Office Hours with Laura Pitone:

• Saturday April 4th, 10 am to noon at Zaruma Gold, 37 Woodbine Street, with Ward 5 City Councilor Naima Sait
• Tuesday April 14th, 8 am at the Kennedy School with Naima Sait and Representative Erika Uyterhoeven

It's spring and the SC is busy with supporting plans to build a new school at 115 Sycamore Street, updating School Committee Policies, engaging in the 2026-2027 school year budget process and hosting coordinated SC office hours throughout the City. The full schedule of SC coordinated office hours can be found on the SPS website. Please share your thoughts on the district budget or whatever is on your mind. Attend whichever fit into your schedule, regardless of the Ward it is hosted in. 

Considerations for the FY27 School Budget: The City is conservatively estimating a $5.3 million shortfall in the FY27 budget, which could impact the school district budget. This means the forecasted revenue for the City (from property taxes, state aid and other local fees/taxes) is $5.3 million less than planned City expenses for the coming fiscal year. 

The Mayor has stated the administration will prioritize minimizing the impact to the school district budget which was 30% of the City's total budget last year. That said, in order to maintain the current level of services and programing at our schools, the district requires at least a 7.5% budget increase.

The Mayor has requested the Superintendent to create different budget scenarios for SPS from a $250 K reduction through a $1 M reduction from level service. 

Over the last years, in addition to adding staff to support mental health, the district has invested in educator salaries, benefits and training, high quality curriculum and instructional materials, and time and tools to enhance the use of data analytics. Simply put, SPS is investing in attracting, sustaining and strengthening educators and providing the tools and skills to better target the specific needs of students and understand the impact of this work. 

And Parents and Guardians continue to request more from after school programing - more seats and increased affordability - especially for families that do not currently participate due to the expense. I want to think creatively about the resources we have, but significant improvements in access to after school programming are constrained by money. To increase accessibility, more money is necessary - from the City or grants or by increasing tuition for some families or reducing services or programming we currently offer at school. I am open to solutions that improve access to afterschool without negatively impacting the school day.  

The Superintendent's school budget is scheduled to be presented at the School Budget Hearing on May 6th at the East Somerville Community School and budget materials will be found the week prior on the SC Finance and Facilities web page. After the budget hearing the School Committee with deliberate, finalized the budget and submit it to the City. 

Public comment will be available, in person and online, at the district Budget Hearing and all regular SC meetings which are posted on the SPS website. The City Council will also host budget meetings and a public hearing prior to finalizing the City budget. 

Please continue to share your budget priorities, school and city-wide, with School Committee, City Council and the Mayor to influence how the City will meet this fiscal challenge.

Plans progress for a New School Building for Somerville: Somerville is moving forward with plans to construct a new school building, with support from the State (via the MSBA or Massachusetts School Building Authority). I shared an overview of the process and considerations in my fall newsletter. The City had a decision to make - plan for a new school to house only the Winter Hill Community Innovation School (WHCIS) students or a larger school that could house the combined populations of both the WHCIS and Brown Schools. Both buildings need an upgrade and the MSBA choose to only fund one school. Mayor Ballantyne assembled the Construction Advisory Group (CAG) to advise on this decision. 

In December, the CAG published a final report with a majority recommendation (9 members yes, 4 members no) to build the largest school authorized by the MSBA (925 seats) and a unanimous recommendation to build the new school at Sycamore Street (not Trum field). The School Committee deliberated on the draft CAG report and voted to support the CAG recommendation to build the largest school supported by the MSBA at Sycamore Street (vote 9-2 in favor). Our new Mayor, Jake Wilson, in consultation with the previous Mayor and city staff, decided the city would fund the largest school and hosted several community meetings to explain this decision to both the WHCIS and Brown School communities and the implications. 

The goal is to complete the new school on the Sycamore Street site by 2032. The Mayor stated that, baring any issues with the facility, the Brown school will remain open at least until then. That means all students currently in the school will be able to attend through 5th grade. The City administration shared ideas of keeping the school open longer, if it can be leveraged to support plans to improve other school buildings that may require students to be housed in alternative locations while upgrade projects are completed. 

Legally, the School Committee is responsible for decisions to close schools however the SC cannot consider closing any school until the new school is funded. That funding requires voters' support through a future ballot measure considering a debt exclusion and associated increases in property taxes. The ballot question cannot happen until after June 2027, defined by schedule of the MSBA process.

All this to say, that while the SC has authority over school buildings, the Mayor controls the City purse strings. Although the CAG did not make a decision to close the Brown school, a majority of the School Committee and the Mayor have chosen to support their recommendation for the largest school and building at the Sycamore Street location. While costs were not the only consideration, in the interest of transparency and in response to requests for clarity, I documented a high level understanding of the cost considerations of a two schools (upgrading both the Brown and WHCIS) and one large school solutions in a blog post. 

The plan for one larger school impacts two school communities and I am empathetic to families who consider the Brown and WHCIS buildings a large part of their lives and memories in Somerville. I am grateful to the members of the CAG who analyzed all the research, studies, data and reports on facilities, financing, education, and community input, and deliberated sincerely to make their best recommendation for the future of the City's schools. I also appreciate the clarity from Mayor Wilson regarding the expectation that the current Brown building should be used as a school through the 2031-2032 school year. 

The City has created a new website for the the new school building, which includes the overall timeline, a list of community meetings and a link the the School Building Committee information. As a School Committee and a district, planning efforts for the new school are underway and will include transitions plans and future school assignments for school choice (catchment lists) .

Educational Program for the New School: SPS administration is developing a vision for this new school, to be the largest PK-8 school in the district, that embraces collaborative, hands-on learning, includes smaller developmentally focused learning communities, and is a resources for the city-at-large that may include some district wide resources. The overview presentation on the Educational Program for new school created for the MSBA process includes ESL and special education spaces, as well as a new kitchen to support the district. I look forward to hearing more about plans, especially how the space will foster collaboration and how learnings and innovations can be extended to other schools. 

Contact me if you have any questions, concerns or ideas: [email protected]. I am happy to meet up, schedule a call or correspond over email. For more frequent updates follow or like my Laura Pitone Ward 5 School Committee Facebook Page.