Brookline School Committee News

The School Committee will meet on Thursday, March 13 at 6:00pm. The meeting has been added to the calendar to provide additional time for discussion and deliberation on the FY2026 Budget. Click here for the meeting agenda. Meeting agendas will always include the time, location, method of remote access, and details for public comment.

The School Committee held a lengthy and well-attended meeting on March 6 to review and deliberate on options to reduce the FY2026 projected budget deficit. Staff announced that the Town allocated an additional $177,000 to the school department for FY2026 (as a result of savings from employee health insurance costs), reducing the projected deficit to $8,057,584. Staff presented the School Committee with a series of possible options and cuts at the February 13 meeting, and a second series of possible options and cuts at the March 6 meeting.

Following a unanimous recommendation from their Finance Subcommittee, the School Committee began with a vote to reject the following options:

• Raising the Materials Fee Program tuition to $8,000

• Pausing intra/extra murals for middle school

• Reducing half of the Grade 1 paraprofessionals

• Pausing non-mandatory summer programs, including Project Discovery and Star Academy

• Restructuring the elementary performing arts program (Conservatory)

These actions mean that the Conservatory Music program, middle school athletics, and the Project Discovery and Star Academy summer programs will not be cut. These actions also maintain the current grade 1 paraprofessional staffing level, and increase the Materials Fee Program tuition by only 3% (to $3,535 for FY26).

The School Committee, also upon the unanimous recommendation of its Finance Subcommittee, voted to approve the following actions as a first step to balance the FY2026 budget:

• Reduce the new position request from the Office of Student Services and the Office of Teaching and Learning (savings of $991,274)

• Remove the .5 FTE Information Technology position request (savings of $70,000)

• Reduce the Reserve Fund optimization by 1.0 FTE (savings of $90,045)

The School Committee then spent several hours reviewing and deliberating on other options to reduce the budget gap. Over the course of the night the School Committee voted to approve the following budget cuts:

• Cut the general supplies and services budget line (savings of $411,205)

• Pause the Senior Director of Civil Rights/Bullying Prevention position (savings of $156,000)

• Cut one (1) Vice Principal position in the district (savings of $130,034)

• Cut an additional 2.5 FTEs from the Reserve Fund (savings of $225,113)

• Cut a Teaching & Learning Senior Director position (savings of $175,808)

• Pause the Director of Data and Information Systems position (savings of $152,885)

• Increase the fee for BHS Athletics ($400 per student/per season); additional revenue of $116,600

• Scale back trainings and conferences across all departments and schools (savings of $367,672)

Many members of the PSB community joined the meeting to offer their comments and suggestions. The meeting began with comments from 10 community members, and closed with comments from another 25 community members. The School Committee is grateful to everyone who spoke, and to those who have emailed to advocate for programs and services important to them.

In total, on March 6 the Committee voted for approximately $3 million in cuts, which leaves a projected deficit of approximately $5 million. A great deal of work remains to close the remaining budget deficit, and the Committee will continue to discuss and deliberate on the budget at its public meetings in March. Possible options to close the remaining deficit - to be discussed at upcoming meetings - include: a reduction plan for Brookline High School; a consolidation plan for BEEP classrooms; discussion of Custodial Services and Food Services hybrid models; a reduction plan for Transportation Services; discussion of caseloads for special education teachers and counselors; and reductions in the Office of Educational Equity. The School Committee welcomes your comments and suggestions throughout the process; please write to them at: school_committee@psbma.org

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