The City Council’s Programs and Services Committee approved $500,000 from free cash to pay for kindergarten aides whose rehiring was mandated by arbitration.

A few years ago, when the city moved to full-day kindergarten, the School Committee and the Newton Teachers Association agreed to a contract that included one aide for every kindergarten classroom with 14 students or more.

Then, COVID-19 happened, followed by record inflation, followed by a failed Proposition 2 ½ override in 2023 in the middle of negotiations for the next teachers contract.

In 2024, as the School Committee was negotiating with the Newton Teachers Association in a dispute that led to a two-week teacher strike, central administration decided to include some aides in cuts that were made to meet the mayor’s budget allocation.

“And we were given some advice from outside counsel, that there would be an area, that this would be a management decision, and we made a budget reduction of approximately 50 percent of that staffing, and went with the model of one kindergarten aide for every other classroom,” Assistant Superintendent Liam Hurley said. “So a kindergarten aide covering two classrooms, if you will, in a school. So the benefit at that time was approximately, I believe, about an $800,000 savings for us.”

But, the NTA maintained that the kindergarten aides were still legally required because of the previous contract. And an arbitration ruling last fall sided with the NTA and ordered NPS to hire the kindergarten aides as required by the contract from before the pandemic.

“We did not budget for it,” Hurley said. “It was something we did discuss as part of the FY26 budget. Ultimately, we did not budget for that. We knew it was a risk last year. We were not able to fit that in.”

During budget talks last year, Superintendent Anna Nolin discussed the risk involved in not budgeting for them, but in the end, the agreement reached between the central administration and Mayor Ruthanne Fuller didn’t make room for that, and it was understood that free cash could be used to fill gaps.

And that’s why NPS needs free cash to pay the aides. In January, the district re-hired 17 aides, which amounts to 14 full-time positions. The $500,000 in free cash pays their salaries through June 30, and the FY2027 NPS budget includes funding for the aides going forward.

Almost every kindergarten classroom has 14 kids or more, Hurley said.