WPS in Brief: June 2025
Final 2025-2026 school year budget, New homework policy, New mission and vision
Welcome to the June 2025 issue of WPS in Brief. This month covers key topics from two school committee meetings, two budget meetings, and two standing committee meetings.
Let’s get to it:
The 2025-2026 School Year Budget.
The school committee approved an unchanged budget after about four hours of public deliberation over two meetings. There was only one motion to move money, made by Maureen Binienda (at-large), to take $240,000 from climate and culture paraprofessional salaries and put it in the building substitutes line. It was defeated 5 to 3. The budget passed overwhelmingly in an 8-1 vote, with Dianna Biancheria (district C) the lone no vote. This year’s deliberations were much better than last year’s, mostly because the district didn’t have to cut $22 million, but also because the tone was more collegial. Still, the process left me feeling a bit despondent, especially in comparison to the FY 24 deliberations, when Student Opportunity Act (SOA) money actually allowed for some significant progress in filling funding gaps. At the time we also had a school committee that functioned as the best public body Worcester probably has ever had.
In an underfunded district like Worcester, it’s heartbreaking to see argument over whether we should have building subs, so that students are missing less of their special education services, or hire paraprofessionals to cover bathroom duty so that teachers can have professional planning time with each other. It’s frustrating to feel like we can’t have elementary school libraries in order to have middle school athletics. That we desperately need more full-day preschool classes, but we don’t have the facilities. Here we are, in year five of six in the implementation of the Student Opportunity Act, and we haven’t seen it play out as the panacea we all want it (and need it) to be.
One way I dealt with that despondency was to draft an email in support of Senate Bill 400, which is “an act to ensure adequate and equitable funding for public education.” This next iteration of the Chapter 70 formula, which funds 70 percent of Worcester Public Schools, will have a monumental impact on education in Worcester.1 It’s something that any of us who care about our children’s public education should start advocating for.
Anyway, if you missed it, read my review of the proposed budget from last month. There were no changes, so that budget stands. But we’re not totally in the clear. The state budget still hasn’t been approved, and depending on what that final budget looks like there still could be cuts.
Some other tidbits that came up during the budget deliberations:
Buses.
The district will receive 10 electric buses this fall, which will allow for 10 new routes. This means additional routes for after-school sports. It also means more elementary students may find transportation to after-school programs. There was also a report on homeless student transportation, with 424 students transported this year.
Redistricting.
The district is just now purchasing a GIS software that will help model boundary alignment scenarios. This means the redistricting of school assignment boundaries anticipated for the 2026-2027 school year could be delayed another year.
Athletics.
Under the contracted services budget line there is an additional $40,000 allocated to athletic trainers contracted through Mass General Brigham and Coastal Ambulance. Deputy Superintendent Brian Allen noted that this is an interim step, with team coverage being prioritized by MIAA policies, which requires them at all levels of football, wrestling and rugby, and at varsity ice hockey. The long term goal is to work towards WPS having its own athletic trainers to cover more sports.
Worcester Educational Development Foundation.
The Superintendent explained that the district pays $35,000 to the Worcester Educational Development Foundation to help cover a little over half the cost of an executive director (who, according to the job description, gets paid $60,000). WEDF funds all WPS LEAP field trips for grades 1-12, and “honors outstanding WPS alumni and contributors through its Distinguished Alumni & Friends of WPS Awards and the Athletic Hall of Fame.”
Worcester Tech Enrollment.
Sue Mailman (at-large) voiced her frustration that Worcester Technical High School was not at full capacity, and asked whether it would be possible to move the City’s IT department, which uses space in the school. Mauren Binienda (at-large) agreed, saying that the original promise to Worcester residents was to enroll 1600. The school only currently enrolls 1420.
That’s all for the budget.
Here’s what else happened this month:
New leadership positions and contracts.
The school committee approved incoming Superintendent Brian Allen’s contract with a salary of $292,000 and appointed Dr. Marie Morse as Deputy Superintendent and Sarah Consalvo as Chief Financial Officer. They’ll make $263,344 and $227,000 respectively. The School Committee has a written policy that puts a spending cap on the administration at 1.5 percent of the foundation budget. For this current year's budget the district will “spend below the self-imposed administrative spending cap by more than $0.8 million.”
Elementary English Language Arts Curriculum.
At the June 12 Teaching, Learning, and Student Success subcommittee Assistant Superintendent Dr. Marie Morse spoke about a teacher survey the district conducted regarding the English Language Arts Curriculum, CKLA, which is in its second year of implementation.2 The survey showed that teacher confidence is high, with 75 percent of teachers looking forward to continuing to use the curriculum, and 78 percent believing that kids are learning grade level standards. Morse also emphasized the continued effort to “Worcesterize” the curriculum and make it culturally responsive. The survey had a 72 percent response rate from teachers.
