Newton Community Education (NCE), the community programming organization under the Newton Public Schools (NPS), provided a generally positive financial status update to the School Committee on Monday, June 16. NCE had previously informed the School Committee of a pending insolvency in an October 31, 2024 memorandum, which cited reduced enrollment during COVID, along with rising pension and healthcare costs (reimbursed from NCE to the City), as causing the financial distress.
NCE traces its roots back to 1870, and was established in its current form via a 1991 Newton Board of Aldermen Ordinance that enshrined NCE as “under the control of the School Committee and overseen by a public commission.”
NCE’s recent financial distress recently led to substantive debate at multiple School Committee meetings over how to address the situation, including the degree to which NPS was responsible for NCE, the prudence of using NPS funds to support NCE in lieu of direct student-facing uses, and the expectation that NPS facilities would be available for use by the wider community. On November 18, NCE provided the Committee with a turnaround plan, and the Committee settled on supporting NCE with an earmark of $500,000 to provide a backstop for NCE obligations while they executed their plan.
The June 16, 2025 NCE update showed successful execution of that turnaround plan, including staff reductions. It also previewed further refinement of NCE’s Kids Club after-school programs for the next school year, as well as currently available summer programming. NCE Executive Director Kate Carpenter-Bernier, who represented the organization at the School Committee meetings this year, highlighted to Fig City News two additional points:
- Participation in summer camp programs successfully leads to development of campers into counselors-in-training for NCE.
- NCE’s adult travel program is offering affordable, interesting trips, including a popular Civil Rights trip and trips to Norway and Cuba.
Ms. Carpenter Bernier further stated to Fig City News:
Through a combination of reducing headcount, finding efficiencies, and innovating in areas including daytime adult classes, teens, travel, our budget is balanced. I’m enormously grateful to the small, but mighty NCE team, NCE Commission members, NPS leadership, our amazing instructors, City Councilors, and School committee members who promoted our programs, and our student community who supports us with feedback, advocacy, and enrollments.
Please stay with NCE! We appreciate volunteers, and are seeking daytime classroom space, ideally 3 rooms, starting in September.
At the June 16 School Committee meeting, the Committee voted unanimously to unencumber the $500,000 that NPS had earmarked for NCE, since it had never been drawn and was deemed no longer required for NCE’s solvency. The Committee further agreed to spread over two years the facility rental payments that NCE owes to the City to further support NCE’s solvency in Fiscal Year 2026. The spring 2025 NPS budget situation would have been made even more difficult if NCE had required any draw on those funds, making NCE’s turnaround accomplishment more meaningful to the whole City.
Ed Note: The author’s children have attended NCE summer camps, and he was impressed with NCE’s prompt and accurate response to his urgent 7:45AM weekday phone call asking for instructions.
