Belmont Public School’s proposed budget includes a boost in special education staffing, totaling $74.4 million, a 5.3% increase over fiscal year 2026.
According to Superintendent Jill Geiser, the district plans to reduce its contract services in favor of adding 1.5 psychologists, two board certified behavioral analysts, and four additional behavioral support staff. The district will also add two special education teachers and two professional aids. In addition, six classroom aid positions will be converted into behavioral support staff positions.
“I think this is both financially sustainable and healthy for the district,” said Belmont School Committee Chair Meghan Moriarty. “I think there’s a lot of really great things in here for our students. Over the past couple years, the school committee has made the in-district programming a priority — I know that is something the community and staff has said is a priority — so I appreciate the expansion there.”
At a recent School Committee Finance Subcommittee meeting, Geiser said Belmont has seen an increase in the number of students on individualized education programs (IEP). However, the size of Belmont’s special education staff has not kept up.
Until this budget cycle, the district has relied on contract services to fulfill its special education staffing needs. Geiser said increasing the district’s staffing will save it over $200,000 compared to increasing its contract services for the same amount of staff.
The district will also add a librarian/media specialist to Belmont Middle School and an English Language Education teacher, according to Geiser. Next school year, the district will reduce its staffing by one Grade 3 and one Grade 4 teacher, and one library aide.
Kara Sassone, whose children attend the middle school, said while she appreciates the effort put in by the School Committee and Geiser, it’s important to keep fiscal responsibility at the top of mind when thinking about the future.
“We are still in a predicament budgetarily throughout the town and I would urge us to continue to move with caution. Finding funds in little pockets and one-time places is only sustainable for a certain period of time,” Sassone said.
As the district works through the budget approval process, ongoing negotiations between the district and the Belmont Education Association (BEA) are bringing up questions on what will make the cut once an agreement is reached.
“If we were to increase and go beyond what we have proposed, we would need to make reductions somehow, and most of those reductions would be staff,” Geiser said.
Three collective bargaining units of the BEA, including the teachers and aides and classroom assistants, have been without a contract since August. After hitting a stalling point — particularly over compensation — negotiations are set to resume in early March with a state-appointed mediator.
Additional Staffing Needs
According to Geiser, enrollment at Belmont High School has grown over the past several years. Currently, there are about 1,500 students at BHS, according to a November enrollment report to the school committee. As some class sizes grow to nearly 30 students, educators and administrators have advocated for bringing in additional staff.
Though not a part of the district’s proposed budget, Geiser proposed adding an additional temporary full-time employee to the high school. The employee will likely staff the high school’s English department.
“When you reduce staff, the work doesn’t go away, so when you do that, the work gets put on other people who are currently there…Right now, we’re trying to add staff, and adding staff distributes workload,” Geiser said. “When I’m thinking about the budget, I want to get more people in our buildings because we need it. That’s what I’ve been really focused on.”
The position is “seen as temporary in response to the current enrollment,” according to a memo from Geiser. Since the $121,378 needed to fill the position isn’t included in the draft budget, the district is looking at alternative sources of funding. Options include drawing from the Override Mitigation Fund that was created in 2024 following Belmont’s record $8.4 million override, or utilizing education funding from the state’s Chapter 70 allocation, if the town is allotted more than what is projected.
Geiser said the district is also considering drawing $100,000 from Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB), and using turnover savings to cover the rest. OPEB refers to the benefits other than pensions that public employees receive after they retire, such as health insurance, which are typically paid through a designated trust fund.
“We have a larger enrollment right now, so we would revisit this over the next couple of years to see what is still needed,” Geiser said.
The School Committee is set to vote on the drafted budget during its next meeting on Tuesday, March 10. A final budget will be published March 20.