Cambridge Schools Adopt $290M FY27 Budget After Months of Revisions

The Cambridge School Committee on Tuesday approved a nearly five percent increase to the district’s budget, adopting a $290 million plan for fiscal year 2027.

The School Committee approved the budget by a 4-2-1 vote — with Elizabeth C.P. Hudson and Arjun K. Jaikumar voting no and Luisa de Paula Santos voting present — after spending the past three months making revisions and edits.

The budget reflects a smaller year-over-year increase than CPS has seen in recent years, but maintains investments in student support services and district operations. The majority of the budget increase this year will go to salaries and benefits for Cambridge Public Schools staff, which continue to make up the largest share of district expenditures.

The district’s staffing has seen backlash in recent years from parents who have criticized the lack of support for high-needs students and high spending per student. Superintendent David G. Murphy said the district is working to improve how it implements its investments during the Tuesday meeting.

“It doesn’t matter what I say our goals are. What matters is whether or not the investment in the 2,200 person workforce is supported and held accountable for making good on the commitment that is reflected in this budget,” Murphy said.

Murphy pointed specifically to staff positions that were absorbed in other schools as a result of the district’s closure of the Kennedy-Longfellow School in December 2024. The district budgeted for most of the 76 full-time employees in the 2025 budget, even after the school’s closure, to maintain as much stability as possible, according to Murphy.

While most of the former K-Lo employees have filled vacancies across the district, the 2027 budget will cut eight full-time positions in total — including teachers, paraprofessionals, and support staff. The budget funds roughly two positions at middle and high schools.

Murphy said that distributing those positions across remaining schools “would not be a fiscally responsible decision in the absence of some other forcing mechanism.”

He added that the budget — especially the increase in funding for staffing — was intended to stretch district dollars to improve student performance outcomes.

“If you do that math, the formula is that we have more people, and with that investment, there should be higher expectations, and there should be higher standards, and there should be better execution,” he said.

“But ultimately, what this budget represents, I believe, is a thoughtful, strategic attempt to invest a significant amount of the community's funds in school communities to try to advance the needs of students,” he added.

Some members, however, remained unconvinced that the budget would allow the district to follow through on many of Murphy’s goals. Hudson, one of two members to oppose the budget on Tuesday, criticized the School Committee for failing to set clear priorities through the drafting process, despite three months of discussion.

“You have to have a clear set of goals, and you say, ‘This is what we want to do, and this is what we're trying to achieve, given where we are,’” Hudson said, “and then you judge the budget relative to its ability to resource those goals — and we as a committee haven’t articulated those goals.”

Still, other members framed the budget as a necessary step to maintain staffing and programs across the district.

Vice Chair Caitlin E. Dube ’05 called the budget “not a perfect document” but “a working agreement and a vote of confidence in our superintendent and administration.”

“I don’t think it’s responsible to hold up the entire budget,” she added.

The committee approved the plan after nearly two hours of debate. It now heads to the Cambridge City Council for final approval and, if adopted, will take effect in fiscal year 2027.

—Staff writer Jaya N. Karamcheti can be reached at [email protected].

—Staff writer Tess E. Sumner can be reached at [email protected].