Milton Public Schools will restore several key leadership and support positions originally slated for elimination as the district navigates a $1.049 million budget gap for FY27. Superintendent John Phelan announced the reversal following feedback from families of color and the special education community who argued that the initial cuts disproportionately impacted vulnerable students. Phelan told the School Committee’s Finance Subcommittee that the district aims to ad-back the Director of DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) to a full-time role and preserve two Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) positions. After discussing that list with the School Committee at Finance and after getting some important emails and having some important conversations with folks over the last two weeks, it's really apparent that the way that those reductions fell on folks was hard, Phelan said. We want to make sure that we say out loud that we heard you and that we will make some adjustments to the budget in order to address that feeling and impact on those families.

The funding for these restorations stems from a combination of $500,000 in town reserves and a strategic shift in how the district manages its Special Education Circuit Breaker account. Earlier this year, the account had dwindled to just $8,000, prompting an aggressive rebuilding effort. The committee reached a consensus on a four-year plan to replenish the fund to a target of 75% of the annual reimbursement amount. Member Nathan David Hutto supported this timeline, noting, I think this four-year Option 1 model and goal is directionally where I'm comfortable. He cautioned, however, that while the district needs a clear target, the policy should remain flexible enough to avoid funding the reserve at the expense of all other priorities. What I think the policy should have is mandating the committee to always have a plan and be working a plan to fund to that target, Hutto added.

Chair Amanda Serio pushed for the target to be codified into a formal guiding principle rather than remaining an annual debate. Does it make sense to have a policy, a guiding principle, whatever it is? To say the School Committee's policy is that we will carry a certain amount—a year's worth of Circuit Breaker—so then it doesn't become this fluid conversation, Serio asked. Member Mark Loring agreed that formalizing the process is necessary to ensure the School Committee maintains oversight of revolving accounts to prevent future depletion. Establishing that policy both to make sure we fund these long-term is good and just to make sure the School Committee has oversight of those accounts when we need to draw them down to the levels we unfortunately needed to in the past, Loring noted.

Beyond the Circuit Breaker strategy, the district is moving forward with several structural realignments designed to find efficiencies without losing student-facing services. This includes merging the Director of Data and Analytics role into the Director of Technology and Data Analytics position. Member Annamma Varghese sought clarification on how data presentations would be handled during the transition. Phelan responded that the new role would be filled by an educator who understands how to frame data for teaching and learning, asserting, We won't miss a beat with that position being eliminated.

The district is also restructuring nursing services by shifting from a non-student-facing Director to a "Lead Nurse" model. This change ensures all seven nurses are assigned to school buildings while the lead handles administrative duties. While the district is reducing "float" nurse positions, Phelan indicated that keeping eight nurses total—seven in buildings plus the lead—is likely the right number, though he remains open to adjustments if caseloads spike. Regarding the ad-backs of behavior analysts, Phelan noted that while a shift toward a consultation model is planned for the future, Students shouldn't suffer while we're figuring the system out.

Member Elizabeth Carroll emphasized that the survival of the DEIB Director role is a win for accountability, but noted that the district’s recent creation of full-time HR and Curriculum leadership positions provides a new foundation for equity work. I see those as strengthening our capacity to support our DEIB work in important ways, Carroll said, adding that the responsibility for diversity and inclusion belongs to everybody on the leadership team.

Looking ahead to the final budget approval process, the committee discussed reforming the tradition of voting on the budget immediately following the public hearing. Loring described the current schedule as a terrible practice that fails to incorporate community input. I really have despised having the vote the same night as the public hearing because there's no way to incorporate the comment, Loring said. To improve engagement, the district plans to meet with PTO presidents at Milton High School to allow for more fluid conversations with families before the final budget presentation to the Warrant Committee on March 17.