Maya McFadden file photo
Supt. Negrón: 55 staff cuts identified; 196 more might be needed.
(Updated) Supt. Madeline Negrón is considering making more than 200 staff cuts next year as the school district wrestles with how to close an expected $23 million budget deficit.
Negrón discussed those potential layoffs Monday as she presented a FY2025-26 school year budget update to the Board of Education Finance and Operations Committee. The meeting took place online via Zoom.
Negrón explained to the committee that for the past year, she has been conducting a “right-sizing” process within NHPS to identify staff positions that are no longer needed in school buildings across the district.
So far, she’s identified 55 positions that she is considering cutting in order to work toward a balanced 2025 – 2026 budget.
Those 55 cuts, she said, would save NHPS around $4,255,000. That wouldn’t be enough to close the district’s expected deficit.
Right now, that deficit is expected to be $23 million. The district is looking for nearly $231.5 million from the city next year in order to wipe out that deficit entirely. Mayor Justin Elicker has proposed a roughly $213.2 million education budget — marking a $5 million increase from the current year’s allocation.
If the district cut 55 positions and if the mayor’s $213.2 million budget allocation were approved by the alders, NHPS would still have a $13.7 million expected deficit, according to Negrón.
And so, Negrón said on Monday, she would have to identify an additional 196 staff positions to cut in order to bring the district out of the red.
NHPS spokesperson Justin Harmon told the Independent Wednesday the district plans to present on the full scope of its right-sizing work and budget reductions at next week’s full Board of Education meeting.
Harmon did not provide a comment at this time on how many NHPS positions have been cut so far, if any; how many of the proposed cuts would be of vacant positions vs. filled positions; or when Negrón plans to know for certain if the district will have to make such a large number of cuts.
“It’s clear as day there is nowhere else to go with these budgets now,” NHPS Chief Finance Officer Linda Hannans added Monday
Hannans also noted that 84.3 percent of NHPS’ general fund budget goes towards personnel and contractual wages, out-of-district tuition, and transportation. She said that the district in recent years has faced increasing special education costs. And she said, per state regulations, local districts have had to increase their funding of charter schools.
“The only thing that could save us,” Negrón said during Monday’s meeting, “would be approval of that SB 1511.”
That state senate bill, currently under consideration by the state legislature, would bring an additional roughly $42.7 million to New Haven, Negrón said. That funding increase would allow the district to close its expected $23 million budget deficit and leave it with $18.7 million remaining to put toward filling some critical staffing gaps and maintain the district’s curriculum materials, at a cost of around $2.8 million, that federal pandemic-relief aid helped to support.
She emphasized that the remaining amount would only be enough to help the district fill a few of its high-need positions, but not all vacancies. To address all of NHPS’ current school staffing needs, Negrón said, would cost about $38 million to fill all critical positions based on NHPS’ staffing guidelines.
She added that additional cuts are being considered for after-school programming. If that were to be the case, the district would run after-school programs at a select few hubs as opposed to at every school building in the district.
Negrón concluded that even after her team has combined classrooms, right-sized staff, assigned staff the max of their contractual caseloads, and cut under-enrolled high school courses, the deficit remains and additional “painful” staff cuts will be needed.
“This is the reality of where we are… Even if we continue right sizing, look at opportunities, we will still be chasing another $13.7 million.”
Update: Also, on Thursday, Negrón posted a letter addressed to NHPS parents on the district website detailing the school district’s financial struggles, particularly looking toward next year’s expected $23 million budget deficit. She concluded with a plea urging the community to reach out to state legislators and the governor to call for increasing state funding of public education. Click here to read the letter in full.
NHPS staffing guidelines.