A COMMUNICATION HAS BEEN RECEIVED FROM DAVID MURPHY, SUPERINTENDENT CAMBRIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. REGARDING PRIORITIES DRIVING OUR FY27 OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE CAMBRIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

February 23, 2026 FY 2027 Proposed Budget Roundtable

Agenda ● Upcoming Budget Meetings ● FY27 Budget Increase ● Birth Rate Data ● Information about Personnel and Charter Schools ● FY27 Focus Areas ● Student Supports: ○ Eliminating Barriers to Engagement ○ Morning Supports ○ Data Supports ● Discussion 2

3 Date Meeting Topic February 23 Joint Roundtable School Committee/City Council Discussion of FY27 Budget March 11 Special Meeting Presentation of Superintendent’s Proposed Budget March 17 Public Hearing Public Hearing on Proposed Budget March 25 Budget Workshop School Committee Review of Proposed Budget March TBD Budget Workshop School Committee Review of Proposed Budget April 7 Regular Meeting School Committee Vote of Adoption May 6 City Council Budget Hearing on CPS Adopted Budget Upcoming Meeting Dates for School Committee

4 Date Time Target Audience Location December 10 4:30PM & 5:30PM CPS Staff Sessions Virtual December 17 5:30-6:30PM Caregivers Virtual January 13 3PM & 4PM CPS Staff Sessions Virtual January 21 6-7PM Caregivers Cambridge Street Upper School Late January/ Early February ongoing Principals meeting with School Communities All Schools February 24 5:30-6:30PM Staff & Caregivers Virtual March 17 6PM Community CRLS Community Engagement Community Meetings on the FY 2027 Budget School Leaders conferred with representatives of the building communities to solicit input and comments to be forwarded to the central administration.

FY26 Budget $280.25M Salary & Benefits + $10.3M +4.4% Facilities, Energy, Equip Maint. + $650K +6.0% Transportation +$610K +4.2% Special Education Tuition + $800K +11.0% Instruct & Other Srvcs/Supplies + $390K +2.7% CRLS Student MBTA Passes + $500K FY27 Projected Expenses $293.5M FY27 General Fund Estimates Projected Expenditure Increases & Decreases 5 See Appendix for more detail Projected Increase +$13.25M +4.7%

FY27 General Fund Revenues $293.5 Million FY26 FY27 Incr. % Incr. Property Tax 255.2 269.2 13.0 5.0% State Ch. 70 Education Aid 22.7 23.2 0.5 2.4% General State Aid 0.3 0.0 (0.3) (100%) Federal Medicaid Reimb. 0.9 0.9 0 Total $280.25 $293.5 $13.25 4.7% Other Revenue 1.15 1.15 0 ● 91% of revenue is from property taxes, 8% from Chapter 70 Aid ● CPS is 28% of City Budget ● DESE estimates CPS FY27 Foundation Budget to be $130.5M, with a required contribution of $107.7M 6 (In Millions)

Growth in CPS General Fund Budget Updated FY23 to FY27 7 4 Year Budget Increase (FY23 to FY27): $61.1 million (26%) from $232.4M to $293.5M FY25 was $23.25M increase (9.5%) due to longer school day

8 FY27 General Fund Budget Updated: $293.5 Million ➢ $244.4M ➢ $15.0M ➢ $10.3M ➢ $8.0M ➢ $6.3M ➢ $5.9M ➢ $3.6M TOTAL $293.5M Projected FY27 Amount SALARIES & BENEFITS TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES & ENERGY OUT OF DISTRICT TUITION INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPLIES & SERVICES STAFF TRAINING; OTHER SUPPLIES & SERVICES TECHNOLOGY 83% 5% 4% 3% 2% 2% 1% FY 2026-2027 General Fund Budget

Cambridge Birth Rate History Updated 2000-2025 with Kindergarten % 9 *Kindergarten Enrollment from Oct. 1 Official Enrollment

