THOMAS BREEN FILE PHOTO
Madeline Negrón: Trying to avoid staff layoffs. Still searching for $2M in savings.
Schools plan to mitigate expected $12M definict.
The Board of Education approved an updated budget for next school year — that is still out of balance by $2.3 million.
School board members took that vote Monday during the latest Board of Education meeting held at Ross Woodward School.
The vote reveals the financial bind the district is in as it prepares to receive an additional $5 million, rather than a requested $17 million, from the city’s general fund for its 2024 – 25 budget.
New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Superintendent Madeline Negrón told the school board that her district has whittled down the district’s expected deficit, and is hoping not to have to make staff cuts. But it still needs to figure out how to save another $2.3 million in order to balance the schools budget.
Thanks to the Board of Alders’ recent budget vote, the district will be receiving an additional $5 million for next school year. That will bring the total city contribution to the public schools budget from $203,263,784 to $208,263,784.
However, the district was in need of a $17 million bump from the city to maintain its current programming, staff, and systems, Negrón reported. As a result of not receiving the district’s requested $220,076,118, district leadership has been scrambling to figure out how it will close the multi-million dollar gap.
The board voted on Monday to approve the $208 million budget for next school year — with the caveat request that the superintendent’s team report back to the board in the winter with updates on progress to close the remaining $2 million-plus gap.
At Monday’s meeting, board Vice President Matt Wilcox made the motion to approve Negrón’s amended 2024 – 25 budget with the requirement that Negrón provide the board with a mid-year examination of how mitigation efforts are going during the board’s first November meeting. All members voted yes except Andrea Downer, who abstained.
“The danger with a budget like this is we might end up in a situation where we have to make cuts mid-year because, by law, my reading of the regulations is we are only allowed to spend what is allocated to us to spend,” Wilcox said.
He added the requirement of an update to the board so that the body will know mid-year what to possibly expect in terms of potential cuts or further mitigation. “I’m hoping that we’ll have time to either get more funds added or to make those adjustments,” he said.
Over the last month, Negrón has mentioned the possibility of needing to lay off up to 61 staffers to balance next year’s budget. She says she is working to find savings in all areas before a plan for staff cuts is presented.
As of Monday’s update, Negrón said the district still has to find $2,377,378 in reductions since it has aimed to shift from its initial idea to realign and cut 61 staff positions, which would have saved about $6.4 million.
The plan is to maximize grant opportunities to save $4,283,757 and reduce operational costs by 10 percent and therefore save $619,930. The district also wants to decrease non-instructional materials: “This year, there were a lot of supports that we were able to bring in through our [Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief] dollars. We believe we can reduce those by $500,000.”
The plan also includes analyzing and cutting bus routes to save $1 million, reducing contractual services by 10 percent and saving $1,120,554, and continuing realignment/reduction of staff through school right-sizing and rethinking what vacant positions and retirements should be filled, which will save $1,910,715.
“I believe that we have looked everywhere,” Negrón concluded. “All of this effort has been so that I don’t have to be like my colleagues in speaking about layoffs.”
Board member and Mayor Justin Elicker recognized on Monday the “tough situation” the district is dealing with. He emphasized that “all of us want to avoid program reductions and layoffs.”
He added that he plans to work with with Negrón to figure out how to close the district’s $2 million funding gap. One idea he said will be considered is if the city has a surplus, as it’s had in the past few years, some of those funds could help. “We won’t know if we have a surplus for a couple of months,” Elicker told the Independent on Wednesday. He stressed that, if the city does have a surplus and does decide to try to use those funds to help the school district close a budget gap, that work would have to be done in conjunction with the Board of Alders.
“I’m committed to working with her to try to do that and identifying any potential avenues there may be,” he said. “I think that we all can be very clear that we want to avoid layoffs a much as possible. We’ll work hard to find pathway to do so.”
Wilcox reminded the board Monday that the budget numbers it’s dealing with will look like longer bus rides or further walks to school for students. “We already don’t have enough people in so many key roles to meet the needs in the district, and this just means less,” he said.
As the board has discussed in past meetings, Wilcox again emphasized, “It’s depressing to be in this situation. It’s also depressing that Connecticut decides this is how they’re gonna fund their schools. Every system gets the results it’s designed for.”
Wilcox has pointed in the past to the state’s school district report card system that this year showed the drastic differences in comprehensive high schools like Wilbur Cross and Staples High School in Westport. While close in student enrollment numbers (Staples has about 100 fewer students), Wilcox pointed out that Cross spends $18,689 per pupil and Staples spends $24,681 per pupil. Staples also has nearly 50 more certified full time staff than Cross despite Cross having higher enrollment, more students eligible for free and reduced lunch, more multilingual learners, and more chronically absent students.
Negrón concluded that going into next school year her team will continue to “seize opportunities” and continue work with realigning staff, identifying positions that may have been duplicated over the years, and right-sizing departments. “We took time to engage with the unions, to collaborate with the unions, so that they were at the table, they were a partner in the conversations. I also want to have the time moving forward to continue to do the same process that we know works.”
She has recently established a team to assess newly vacated positions to allow the district to consider its spending on new staff and analyze openings.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the mayor had said that the budget deficit might be closed with a school district surplus. It’s been corrected to reflect that he said it might be addressed with funds from a city surplus, if such a surplus is available and if the alders and city agree to move forward in that way.
Watch the full meeting above.