Melissa Bailey Photo
COO Clark.
With a plea to put an end to years of flat funding, the school board sent a request to aldermen to chip in an extra $5 million towards city schools.
The request is part of a $385 million budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins on July 1. First unveiled two weeks ago, the proposal received unanimous approval by the school board Monday night.
It calls for eliminating 120 jobs, including 60 teachers, 10 administrators, 19 custodians, 25 paraprofessionals — and closing an unnamed school — to close a $12 million budget gap. The job cuts would be made through attrition if possible, and through layoffs if necessary, according to Chief Operating Officer Will Clark.
Click here to read the budget proposal, which shows a detailed breakdown of school-by-school costs, including salaries for all district personnel.
The proposed budget includes a $178,019,297 “operating budget,” which represents an increase of $5 million, or 2.9 percent, over the current year.
That figure that will likely get the brunt of attention as aldermen tackle the city budget this spring. The operating budget is paid for mostly by the state; the district is asking for a $5 million increase in the so-called “city contribution” to the schools budget, bringing the total to $27,677,966.
The budget was approved by a 6 – 0 vote at Monday’s regular school board meeting. Mayor John DeStefano, who appoints the board and also serves as a member, left the room before the vote to attend another meeting. The eighth seat on the board has been vacant since Selase Williams left in June.
The budget now passes to the the desk of the mayor, who can choose to incorporate the request in his budget proposal that’s set to be released on Thursday.
The final word will rest with aldermen, who will hold many hours of public hearings on the city budget in the spring. Aldermen control only the total amount of the schools operating budget; they don’t have line-by-line control of how the money gets spent.
Board member Michael Nast said Monday that the increase is fair, given that the board has been flat-funded for three years. He asked Clark how to respond to New Haveners who ask about the request.
Clark said the district has so far been able to handle the flat-funding through aggressive cost-savings, but has reached the point where it will need to take more drastic measures — such as closing a school — to balance the books. Clark has said the district began its budgeting process with a $22 million gap, in part because $10 million in stimulus money dried up. The school closure is among $12 million in cuts Clark said would be necessary next fiscal year, even if the district gets the extra $5 million it has requested from the city.
Aldermen have canceled a meeting of the Education Committee that was set for Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at City Hall. No new date has been set.