Base-Level for ALL Schools Enrollment-Based Student Need-Based The needs of the students determine these allocations. The same for all schools. The number of students determine these allocations. CPS uses a system-wide, tiered approach for determining budget/staff allocations at each school. 10 School Staffing Structure

Charter School Enrollment 11

• Charter schools with the largest number of Cambridge students are: • Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School • Community Charter School of Cambridge • Prospect Hill Academy These schools accounted for 98.5% of charter school students in FY25 • Other schools with a few students in FY25 - Pioneer Charter School of Science, KIPP Academy Lynn, Match Charter Public High School, and Brooke Charter School. In FY23 and FY24 here was also a student at Excel Academy • These schools receive the CPS per pupil amount for each Cambridge student – this comes from the City’s budget ($18M for FY25) • When charter school enrollment increases significantly DESE covers a portion of the increase • In 2024, Benjamin Banneker acquired the Matignon campus Charter School Notes 12

City of Cambridge Budget Forecast/Context Economic Slowdown • Lower property values & slower growth • Uncertainty • Focus on long-term financial stability • Effort to limit taxpayer impact City of Cambridge goal of less than 5% increase to budget for FY 2026-2027 13 13

Cambridge Public Schools Budget Planning 14 Lower projected budget increase than past years Maximizing effectiveness/ impact of staff time, and monitoring budgeted full time equivalent (FTE) positions Upcoming employee contract negotiations 1 2 3

Continued Commitment: Foundations for a New Strategic Plan - Overarching Goals Educator Effectiveness 1. Professional learning, empowerment and alignment 2. Educator evaluation 3. Use of time 4. Teacher leadership Family Engagement 1. Fostering of trust and relationships 2. Reciprocal communication 3. Asset-based mindset and co-design opportunities 4. Link to student learning Programmatic and Capital Planning 1. Early Childhood Programming 2. 158 Spring Street 3. Expanded Learning Time Program 15

FY 2026-2027 Preliminary Focus Areas: Improving student supports Before school time Data investment Educator empowerment and evaluation Family Engagement FY26 FY26 FY27 FY27 FY27 16

17 District Plan: Major Focus Areas FY27 Educator Effectiveness & Professional Learning Family Engagement More students in better positions to succeed. FY26 Educator Effectiveness & Professional Learning Early Childhood Programming Facilities Planning Family Engagement Student Supports AM Time Data Supports

● Adjustment to staff hours where contractually permitted. ● Investment in stipend opportunities for academic, recreational support. ● Transportation software upgrade. ● Staffing modifications to support crisis response teams ● Potential collaborative partnerships for early education programming. ● Intervention-based and/or therapeutic learning settings reflective of student needs. ● Targeted FTE allocations to support school and departmental leaders. ● Additional platform monitoring systems to ensure sound investments (and practices) with respect to subscription-based services. ● Adoption of more uniform systems related to educator supervision. Students Supports Consideration of potential programming partnerships to support long and short-term student placements. Data Supports Staffing and platform investments to better support data-based inquiry systems. FY27 AM Time Usage Planning for more strategic use of time prior to the start of school. 18 Nine ongoing/ pending bargaining negotiations for expiring CBSs

19 ● Staffing modifications to support crisis response teams ● Potential collaborative partnerships for early education programming. ● Development of short-term therapeutic learning settings. Student Supports Consideration of potential programming partnerships to support long and short-term student placements. ● Potential K - 2nd Special Education Collaborative ● Upper School “bryt” Intervention System ● Increase Upper School General Education Social Worker Complement ● Revised Behavioral Technician Position (Designated Paraprofessionals) ● CRLS ongoing discussions Expanding Student Supports to Reduce Social/Emotional Barriers: Supports for students experiencing social and emotional barriers attributable to mental health needs, behavioral challenges, home-related trauma or housing instability, resulting in strained relations and/or diminished engagement. FY27

Discussion 20