City Council Unanimously Passes $280 Million Fiscal Year 2026 Budget for Cambridge Public Schools

The Cambridge City Council voted unanimously to approve the $280 million Cambridge Public Schools budget for fiscal year 2026 at a Tuesday meeting.

The budget increases the district’s funding by $12 million, with a vast majority of the funds allocated to staff salaries and benefits. Budget priorities include improving educator effectiveness, deepening family engagement, articulating plans for facilities, and consolidating early childhood programming.

Though the School Committee adopted the budget on April 1, six people requested the Council vote against the proposed budget during public comment. The speakers specifically took issue with a recent proposal for Extended Learning Time faculty at the Fletchard Maynard Academy, saying that it does not adequately compensate teachers.

The FMA and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Schools are the district’s two ELT schools, where four out of five school days are lengthened by 90 minutes. But the individuals said the proposal does not compensate educators for the extended school day.

Marilyn Madden Walsh, a teacher at FMA, said that the new proposal “is requiring teachers to work an additional 16.14 percent of their day for pay that does not match that.”

“I don’t think that teachers should be paid unfairly for additional work,” she added.

Jeffrey Jardin, who has taught at FMA for 18 years, said that he decided to move to Cambridge to lessen commute time after the “forced extension of my work day.”

“My husband and I are willing to upend our lives to accommodate this change,” Jardin said. “Quite simply, FMA is worth it. What I ask for the City Council is that you provide the necessary funding to the school department, so that my colleagues and I can be fairly compensated — because we are also worth it.”

In response to these concerns, interim superintendent David G. Murphy said that the plan “doesn’t reflect our latest proposal.” While he agreed that educators should be compensated for extended hours, he said that there is a “degree of nuance” to how compensation is calculated.

“I would hope that no one would infer from that that myself or anyone on our team thinks that educator compensation should not be prioritized, or the educator should not be paid fairly,” Murphy said.

“Educators need to be paid fairly. They need to be paid competitively, and when they are doing the type of difficult and necessary work as part of an ELT program, we need to make sure that we’re fashioning a system that reflects that work and incentivizes professionals appropriately,” he added.

Vice Mayor Marc C. McGovern agreed that educators should be compensated fairly, but said he ultimately voted in favor of the budget to allow the School Committee to independently address the ELT concerns.

“I do hope and expect and suggest, and I have confidence that you all figure this out, as you typically do,” McGovern said.

Murphy affirmed that he thought the current budget could provide adequate compensation of ELT faculty at FMA, in response to a question from Councilor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler.

Given recent changes at the federal level, McGovern said finances “are going to be tighter in the city for the next few years,” adding he did not believe it would be wise to keep adjusting the budget.

Ivy Washington, CPS’ chief financial officer, said that federal funding is “not insignificant,” but assured councilors that the district is prepared to adapt to potential changes at the federal level. McGovern continued to emphasize the importance of consistency in the rapidly evolving environment.

“Going to a month to month budget at a time when everything around money is uncertain right now is not a way to add stability to the City,” McGovern said.

—Staff writer Ayaan Ahmad can be reached at ayaan.ahmad@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @AyaanAhmad2024.