Brookline Lays Off Teachers, Staff As Town Revenue Drops

BROOKLINE, MA — Brookline school officials announced Friday afternoon they have sent layoff notices to teachers and staff in an attempt to address a $6.3 million budget deficit for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

"Because 86.8% of our total budget is personnel costs, it is impossible to make $6.3 million in reductions that do not impact our staff," said School Committee chairperson Julie Schreiner-Oldham and vice-chairperson Suzanne Federspiel in an email to the community.

The town's budget has sustained significant revenue cuts amid the coronavirus pandemic. The town's main sources have been hit hardest: Restaurant taxes have declined, parking meters have been suspended until June 1, and commercial revenue to the Town of Brookline has fallen "precipitously" since March, according to school officials. The town is expecting a projected gap of $12.8 million dollars for next year's budget. And the cuts — seen across the commonwealth— has left municipal officials scrambling to respond to revenue cuts and revise the budget ahead of the annual Town Meeting set for June 23.

Prior to the coronavirus, the district was already looking at proposed budget reductions not related to faculty, including more than $1.5 million at central administration and district-wide leadership and $1.37 million in reductions to "Services" and "Other" budgets and $31,000 in capital reductions, they said.

The more drastic cuts came as a surprise to the school committee, which was only notified at a public Town-School Partnership meeting on May 15, that the Public Schools of Brookline should plan to reduce its budget for FY 2021 year by $6.3 million, they said.

"This is a 5.3% reduction from the budget that the School Committee had previously voted for FY 2021 for which the School Committee had planned to seek funding from Town Meeting this spring. The $6.3 million reduction means that the [Public Schools of Brookline] will have less funding for schools in FY 2021 than it had in FY 2020. The Town has made and will also continue to make cuts as well."

The School Committee officials said they have not gotten rid of the Brookline Early Education Program and music, arts, library, health and world-language programs.

Officials said they needed to make layoff announcement now, even as they are working on ways to hire staff back in the fall, because of their contract with the teachers union. They plan to elaborate at the June 4 School Committee meeting.

Read more: Brookline Furloughs Nearly 200 Employees Amid Coronavirus

• Brookline School Budget: Cuts Anticipated

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).Have a press release you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how to post a press release, opinion piece.