Laura Glesby photo
Majority Leader Richard Furlow to Board of Ed: "Get it together."
The Board of Alders issued a lifeline — along with a warning — to the Board of Education, as they unanimously approved transferring $8.5 million from the city’s surplus for the school system’s use.
“I’m going to say to the Board of Ed: Get it together,” said Majority Leader Richard Furlow, before reluctantly expressing support for the transfers Monday night.
The transfer votes took place directly after alders enthusiastically approved a new police union contract, which is slated to cost the city $6.8 million this fiscal year.
When faced with the school funding items during Monday night’s full Board of Alders meeting on the second floor of City Hall, some alders expressed concern about the Board of Ed’s efficiency, and about the proportion of school funding that comes from the city, as opposed to the state or other funding sources. In the end, however, they cited the urgency of schools’ needs as a reason to pass the transfers.
The funding in question includes $5.5 million that the city received from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which had originally been allocated to help balance the city’s Fiscal Year 2023 – 24 budget.
After the city ended up with a $16 million surplus, rendering that ARPA expense unnecessary, Mayor Justin Elicker’s administration proposed reallocating the funds toward school maintenance needs.
The transfer arrives at a time when some New Haven Public School students have reported learning in unheated buildings and moldy libraries.
The bulk of that funding — just over $3 million, according to a spreadsheet submitted by the school district — will go toward HVAC upgrades and replacements. The costs also includes floor fixes and bathroom repairs, among other maintenance tickets.
Additionally, the Elicker administration proposed an unorthodox transfer of $3 million from the city’s surplus into a separate fund designated for “educational purposes.”
The Board of Education can eventually request those funds from the Board of Alders to balance their own budget, should the school system experience a budget shortfall.
Under state law, the city cannot decrease funding to its education system year over year; however, since this $3 million fund does not qualify as a direct budget transfer to the Board of Education, it would not raise the city’s minimum contribution to New Haven Public Schools next year.
A handful of alders expressed reserved support for the transfers, before each measure passed unanimously.
“I’m rising reluctantly in support … because our kids deserve it,” said East Rock Alder Anna Festa.
Festa called on the state (among the wealthiest in the country) as well as the federal government to assist with school funding.
City funds, she argued, are “needed for sidewalks, speed bumps, road paving, etc.”
Furlow decried the state of the school buildings in “one of the world’s wealthiest nations.”