BEA: Belmont’s School Committee Is Marketing, Not Bargaining

Editor’s Note: the following is a public statement issued by the Belmont Education Association (BEA) in regard to their ongoing contract negotiations with the School Committee. Blogging Belmont is posting it at the BEA’s request. To learn more, visit the BEA’s Facebook page or website.

Blogging Belmont is open to posting responses (or other content) from the School Committee, or SC members as well as opinion pieces by residents.

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The Belmont School Committee (BSC) continues to present a disingenuous public narrative. They credit student and operational success to educators while simultaneously refusing to invest in the workforce that makes that success possible. The tone of the BSC’s latest messaging feels like  “marketing” rather than bargaining. After twenty bargaining sessions, the School Committee’s behavior demonstrates a pattern that shows they are not interested in settling our contracts this summer.

The broader issue, as both sides see it, is a lack of resources—but we frame it differently:

• Our diagnosis: Belmont is trying to operate schools it cannot afford, and rather than address the root problem (inadequate funding and priorities), they are asking educators to carry the burden.
• The School Committee’s framing: There isn’t enough money to meet educator needs without cutting student-facing services—and so educators need to compromise.

What’s emerging is the School Committee’s self-imposed fiscal ceiling. They’re saying, “This is how much we’re willing to spend,” regardless of what funds actually exist. 

• Three years ago, the union implored the School Committee and Town to transition to the state insurance plan, which would save millions in operating costs each year. They have refused. 
• For years, the state has increased its contributions to school spending for the Town of Belmont, and the town has responded by reducing its own contributions to the school operating budget.
• The town voted for an override designed to fund our schools for three years, at barely level funding. The School Committee and the town are now attempting to stretch that override an additional year, which will inevitably result in cuts to our school budget.

Our schools have been living on a starvation budget and the School Committee has arbitrarily drawn a line in the sand to force a budget that will further harm our schools, rather than explore a path to a sustainable, fair solution for students and staff. The School Committee’s refusal to look at creative funding solutions is not strategic budgeting, it’s entrenched austerity and has resulted in forcing educators to scramble to preserve the quality of our schools.

Everyone agrees on the flaw in Belmont’s school system—there’s a mismatch between resources and needs. The union is naming it for what it is: a structural issue of inadequate funding and misplaced priorities. The BSC is deflecting: saying they don’t have enough money to do better, but also refusing to look at funds they could access or reallocate.