I don’t read it as a purposeful reduction in aid. The context of the information is critical. This document, while of course public and general, relates specifically to the search of a head of school. Understanding the current student body and the financial condition to begin with yields and important context for this discussion.
If you look at the Emma Willard’s website, the language and discussion of Financial Aid is pretty consistent with historical themes–46% on some form of aid. It’s also possible that the aid-per-student has increased even though the overall % has gone down slightly. The percentage receiving aid is still higher than Groton on a % basis (39% of Groton has FA, although it’s higher per student).