In consultation with principals and department heads, Superintendent Anna Nolin drafted a “Thrive” budget that would fully fund NPS and require a 9% funding increase to implement.
However, Mayor Fuller has allocated only a 3.65% increase in funding, or the Red “Cuts Budget,” which would require meaningful cuts to current NPS operations.
The School Committee has approved the Superintendent’s ““Level Services Plus” budget (which will still require district-wide cuts).
With the Mayor’s current allocation, there will be reductions:
- 28.8 positions cut across NPS
- Reduction of 15 elementary teachers
- Cuts to late sports buses
- No overnight field trip funding
- No expansion MTSS
We urge you to download the PTO Toolkit Resources PDF, which provides a detailed breakdown of the problem and Superintendent Anna Nolin’s proposals.
What Can You Do?!
Email or call Mayor Fuller or attend her office hours and ask her to allocate an additional $3.7M to NPS for the “Level Services Plus” budget.
Talk to your friends and neighbors, particularly those who don’t have students in NPS anymore, about the state of NPS. Get their support!
Talking Points to Share
The School Committee has ALREADY made significant cuts to save taxpayer money:
- NPS has already proposed eliminating $1.9M of costs to get to Superintendent’s current budget proposal (the yellow budget). Some of these are cuts we would prefer not to make,but we believe will be manageable (for example, average elementary class sizes will be slightly higher).
- The School Committee has voted to raise fees of almost every variety the past two years, resulting in an incremental ~$750,000 of annual revenue.
- The School Committee voted to scale back transportation services to students attending private schools, saving ~$250,000 (services previously provided beyond what state required; now scaling back to state requirement).
- Non-contractual Medicare Part B premium reimbursements were phased-out for retirees, saving ~$1.5m annually.
The City Can Afford The Proposed “Level Service Plus” Budget
NPS has been in an unsustainable position for some time – always eeking by with less, in a constant budget crisis. We are seeking to build a bridge to a sustainable future which we believe will require the City to change the pace at which it funds its pension trust (funding a trust, not providing benefits to retirees) and/or stop under-forecasting the City’s revenue resulting in large amounts of free cash yearly rather than reliable operating budgets.
Options available for the City to provide NPS its needed amount FY26:
- $22M in Education Stabilization Fund (ESF) cash
- Expected FY25 excess free cash for the City of ~$8M (money the mayor gets to decide how to spend)
- Expected under-budgeting of City revenues FY26 of ~$16M (consistent with 10-year trend)
NPS will still be facing a deficit in future years beyond the amount of the ESF. This has always been known. NPS is now for the first time in a long time building a strategic vision. We just need to fund it. Working with the City over the next year, we believe we can put that plan in place for a sustainable future that fully provides for our students.
Estimated Financial Impact FY26 & Beyond
Mayor Fuller stated that City revenue will grow ~$22m FY26. That is a 4.3% increase over FY25 budgeted revenue and a 4.2% increase over all financing sources BUT NPS allocation as presented by the Mayor is only increasing 3.65%.
- Applying the 3.3% historical average of actual/budget for City revenues equates to ~$17.7m of under-budgeted City revenue FY26
- Funding FY26 as presented does nothing to solve the lack of sustainability of our current situation. Cutting staff to meet the City’s FY26 allocation also does nothing to solve the unsustainability of our current situation. We are seeking a bridge to sustainability
- This analysis does not even address the City’s plan for funding trusts related to future retiree healthcare and pension payments. Without reform on those issues, there is likely no solution that will make NPS sustainable