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.

November 14, 2025

Dear Belmont Public Schools Community,

On Wednesday, 11/12/2025, the Belmont School Committee (BSC) and Belmont Education Association (BEA) met for another negotiation session covering all four bargaining units. We focused on salary proposals.

At this meeting, we presented an updated salary package that values our employees and reflects our core goals of:

• Fiscal sustainability

• Maintaining student programming and current staffing levels

• Increasing time for learning and collaboration

After sustained advocacy from the School Committee, the Select Board agreed to allocate limited, one-time funds from “certified free cash,” pending Town Meeting approval, to support settling these contracts and recognizing our employees. Their willingness to do so reflects their confidence in our budget stewardship and their desire to see these contracts settled. These negotiations have also generated significant unanticipated expenses – dollars we would far prefer to invest directly into staff and students rather than legal fees. Settling these contracts swiftly will allow us to pay our staff more by avoiding additional negotiation expenses.

This one-time allocation allows us to provide meaningful one-time payments to all units this year, while keeping ongoing salary increases aligned with our multi-year fiscal plan and our goal of maintaining current staffing levels.

Summary of BSC Salary Proposals:

We have added a $500 one-time payment to our existing salary proposal for all Unit A (Educators) for FY26, equivalent to another .5% COLA. Along with automatic step and lane adjustments, all Unit A educators would receive cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) of:

• FY26: 2.5% for all steps; 

• FY27: 2.5% for Steps 1–11; 2.25% for top steps; 

• FY28: 2.5% for Steps 1–11; 2.25% for top steps. 

This session included a new salary proposal for Unit B (Directors, Assistant Directors, Curriculum Coordinators, and Assistant Principals) that directly responds to BEA priorities: 

• Adoption of a new transparent hiring scale aligned to work year and degree level

• Increased salary levels that recognize the advanced education attained

• New $5000 stipend for high school scheduling responsibilities

• Yearly salary increases of 2.75-4%

• A $500 one-time payment for all Unit B members

In addition to a $1,200 one-time payment for all Unit C (Administrative Assistants, Clerical Aides) members for FY26, we maintained our current salary proposal:

• Eliminate Step 1, raising starting salaries

• Add a new top step for Clerical Aides at $22.95/hour

• Cost-of-living adjustments of 6.0% for FY26, 2.5% for FY27, and 2.5% for FY28

We have made meaningful changes and offered significant, long-term investments to provide more time, more pay, and more opportunity for Unit D (Paraprofessionals, Classroom Aides, Campus Monitors, Building Substitutes): 

Time and  Collaboration

• Retains the 181-day work year plus 9 paid holidays.

• Adds 30 minutes each day of paid time, phased in over three years, culminating in a 32.5-hour work week.

• By FY28, this adds over 10,000 hours of paid time supporting both instructional and collaboration time annually.

Pay and Recognition

• $1,200 one-time payment for all members for FY26

• Add new top steps for Professional Aides/Classroom Assistants at $33.93/hour and Campus Monitors/Building Substitutes at $28.52/hour with hourly rates rising by about 10–11% over the contract.

• Longtime employees (over 85%) will see nearly 20% increases in annual pay by FY28 through added time and hourly increases.

  • Paraprofessionals/Classroom aides: $35,000 → $42,000

  • Campus monitors/Building substitutes: $29,000 → $35,000

• Continued access to longevity pay ($650–$900 per year after 10 years) and stipends for additional duties.

• Town continues to cover 80% of health insurance premiums.

Growth and Support 

• Professional development: 20 paid opportunities, up from 8.

• Tuition reimbursement: increased from $250 → $900 

• Sick leave and well-being improvements:

  • Retain 15 sick days annually; increases accumulation cap to 181 days.

  • New access to a shared sick-leave bank 

  • FMLA access: 10 district-pd. days + up to 10 from sick bank.

• Job protection after 3 years, reduced from 5.

Our next bargaining session with all four units is scheduled for November 20. We remain committed to a fair resolution that supports our students and strengthens our schools.

Thank you for your continued engagement and support.

Meg Moriarty, Ed.D., BSC Chair