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Will it be necessary to cut out middle school conservatory and world languages to balance the 2027 PSB budget if the override fails? Brookline school senior management (“PSB”) is proposing to cut out middle school conservatory and world languages to balance the 2027 budget, if the override fails. We believe this is being proposed to scare parents into supporting the override. Last year, when the former superintendent proposed to cut conservatory while protecting central office and other non-teaching positions, parents rebelled and the School Committee demanded alternatives. The result? Conservatory was saved, admin and other non-teaching positions were reduced slightly and the students were better off. Has the School Committee demanded that our current superintendent propose alternatives to balance the budget? No, it has not. Again, we think this is to preserve the illusion that there are no alternatives to these unacceptable cuts. But, there are alternatives. PSB’s budget gap for 2027 is $4.45m. Here are some ideas, taken in part from the excellent Final Report of the Expenditures & Revenues Study Committee (the “E&RSC”). 1. Defer the $2m replenishment of the already ample circuit breaker reserve fund, now concentrated entirely in 2027. Since circuit breaker receipts this year are $1.4m higher than originally expected, there is room to do this. Moreover, replenishment could then be spread over several years as the E&RSC suggested, perhaps five, ten or even twenty, to reduce the future impact on any one year. Making this adjustment would cut the 2027 budget deficit to $2.45m. 2. Require the main central office departments, the offices of Teaching and Learning (“OTL”), Administration and Finance and Student Services, to reduce staff to save a certain dollar amount in salaries, say $1m. This would require a reduction of perhaps 8-10 positions in total. Require the eight K-8 schools and BHS to reduce non-teaching staff to save a certain dollar amount in salaries, perhaps another $1m. This would require a reduction of only one or two positions per school. The impact of these potential reductions could then be weighed by the School Committee against the impact of the proposed elimination of conservatory (seven FTE) and world languages (fifteen FTE). By way of example, for the central offices, the OTL organization chart in the 2027 budget book lists eight PK-8 and PK-12 “curriculum coordinators.” Their salaries probably aggregate to close to $1m. Are they all essential? Are they all more important to students than the seven FTEs or some of the fifteen FTEs who actually teach conservatory and world languages? Making these savings would reduce the remaining budget gap from
$2.45m to $450k. 3. The E&RSC suggested that there may be savings to be realized at BHS by making adjustments to the “4+1” model for deploying teachers. Based on information from PSB itself, the Final Report suggested that this could reduce FTEs by eight, probably saving salaries of close to $1m. This would more than eliminate the remaining budget gap, without
touching middle school conservatory or world languages. So there ARE ways to make the budget work that do not cut essential parts of the curriculum. Surprising then, that PSB is focusing instead on cutting valuable school programs and the teachers that deliver them directly to students. But, maybe not so surprising. They know that presenting this as a choice between killing these programs and passing the override will lead parents to choose the override every single time. But the choice is a false one — don’t fall for it.
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