Teachers, students, family members and school district workers packed into town hall on the evening of Thursday, March 6 to attend the Brookline School Committee (BSC) meeting regarding the over $8 million budget deficit.
The crowd was so large that many attendees needed to stand outside of the committee room to view the proceedings. Many wore green American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union shirts in support of custodial and food service staff. Vice chair Suzanne Federspiel had trouble quieting down the chants of “We deserve better” before the meeting could begin.
By the end of the meeting, 3 million dollars had been cut, primarily from administrative offices. The committee voted to avoid cutting student programs such as performing arts, summer camps and middle school sports and was left with a budget deficit of 5 million dollars.
The meeting began with members of the crowd being called up one by one to the podium to make public comments. Many proposed the suggested balanced budget be rejected outright until an audit of the school district’s finances was completed. One parent, Lydia Faberman, expressed frustration that more cuts to administration had not been considered
“The proposed cuts that would directly impact students start at just 100,000 [dollars] for middle school sports,” Faberman said. “That is roughly equivalent to the salary cost of just one central office staff member. Yet the impact on middle schoolers would be immeasurable.”
Middle school music teachers Rick Stone and John Ferguson spoke in opposition to the previously proposed cut to the middle school performing arts and musical programs, which had been rejected by the finance sub-committee prior to the meeting and later rejected by the committee as a whole. Such cuts were estimated to save over $700,000 and fire seven full-time employees.
“The proposal which has euphemistically been described as restructuring […] would rob our students of a fundamentally important area of their education,” Ferguson said. “Central administration likes to talk about the importance of inclusion and equity. However, they’re proposing to dismantle one of the largest programs to address inclusion and equity.”
The two music teachers were followed by several parents who spoke towards other controversial cuts such as those to middle school sports and summer programing, both of which the finance sub-committee had already rejected and were later rejected by the committee as a whole, along with staff reduction, which the committee was still considering.
High school biology teacher and parent Liz Crane spoke to thank the finance sub-committee for rejecting a proposed increase in price on the materials fee program, a program that allows the children of teachers and other school district workers to attend Brooklin schools.
“Thank you for understanding that an affordable and predictable materials fee program is a direct reflection of our district’s values and an invaluable tool for educator recruitment and retention,” Crane said.
Jim Durkin, the legislative director for AFSCME council 93, the AFSCME group that represents Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont, spoke in regard to proposed cuts to janitorial and food service staff.
“These workers are under the threat of privatization, a threat that would result in the loss of the jobs they love,” Durkin said. “That is particularly hard to take when growth on the management side of the budget drastically outpaces other sides of the budget.”
Public comment concluded with one last speech made by parent Johnny Rose, who summarized many of the concerns already voiced. After the meeting’s conclusion, much of the crowds dispersed, chanting “Do the right thing” as they left.
The committee then moved on to the actual balancing of the budget, hearing a series of proposals from the superintendent’s office of primarily administrative cuts which included the firing of a middle school vice principal, various administrative positions primarily oriented around tech support and DEI, cutting off funding for educational conferences and memberships and raising the high school athletics fee. The sum of those budget changes totaled over $1.8 million.
Throughout the meeting the members voted on many of those administrative cuts and other proposals. By the end of the meeting the board had cut $3 million. The biggest cuts were the reduction in the number of new positions added, which saved slightly under $1 million, followed by cuts of $400,000 and $367,000 in general supplies and conferences respectively.
There was then a brief break for the executive session closed to the public followed by an additional 28 open comments from the community. Despite the progress made throughout the evening some, such as attendee Laura Bishop, continued to express frustration with the BSC that cuts had to be made at all.
“Our panoramic survey shows that not all students feel a sense of belonging or safety in our schools,” Bishop said. “Now is not the time to walk back [from] initiatives to address those issues.”
