Christopher Peak Photo
Board of Education President Darnell Goldson.
Board of Education President Darnell Goldson is revving up the revenue bandwagon, with one proviso — that New Haven schools beware philanthropic “gift horses.”
Goldson announced his new quest at his Jan. 1 swearing-in to a second term as an elected board member. He repeated it and fleshed out the strategy’s details during a visit Wednesday to WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” program.
He reiterated that after years of looking for dramatic school budget cuts, he compared New Haven’s per-pupil spending to that of highest-performing suburban schools — and concluded that leaders must focus on finding new revenues rather than magic cost reductions.
That quest first and foremost centers on shaking more dollars from the state money tree. Because the state makes the tax rules in Connecticut. The fact that the state prevents New Haven from taxing 56 percent of its property is the reason the city spends close to $17,000 per student — which districts like New Canaan spend a quarter again as much, Goldson argued.
As for those favorite targets of budget critics — “administrators” — New Haven is no more top-heavy than those other districts, Goldson reported.
“Money matters,” he said. “I am no longer going to be looking at cuts. … We’ve got to put them on notice” at the state legislature that New Haven needs more school funding than the $157 million it now receives, about $11 million of which comes with spending restrictions.
New Haven and other cities have made that case for years.
“You can’t stop trying just because you haven’t made headway in the past,” Goldson argued. To that end, he said he’s working on assembling a coalition of “stakeholders” to bring that message to Hartford. He’s speaking with parent activists, other elected officials, community leaders, he said.
At the Jan. 1 inauguration, for instance, he had a conversation with Yale President Peter Salovey about working together to push the state for increased payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) to the city to make up for revenue lost on tax-exempt properties (of which Yale owns the most).
“I’m not going to fight with” Yale, Goldson said. “I’m going to fight with the people who gave them that exemption.”
State funding has crept up in recent years — by $3 million in the most recent budget. Goldson said the real goal should be more like an additional $75 to $100 million.
Meanwhile, Goldson said, the city government has reduced its own contribution to the public schools in part thanks to that $3 million state increase. He vowed to push the city to stop doing that — to let the public schools use 100 percent of any added money coming from the state.
The Dalio “Gift Horse”
Paul Bass Photo
Goldson on Jan. 1 taking the oath for a second term.
The biggest pot of potential new state money is a new “Partnership for Connecticut” seeded by hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio. Working with Gov. Ned Lamont, Dalio committed to put $100 million to fund school improvements over five years, matched by $100 million in state funding, and theoretically another $100 million from other donors.
Goldson participated in a meeting last week with other board members and the mayor and schools superintendent to strategize over what money to seek from the Dalio fund.
However, Goldson expressed caution about that money. It may have strings attached, he said. Like similar one-off education grants to New Haven over the years — the Teacher Improvement Fund (TIF), for instance, and “Alliance” grants to struggling schools — this money would fund specific new projects, and then run out, leaving New Haven with a bigger long-term bill to keep the work going.
He also criticized the secrecy of the new fund, which state legislators exempted from Freedom of Information Act disclosure rules in a controversial decision.
Goldson added that the Dalio money will at this point add up to $60 million a year to be spread among many different districts, meaning the potential windfall for any one district like New Haven is not as dramatic as it sounds at first.
“I’m not going to put a lot of my energy into fighting for these crumbs,” Goldson said, though he intends to support to quest for some Dalio dollars. “You should look a gift horse in the mouth.”
Click on the video below to watch the full interview with Darnell Goldson on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven,” in which he also discussed magnet schools, school desegregation, potential school consolidation, and change coming to the Dixwell neighborhood.