At a packed School Committee meeting on Thursday night, the committee rejected some of the most unpopular cuts proposed by the district, agreed on about $3 million in reductions and left many decisions to be made in the coming weeks.
About 200 people, many clad in green or red t-shirts, crowded the fifth floor of Brookline’s Town Hall Thursday night, filling the room where the School Committee meets and spilling into the hallway.
As the committee met to discuss options for addressing a major budget deficit, parents, students and school employees hoisted signs with slogans like “kids B4 admin” and “clean schools + full bellies = AFSCME 93,” chanting “we deserve better” at deafening volume.
Those in green t-shirts represented AFSCME 93, the union that includes custodial and cafeteria workers in Brookline schools, while those in red came from the Brookline Educators’ Union. Some members of both groups are at risk of losing their jobs in the face of a roughly $8-million budget deficit projected for the Public Schools of Brookline in fiscal year 2026. Several hundred more community members watched online.
By the end of the five-hour meeting, the School Committee had approved cuts in about a dozen categories, including removing one vice principal and a senior director in the office of teaching and learning; cutting two administrative positions that are currently unfilled; and reducing spending on general supplies and services.
Some of the most unpopular cuts previously proposed were taken off the table on Thursday.
The School Committee unanimously rejected proposed cuts to the district’s performing arts programming, non-mandatory summer programming and middle school sports. The committee also unanimously rejected proposals to halve the number of instructional aides across the district and to increase material fee tuition, which allows Brookline educators to send their children to school in the district.
The approved cuts, which were mostly non-student facing, will save about $3 million, whittling a roughly $8-million budget deficit to about $5 million.
School Committee member Mariah Nobrega, who also chairs the finance subcommittee, said the School Committee has both financial and advocacy responsibilities.
“I don’t personally feel like I have, as a member of the School Committee, an obligation to make $8.2 million worth of cuts,” Nobrega said. “The School Committee … has a role of advocacy to say when we have done what we can do and when we can’t do anymore without really causing serious damage.”
The School Committee is legally required to balance the schools’ budget, but several members said Thursday that they do not want to vote on a final budget until the committee receives the results of an outside “deficit review” of school finances.
The review, which will study alleged financial mismanagement and its potential impacts on the projected deficit, began in early March and is expected to be complete by late April or early May. The School Committee must have a completed budget ahead of Town Meeting, which begins May 27.
Controversial decisions not yet made
A slew of potential cuts went undiscussed Thursday night and will be pushed to a future meeting, including the partial privatization of custodial and food services — a move that administrators say would save the schools around $1 million, if approved.
School administrators recommended in February that the district shift from an in-house to hybrid model for custodial and cafeteria workers, maintaining some current employees but privatizing other services to save money.
The district has yet to provide details about how many jobs would be lost, but the suggestion received widespread backlash from the public, with parents citing safety concerns and skepticism about the long-term impacts of the switch.
Jim Durkin, the legislative director for AFSCME 93, said cutting custodial and cafeteria workers would not be financially beneficial in the long run.
“It’s a short-sighted decision for some perceived short-term savings that evaporate within a few years, if they even exist to begin with,” Durkin told Brookline.News in an interview. “You’re getting a reduced quality of service. You’re also replacing longserving, trusted employees with a revolving pool of strangers.”
Members of the School Committee requested more information about the potential consolidation of caseloads for teachers, specialists and counselors. If approved, the move would cut eight learning center teachers, four guidance counselors, a part-time educational team facilitator and a part-time nurse. It would save the district an estimated $1.2 million.
Multiple School Committee members asked school administrators, including superintendent Linus Guillory, for more information about how the cut would impact workers’ caseloads.
“The team is working to get” information about the potential impact of the cut, Guillory said at the meeting. “It’s looking at the staff, but it’s not looking at it just solely as numbers. That’s the aspect where they have to dig into the students and their needs as such.”
Several other proposals, including the elimination of the Office of Educational Equity, a reduction in classes at Brookline High School, a reduction in transportation services and the potential consolidation of the Brookline Early Education Program, will be discussed at future School Committee meetings.
Currently, the next School Committee meeting is March 20, but multiple members requested an additional meeting be scheduled for March 13. The finance subcommittee is scheduled to meet on March 19.
$3 million of cuts made
With five “yes” votes and four abstentions, the committee cut one senior director from the office of teaching and learning, saving about $175,000.
Prior to voting, multiple School Committee members expressed their discomfort with eliminating the position.
“I’m not ready to make this cut yet,” said member Suzanne Federspiel, who abstained. “It doesn’t mean it wouldn’t happen, it’s just too soon for me to make this cut.”
Later, the School Committee voted to remove one vice principal position for $130,000.
The School Committee cut two administrative positions: a director of data in the office of administration and finance and the director of civil rights and bullying prevention in the office of student services. Both positions are currently vacant, and the cuts will save about $310,000.
The committee voted to scale back training and conferences, saving about $367,000.
The committee also approved an increase in athletics fees from $350 to $400 per season, which will increase revenue by an estimated $116,000. Members also voted to reduce high school athletics funding by $67,345 — down from administrators’ proposed $100,000 cut — which will remove funds for some assistant coaches but allows the school to keep its gymnastics program and complete its cycle of Unified Sports.
The committee approved a reduction of general supplies and services, which saves an estimated $400,000, and a $400,000 cut to the amount of money schools send to the building department for maintenance. The committee also agreed to put less money in the town’s reserve fund transfer for a savings of $225,000.
The School Committee accepted three additional cuts recommended by the finance subcommittee: a reduction of about 20 new positions, the removal of an IT services position that is currently vacant and a reserve fund section optimization. Combined, the three cuts save about $1.1 million.