After a lengthy, sometimes contentious discussion, a divided Cambridge School Committee voted on Tuesday to adopt a $293 million school district budget for the 2027 fiscal year. Nearly half the committee voted no or abstained, reflecting concerns about whether the budget can effectively address committee priorities.
The budget represents a $13.5 million increase, or 4.5 percent, from the previous fiscal year, a slightly smaller increase than in recent years.
“The budget responds to evolving macroeconomic conditions in a way that marshals resources to advance the interests of students,” Superintendent Dave Murphy said at the meeting.
Pointed questions about priorities
The split vote on the budget may reflect a desire for more significant change, as some felt the budget did not shift resources to meaningfully address committee priorities around closing achievement gaps and addressing disparities in elementary literacy rates. “We could keep doing this [making minor revisions] forever, but ultimately . . . we’re still seeing the same student achievement [gaps],” said Committee Member Richard Harding.
Frustration bubbled over at points. Committee Member Elizabeth Hudson argued that the committee is not using its time effectively or aligned on key priorities.
She directed a sharp question at the committee’s chair, David Weinstein, saying “Mr. Chair, when will the committee have a clear articulation of its goals?”
“The answer, to me, is the timeline of our strategic planning process,” Weinstein said. When Hudson pressed for more specific details, Weinstein did not provide a timeline.
“It doesn’t sound like I have any questions to which you have answers,” Hudson said as she yielded her time.
Vice-chair Caitlin Dube, one of three first-time members of the committee, acknowledged the budget is not “a perfect document.” She said “I don’t agree with every line item, but I think that it’s a working agreement and [passing it] a vote of confidence in our superintendent.”
Strategic use of resources
Murphy said that the budget will increase the number of interventionists and paraprofessionals across the district, though these staff will be deployed specifically at two elementary schools, Fletcher Maynard Academy and the King Open School. Murphy said this focus on two schools shows how the district is strategically using the budget, and was a decision based on outcome data. In addition, the budget will allot for an intervention system aimed at “students who are experiencing disruptions in their education,” due to mental-health challenges, Murphy said. A dedicated classroom will be housed at the Darby Vassall Upper School and will provide support to students throughout the district’s upper schools.
An equity audit conducted on the district urged more robust Tier Two and Tier Three instruction, where students receive more individual attention, usually from interventionists and paraprofessionals. About 40 percent of the district’s third graders do not read at grade level, a persistent number that drew a committee motion at a previous meeting to hold back significant numbers of students, sparking debate.
Job cuts draw complaints
Despite the focus on more individual interventions, the draft budget did eliminate four full-time paraprofessional positions, currently vacant. That line item drew a complaint from Chris Montero, president of the Cambridge Education Association, the teachers’ union, who said individualized instruction isn’t possible without “more than one educator in the room.” Montero added that “the budget should be amended to retain or cancel out the cuts to paraprofessional positions.”
Montero commended the budget overall for its “significant investment in interventionist positions.” The district employs about 1,800 staff.
Murphy stressed throughout the meeting that the staffing cuts represented in the budget are “minimal” and “there are no individual humans being laid off.”
The vacancies come from staff realignment following the 2025 closure of the Kennedy Longfellow School, after which no staff member was laid off and most positions were reallocated.
School Committee Member Arjun Jaikumar also opposed the cuts, citing concerns from constituents and the need for classrooms with multiple staff members. “I know we have a small number of FTEs [full-time equivalents] that we’re reducing by, but I want to recognize that those people are valued members of school communities,” Jaikumar said.
The budget draft restored two additional interventionist positions initially proposed as cuts. Other changes reflected in the budget include a reserve Kindergarten teacher allotted to The Baldwin School and the hiring of a data analyst within the central office.
The budget also includes a partnership with Shore Education Collaborative, a special needs instruction organization that will likely decrease the need for out-of-district placements in the long-term, Murphy said.
The budget proposal was ultimately adopted in a 4-2-1 vote, with Dube, Harding, Weinstein and Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui voting yes, Hudson and Jaikumar voting no, and Member Luisa de Paula Santos voting present.
The budget will now go to the City Council for review at a hearing expected to happen in May.
This story was updated to clarify what interventions will take place at the Darby Vassall Upper School.
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