Brookline schools are facing an estimated $6 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2026, according to the latest projections from town and school officials, adding significant financial pressure that could lead to more cuts in a school system already struggling to meet some students’ needs.
The projected deficit was first made public in December, as both the town and schools began the process of creating their budgets which will go into effect on July 1.
School district officials caution that the situation is evolving and the numbers could change. The current projected deficit is about three times larger than the budget gap last year which led the School Committee to cut world language classes for students in kindergarten through fifth grade and to remove literacy coaches from the district.
School leaders are not commenting on the potential effects of the deficit, including cuts or layoffs. The budget deficit will be discussed further at a full School Committee meeting on Jan. 23.
Reasons for the deficit
The school budget deficit is a combination of a $3 million expenditure deficit and a $3 million revenue deficit, said Susan Givens, the deputy superintendent of administration and finance for the Public Schools of Brookline, at a meeting of the School Committee’s finance subcommittee on Dec. 11. That deficit comes despite a 2023 tax override, in which voters agreed to raise property taxes to inject nearly $7 million into the school system.
“Our expenses are coming in higher than what was anticipated during the override projection process, and likewise on the revenue side, some assumptions that were made have not come to fruition,” Givens said. “It’s a combination of both, and I think the public really needs to understand that, and this plays out on the town side, too.”
Givens attributed a significant portion of the schools’ projected deficit to the soaring cost of benefits. The cost of health insurance for town employees is set to increase by $4.4 million next year — double what town administrators had previously projected — leading to a squeeze on the school budget, Givens said in December.
Givens said at the meeting that the district is working to identify the specific causes of the $3 million expenditure deficit and will present findings at upcoming School Committee meetings.
She added that administrators will “discuss implications” with school principals, directors and administrators first.
Justin Brown, president of the Brookline Educators’ Union, said teachers feel “rattled and deeply dismayed” about the budget deficit and its potential implications.
“Any talk of budget shortfalls makes educators nervous for their positions, their programs, for the integrity of their schools and their staff,” Brown said. “There are a lot of nervous educators out there.”
In a presentation to the Select Board on Dec. 10, deputy town administrator Melissa Goff identified special education and collective bargaining as sources of pressure on the school budget.
Superintendent Linus Guillory said at a School Committee meeting on Jan. 9 that the cost of student services has increased by about $2.5 million since fiscal year 2023.
Guillory declined to answer questions from Brookline.News about the causes of the budget deficit and potential effects, including whether there will be cuts to school services or layoffs.
Broader budget challenges
In Brookline, town and school budgets are calculated through a process known colloquially as the town-school split, through which the town and schools share town revenues according to an agreed-upon split each year. To determine this split, the town first develops a revenue estimate. Then, the town and schools determine their financial needs and negotiate to divide the revenues.
Though originally intended to split revenues down the middle, the actual allocation of funds has favored the schools for many years. The allocation for the schools appears as a single line item in the town budget considered by Town Meeting each year.
The $6 million deficit is “not breaking out just solely by our expenses being dramatically different,” Givens said at the meeting in December. “We’re not $6 million more in spending. Part of the $6 million issue is because revenues are lower.”
The town’s operating budget, which covers departments and services like public works and the police and fire departments in Brookline, is also projected to face a $1.3 million deficit in fiscal year 2026. Town leaders said in December they are planning to try to close that gap with options including an increased trash pickup fee, buying some equipment with federal ARPA funds, or reducing town staff positions and possibly instituting a hiring freeze.
These projected deficits coincide with allegations of existing budget challenges in Brookline schools. In early December, Brookline’s deputy superintendent for students services Liza O’Connell announced her resignation, alleging that financial mismanagement has made it difficult for her to do her job.
“It has become increasingly difficult over FY24 and FY25 to deliver the student services that the students and parents of Brookline expect and deserve, while being constantly distracted by an endless stream of budget, accounting and financial challenges,” O’Connell wrote in her resignation letter, which she addressed to the School Committee.
O’Connell’s office oversees special education, school counseling and student health services.
The School Committee announced Jan. 9 that it will partner with the town to audit the district’s processes for budgeting, purchasing and contracting for the Office of Student Services. At the finance subcommittee meeting on Jan. 15, the subcommittee specified that the audit will be a management audit more than a financial audit.
At the School Committee meeting on Jan. 9, Guillory said the “current situation of the Office of Student Services is unfortunate,” and expressed empathy for affected students and families.
“We are committed to getting this resolved and getting us to a point where we’re not in this situation again,” Guillory said. “Our staff are working hard to address current challenges.”
What happens next?
The School Committee manages the budget for Brookline schools and has the final say in any proposed layoffs or cuts. In the coming months, the School Committee will present and vote on the budget for fiscal year 2026, which runs from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026.
Brookline’s Town Meeting, a representative body of more than 260 residents, is legally responsible for approving the budget. Town Meeting will vote in May on the budget for fiscal year 2026.
The newly adopted budget will be effective on July 1.
Correction: A previous version of this story included incorrect information about the split between the town and schools budgets, which is negotiated every year rather than being set by a formula. It also incorrectly suggested that Town Meeting has the ability to adjust the schools’ budget, when in fact Town Meeting can only change the amount of the lump sum provided to the schools.