Waltham City Council Approves $132.8 Million School Budget After Weeks of Negotiation

WALTHAM — June 22, 2026 — Waltham City Council approves a $402 million fiscal year 2027 budget and rezones three commercial corridors to mixed-use overlay districts. The council voted unanimously to set the school department budget at $132,847,897 — $3,746,048 above Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy's original recommendation of $129,101,849 — after a multi-week negotiation among the mayor, school committee, and Finance Committee Chair Paul S. Katz. The municipal budget was fixed at $269,820,972, representing a combined increase of roughly $22 million, or 5.7 percent, over the prior year. The council attached two formal requests directing the schools superintendent to deliver, within five days, the district's strategic improvement plan and a summary of performance metrics. Thirteen-to-zero votes gave final passage to RCI overlay zoning amendments affecting properties associated with Bay Colony LLC, BXP Waltham Woods, Stony Brook Associates LLC, and 126 Main Street LLC. The council also approved 12-0 the purchases of two Mount Wally Road properties for affordable veterans housing, and eighth-grade McDevitt Middle School students won a committee referral — not just a congratulatory resolution — for their proposal to install a $9,704 Big Belly solar compactor at the Moody Street entrance to the Charles River Walk.