School Committee to vote on FY2021 Superintendent’s Budget – TONIGHT

by | Apr 6, 2020 | Newton | 3 comments

The FY2021 Superintendent’s Proposed Budget, $244,645,343, which represents an $8.3 million increase (3.5%) over last year’s budget will be before the School Committee TONIGHT for a VOTE. The meeting, as all City meetings, will be virtual. Information on how to join the meeting can be found on the School Committee’s agenda here.

3 Comments

  1. Paul Levy
    Paul Levy on April 6, 2020 at 7:29 pm

    Of course, the budget is based on the Mayor’s proposed allocation increase of 3.5%. But with a new contract that exceeds a 3.5% increase for personnel (which comprises over 80% of the budget) they had to find ways to make the overall budget increase fall within the 3.5% target.

    I wonder how many of the projections that led to the 3.5% increase will come true, or whether they are optimistic. Each successive year, too, things will get tighter because the salary increases compound. How much of meeting the target, then, is based on one-time savings or revenues. For example, the new state education reform package was never designed to help wealthier districts like Newton; and given the budget hit on the state this year and next, any increases that might have been coming our way are likely illusory.

    So, I predict that either the Mayor will have to allocate more money to the schools than she has projected, or the school department will have to find additional savings. The latter would be very, very hard and would face widespread opposition from the parent and teacher community.

    The underlying structural deficit facing the City is not something that can be avoided. Will there be support for overrides?

  2. Mary Presumptuous
    Mary Presumptuous on April 7, 2020 at 1:02 am

    @Paul: An alternative to the business-as-usual forecast, you rightly highlight, is for the Newton Public Schools to see itself as needing to contribute to solving the problems to which it is a significant contributir.

    One way is to make lemonade out of lemons. Current pressures for distance learning are forcing NPS to learn new skills and to adopt new methods in insteuction. Good for them and us that they are stepping-up and making that happen.

    In the upcoming post-crisis world, NPS could continue to run a Distance Learning operation as a revenue generating way of offering classes and programs desired by enough Newton households but by not enough in any one school to justify in-person/co-located instruction.

    Take Advanced Placement classes for an example. Lots of local demand. Little NPS schedule, staff, or professional imperative in holding schhol-day course instruction. Yet, there are lots of extra-curricular dollars there on the sidewalk, if only NPS would bend-over and pick them up.