Laura Glesby photo
Supt. Negrón (right), with schools CFO Hannans: “I don’t see it as a cushion.”
Is a $3 million budget-balancing fund for New Haven Public Schools a “cushion” or a “lifeline”?
It depends on who’s asked.
Two narratives about the state of public school finances emerged at a Board of Alders Finance Committee meeting on Tuesday evening, at which alders tentatively advanced a total of $8.5 million toward school-related funds — while waiting for answers.
The alders were weighing two separate proposals to transfer funds previously budgeted for the city’s general use toward New Haven Public Schools (NHPS), at a time when the school system’s budget has a $2.4 million hole.
One is a proposal to reallocate $5.5 million of funding that the city received as American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) pandemic relief funds. That $5.5 million was initially slated to balance the city’s Fiscal Year 2023 – 24 general fund budget, but it turned out that the city didn’t need the extra funding — and wound up with a $16 million surplus.
The ARPA funds have to be obligated by the end of 2024 in order for the city to claim them. Mayor Justin Elicker is proposing that they be used for school maintenance, at a time of mounting complaints related to the safety and conditions of NHPS buildings.
Another proposal is an assignment of $3 million for “education purposes,” drawing from the city’s $16 million surplus after the 2023 – 24 fiscal year.
The $3 million would be designated as funding that the Board of Education can request from the Board of Alders this fiscal year if school expenses go over budget, according to Finance Chair and Westville Alder Adam Marchand. It would function as a “cushion,” he said, for the Board of Education to draw from in order to cover over-budget expenses.
This unusual budgetary move (as opposed to a direct transfer of funds to the Board of Education) enables the city to increase funds for the school system this fiscal year without necessarily committing to that same funding next fiscal year. According to City Budget Director Shannon McCue, had the city directly transferred the $3 million, it would have had to raise its minimum contribution to the school district’s budget the following year, due to a state law that prevents cities from decreasing municipal contributions to school funding.
When McCue pitched the alders on the $3 million proposal, she framed the funding as a “contingency.”
The funds, McCue said, would “hopefully stay as a reserve” — and would be available just in case the Board of Education happens to need it.
“There are some spending pressures” on the school system, she said, but “it’s still early in the school year. There’s still lots of tools, lots of ways to save.”
Superintendent Madeline Negrón offered a different take on the urgency of the funds, referring to the funding as a “lifeline.”
“I don’t see it as a cushion,” she said.
She pointed out that while she had requested a $17 million increase in funding from the city for the current year’s budget, the mayor and alders approved only an additional $5 million. In June, the Board of Education approved a budget with a more than $2.3 million hole.
“We already know when we open up our doors at the beginning of the year that we’re in the negative,” she said. “Our budgets aren’t cushioned.”
"We Need Accountability"
Finance Committee Chair Adam Marchand: A direct transfer would have been "more honest."
Both school funding requests drew rebukes from several alders, who lambasted the Board of Education’s fiscal practices.
Majority Leader and Westville Alder Richard Furlow asked whether the school system would have to meet certain conditions in order to obtain the money: “So your office would say, ‘these are the things you have to do in order for us to release these funds. You have to apply for this grant, you have to jump through this hoop, you have to dance on one foot in order to get it.’”
“There’s no hoops,” said McCue. “It’s essentially free and clear money.”
“It just seems like year after year, the Board of Ed has had an extreme lack of budget downfall,” Furlow pressed.
Marchand pointed out that the alders are ultimately in charge of the funds. “It would have to be a transfer that we would have to approve.”
Later, during deliberations, he argued that the city should have just directly transferred the $3 million — and raised its minimum contribution. “That seems more honest,” he said, since more funding is highly likely to be requested in the upcoming budget process anyway.
Alders Jeanette Morrison, Sal Punzo, Sal DeCola, Evette Hamilton, Anna Festa, Tyisha Walker-Myers, Furlow, and Marchand voted in favor of the $3 million transfer. Fair Haven Heights Alder Rosa Ferraro-Santana and West Rock/West Hills Alder Honda Smith voted against it.
The $5.5 million, time-sensitive ARPA transfer requested for school maintenance garnered similar pushback.
“For quite a while, we’ve been hearing about the dire situation as it relates to our school facilities,” said Negrón.
She said that she would prioritize “health and safety” risks such as HVAC and mold problems. Bathroom fixes would also be a priority.
Ferraro-Santana pointed out that alders had already funded some maintenance projects using ARPA dollars. “What happened to that money?” she asked.
“Some of those projects did have them, some did not,” Negrón said. “There was so much that needed to happen. The money just didn’t extend.”
The committee alders pressed the school leaders for a more detailed outline of what maintenance tickets, exactly, the ARPA funding would cover.
Ultimately, most committee alders (all except Festa) voted in favor of the ARPA transfer for now. Several stated, however, that they may revoke support if they do not receive satisfactory information about how the funds will be spent by the time the full Board of Alders takes the matter up for a vote in mid-November.
“We need accountability about how the money is going to be spent,” said Ferraro-Santana.
"Are Our Children A Priority?"
Para Union Prez Hyclis Williams.
Several members of the public waited hours to offer testimony in favor of both proposals.
“I don’t hear enough conversation about the students of today,” said Bryanna Wingate, who graduated from Wilbur Cross in 2010.
“The students in the long run are going to suffer from under-funding,” said Hyclis Williams, the president of the school district’s Paraprofessionals Union.
Alder Jeanette Morrison echoed this sense of urgency.
“I have one of the schools in my ward that has a broken everything,” she said. “What is our priority? Are our children a priority?”
“When rain is coming down on the children, the teachers, and everyone else’s head,” she added, “they have to fix it.”