Brookline School Committee Defers WISP Decision, Eyes Fall 2026 Data Review

BROOKLINE -- February 26, 2026, Brookline School Committee hears nine educators defend WISP course, confronts a $5.27 million school budget gap. The February 26 meeting drew over a dozen public speakers, nearly all current Brookline High School educators opposing any school committee directive to reinstate a separate honors section in the ninth-grade heterogeneous social studies course known as WISP, World History Identity Status and Power. Brookline Education Union President Justin Brown warned that a "top-down directive" would trigger mandatory bargaining and create a "distracting turf battle" ahead of a critical multi-year override vote. History Department Coordinator Jen Martin told the committee that a comprehensive longitudinal analysis, conducted with data firm Open Architects, will be ready by mid-May and presented to the committee in fall 2026, with course redesign options to follow; no structural changes to WISP are planned for the coming school year. On the budget, CFO Susan Rouillard presented $1,095,926 in additional reductions since the February 5 meeting, bringing the proposed FY27 budget increase to $7.01 million and the funding gap to $5,269,603 against a town allocation of $1,740,706. In a failed-override scenario, the district would face a net reduction of roughly 88 full-time-equivalent positions since the last override, including elimination of middle-school world language and the conservatory music program for grades six through eight, and a 50 percent reduction in grade-one classroom aides.