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Brookline schools could lay off more than 20 staff amid $2.4 million deficit

The proposed reductions included eliminating the world language program for kindergarteners through fifth graders, which amounts to about 12 teachers.

By Molly Farrar

March 21, 2024

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Brookline school officials laid out steps to alleviate a $2.4 million deficit for next year’s budget that could include cutting more than 20 full time positions and the entire world language department for kindergarten through fifth graders.

The proposals included laying off the equivalent of 12.6 full-time K-5 world language teachers, plus four language coaches at the elementary school level and four education technology specialists. Another position would be eliminated with another decreased to part time at the central office, and an undetermined position, or positions, would be affected at Brookline High School.

Brookline Public Schools — considered one of the top districts in the state — has had to manage deficits for years, Superintendent Linus Guillory told the School Committee last week.

“We are not immune to the economic difficulties faced by many municipalities and school districts across the state,” Guillory said. “We cannot address our financial challenges without impacting staff.”

The suggestions of more than $2 million in cuts — which will be voted on in the coming weeks — were presented in a prioritized order, and staffing cuts were towards the end of the list. However, the elementary school world language cuts amounted to more $1 million, by far the largest proposed reduction. 

The district said they were able to alleviate about $800,000 from non-staffing cuts, including transportation and general supplies and online subscriptions.

Susan Givens, the deputy superintendent for administration and finance, said that $5 million were already reduced from the budget, which has been outpacing the town’s allotments.

“As we look at this next layer of reductions, it’s on the back of a bunch of other reductions,” Givens said. “There’s been an awful lot of trimming, and we want to make sure that our core and essential programs continue in the upcoming year.”

Some school committee members were concerned with cutting the entire world language program for elementary schoolers. The committee discussed the feasibility of keeping fourth and fifth graders enrolled or increasing sixth grade world language classes, which currently meet three days a week.

But other members referenced a 2023 report of the district’s world language program that said students who took Spanish only in middle school were just as likely to score intermediate as students who took Spanish since kindergarten. School Committee President Daniel Pearlman said he supported the cut, saying the report’s recommendations could be focused towards the middle school.

“To me it’s not worth having a program in the lower grades if we can’t do it well, and the reason we can’t do it well is because there’s not enough minutes in the day, and we can’t balance that with other priorities” he said. “It’s a difficult decision, but … I think this is something we were going to likely move toward anyway.”