By Marcia Johnson

In the upcoming 2025 Municipal Mayoral, City Council (CC) and School Committee (SC) elections, Newton voters will face a great challenge in getting to know the candidates.

Our CC has 24 members, SC has eight members, and then the mayor for a total of 33 races. For these races, there are 45 candidates for voters to get to know. Thus, the role of endorsements may be larger than in past elections.

On July 22 at 5 p.m., candidate nomination papers were due to the City Clerk to be certified to be on the ballot. On July 24 at 8:48 a.m., Mayoral Candidate, Marc Laredo sent an email, “July Update – SCHOOL COMMITTEE ENDORSEMENTS”, from his Laredo for Newton account, which leads to his mayoral campaign website. In this email, Mr. Laredo endorsed eight of the 13 SC candidates, one from each ward.

As a mayoral candidate, Mr. Laredo brings a very strong bully pulpit to this election. As outlined on his website, (he) states that “I am the President of the Newton City Council and have been an elected member of Newton’s city government since 2002. I first served for eight years on the School Committee (where I served as vice chair and then chair) and then, after a two-year break, as a City Councilor-at-Large from Ward 7 since 2012.”

With his 23 years of government experience and exposure to many citizens/voters, his candidate endorsements may carry more influence than others. In my experience as a former Alderman (16 years), I do not recall any mayoral candidate ever having created their desired [endorsed] composition of the School Committee members. The question that Mr. Laredo might ask himself is whether the benefits outweigh the potential erosion of public confidence in Newton’s campaign process resulting in polarization of local politics.

With The Newton Beacon article, July 30, 2025 “Laredo: Endorsements came with ‘careful consideration’,” I am wondering if that polarization may have already begun before the campaign season has fully begun. As we all have learned from COVID-19 and last year’s teachers’ strike, the SC plays a very important role in our municipal government. Though he does not highlight that as mayor he would be in control of the city’s budget which includes both school (approximately 65%) and municipal expenditures, he does highlight that the School Committee “shall review and approve budgets for public education.” Given the SC responsibilities, I recommend that voters not allow a single candidate to tip the scales of an election so early in the process, thus giving every SC candidate the opportunity to present themselves to the City, without prejudice.

In closing, it is important that, no matter who endorses who, voters make informed decisions. It is not enough to cast a ballot without understanding the candidates, their policies, and how they might affect Newton. As educated voters, I am confident that we will take the time to research and understand the issues at stake, including the candidates’ platforms and any relevant news or information coming from candidate forums, websites, interviews, and non-partisan voter guides. It is extremely important for us to know all that we can about all candidates and not go into the voting booth without having fully vetted each. Whether you have kids in the Newton schools or not, what happens in the classroom affects each and every one of us!

Marcia Johnson is a former alderman and lives in Newtonville.