The Boston teachers’ contract in April 2025 delivered pay raises for staff, a $181 million increase in school spending, and the end of more than a year of contentious negotiations.

The deal, agreed to shortly before a planned union protest of Mayor Michelle Wu’s State of the City address, averted what could have been a high-profile battle during an election year.

What the deal didn’t do: Guarantee Boston had the money to pay for it.

By the January after Wu’s reelection, city officials proposed cutting up to 400 jobs in the coming year’s school budget.

It’s a scenario that has played out across the state. Teachers unions have flexed their muscles in recent years, picketing and even striking to secure contracts with better pay and working conditions. Local politicians, seeking to avoid school disruptions and union pressure in elections, agree to substantial raises and other benefits.

But a tradeoff has emerged: Many of the same districts, including Boston, Newton, and Marblehead, announced budget cuts and layoffs within a few years of the new deals.

Similar episodes have played out across the country, according to Marguerite Roza, director of Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab.

“That’s the playbook these days,” Roza said. “Unions are asking for things they know the district can’t afford, and saying, ‘I don’t care, go get the money.’”

Often, school districts have managed to find the money. Brookline, for example, won overwhelming approval from town voters for a record tax override, to help pay for a 2022 teacher contract agreed to after a one-day strike. Of the $23 million brought in by the voter-approved tax hikes, about $18 million will go to the schools.

But that amount is still not enough to stave off all cuts, with some school positions set to be eliminated.