This portal has been created to keep the Belmont community updated about the Belmont School Committee's (BSC) ongoing collective bargaining negotiations with the Belmont Education Association (BEA) for a 2025-2028 successor contract. We will continue to provide updates on this site regularly, as well as via posts on our social media accounts (Facebook: BelmontPublicSchools, and X: @belmontschools). We encourage you to visit these resources often for the latest updates.

March 20, 2026

Dear Belmont Public Schools Community,

Since my last update on March 6, we have met twice with the Belmont Education Association (BEA) and a state-appointed mediator. The parties have focused on the remaining Unit A (Educators) proposals after more than a year of negotiations involving hundreds of proposals and narrowing the focus to key issues. We also recognize that the BEA’s work-to-rule action has had a direct impact on some students and families, and we take those concerns seriously as we continue this work. 

Both sides have moved. We have adjusted our Unit A salary proposal in response to BEA feedback, moving from a differentiated cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) structure intended to support early-career educators, to a consistent percentage increase, regardless of experience level. The BEA then presented updated salary proposals that move closer to ours, though differences remain. They also suggested adding a fourth year to the contract. We will review their latest proposals, analyze the financial impact, and respond at our next session in April.

In addition, the parties worked through a number of remaining proposals. We are working to address several proposals brought forth by the BEA in ways that support educators while maintaining time and services for students, including:

• clearer information for new hires about their salary placement,

• increased compensation for coaching and extracurricular activities, and

• two potential District/BEA working groups focused on class size/caseload and meeting schedules.

The parties have now reached nearly 100 tentative agreements, many reflecting proposals brought forward by the BEA that we have agreed to, including contract changes and financial improvements such as paid family leave, additional longevity stipends, and expanded access to sick banks across units.

At the same time, some proposals remain unresolved. We have not agreed to proposals that would require significant additional spending to hire more staff or reduce time with students, such as eliminating lunch duty for all educators or providing additional release days for report writing. In order to bring us closer to settlement, we have withdrawn certain proposals where there was not agreement, including our previously proposed health insurance opt-out option.

We have also spent time working collaboratively on how to better support elementary educators, particularly in Grades K–3. We agree with the BEA that educators would benefit from additional preparation time and opportunities for common planning. The existing 7-hour workday and scheduling requirements make it challenging to add both while ensuring students continue to be taught by educators rather than requiring additional substitute coverage. We will continue to explore options that move in this direction and are feasible to implement.

While meaningful differences remain, we are hopeful that mediation will continue to support forward movement. We remain mindful that any agreement must be both fair to our educators and sustainable within the budget we have been allocated to support our students.

Meg Moriarty, Ed.D., BSC Chair