School Committee discussing Educational Stabilization Fund, Kindergarten Aides
- March 17: School Committee discussing options to close budget gap
- March 24: School Committee, Mayor debate funding priorities; Brezski proposal
- March 27: Nolin, Brezski address NPS parents at Brown Middle School
- April 2: School Committee Approves Budget Larger Than Allocation
- April 10: Brezski Op-Ed Regarding Budgeting Options
- April 17: School Committee Presents Budget to City Council
- April 22: Mayor Fuller Presents Budget to City Council
- May 6: School Committee Updates on Legal Options
- May 13: City Council Committees Vote No On City Hall’s NPS Allocation