New Homework Policy Approved.
Back in March 2023 there was a request from the Citywide Parent Planning Advisory Council (known as CPPAC) to revise the homework policy, which was covered widely by local news outlets (here, here and here). Two years later and a new homework policy finally got approved. It defines what homework is and what the goals are; implements four no-homework weekends per year for grades 6-12 that will coincide with four school vacations (Thanksgiving, December, February, April); and dictates that elementary students can only be assigned homework Monday-Thursday. Schools are responsible for helping to “ensure that tools required for homework assignments are readily available to students: laptop if needed, paper and materials, books, reading material, math tools etc. to take home.” It also sets guidelines for how much time students should be spending on homework each week (see above).
New mission and vision approved.
The district approved new core values, as well as new mission, and vision statements (or another way to think about it: “our why”). These are based on surveys done with educators, families, and community members.
Pride Month and LGBTQIA+ Safe Schools training.
The district shared a timeline for the Safe Schools Program training and the Committee also approved to “formally recognize both June and September as Pride Months in the City of Worcester and reaffirm its support for the LGBTQIA+ community by highlighting the importance of Pride as a time for visibility, celebration, education, and advocacy. The Worcester School Committee encourages appropriate recognition and acknowledgment.”
High School Girls Hockey.
Four parents and three students spoke at public comment at the June 18 school committee meeting about their frustration with the district abruptly taking back their decision to create a new girls hockey co-op3 with Grafton Public Schools. The student athletes currently play in the Auburn co-op, but as it has grown, they have faced limited playing time and reduced ice time, especially at the JV level. The item was not on the agenda for the meeting, but Mayor Petty told the families they would have a decision this week. When I checked in about the decision a district spokesperson told me: “Worcester Public Schools has made the decision to have the girls' ice hockey program join a newly-formed cooperative girls’ ice hockey team, which will be hosted by Grafton High School and will include student-athletes from Notre Dame Academy and Northbridge High School. This decision follows a thorough evaluation of our current cooperative team structure.”
EdTech opt out removed from agenda.
The EdTech opt out removal that I wrote about in the June 18 agenda preview was removed from the agenda. The original item was around eliminating the option for parents to opt-out of third party online resources that collect data from their kids. I’m hoping this means that the district is reassessing this decision and putting better procedures and policies in place. You can read the letter I sent the school committee in opposition to the original item here.
Recommended Reads.
A remarkable story about an Afghan refugee (who speaks four languages!) that graduated from South High and spoke at graduation. A stark reminder that we can never take public education for granted.
Here is the final list of who is running for school committee. More on that from me soon!
The June 18 school committee meeting was the last for Superintendent Monárrez. Per school committee custom, they went around to say their thanks (or as I call it, the “living eulogy.”)
Looks like AI has a looooooong way to go before it can write WPS in Brief and replace me. The slop on CitizenAI, whose tagline is “Get direct access to what elected officials say and do—no spin, just facts,” is laughably inaccurate. But calling Mauren Binienda “Barbara Banana” might be the most hilarious mistake.
Upcoming Dates.
All meetings have virtual options, see the school committee site for more information.
School Committee Meeting on July 10, 4 p.m. at City hall
Subcommittees have no scheduled meetings until September.
Also.
Save the date! The Worcester Elementary School Library Coalition is hosting a forum on why elementary school libraries are important for our students and how we can get libraries back in our elementary schools. It’s September 17 from 6-7:30 p.m. at Doherty High. Mark your calendars and I’ll see you there!
Happy summer vacation! Lots of new families are joining WPS this fall. If you find WPS in Brief valuable, please share it with them! See you in July.
As Colin Jones of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center testified at a hearing on the joint committee on education in May: “The process outlined in SB400 creates a broad, comprehensive, and inclusive commission to study the most pressing K-12 funding issues including: all components of Chapter 70, the annual inflation cap, special education, transportation, declining enrollment districts, rural districts, state and local responsibility for the Chapter 70 foundation budget, calculations of city and town wealth, income, and capacity to support schools, the 82.5 percent maximum local contribution, the effects of the Prop 2.5 property tax cap on K-12 funding, and any other aspect of school funding deemed necessary.”
This curriculum is used for the vast majority of the district, but not for transitional bilingual classes or dual language classes, which use ARC.
Districts that do not have enough athletes in a particular sport to field a team can join other districts to create a co-op.