Melissa Bailey Photo
Schools COO Clark discusses budget with Alderwoman Edwards.
In an annual budget proposal released Monday, night school officials sent a dire message — they’ll need an extra $5 million from city taxpayers next year, and they still have to make $12 million in cuts, including a possible school closure.
The eventual reality may prove less dire than the scenario painted Monday. The proposed budget does not include an extra boost of $2.1 million in the state Education Cost Sharing grant that the governor has proposed, for example.
But schools Superintendent Reggie Mayo said after three years of flat funding, the school district has no choice but to ask for more money — and make significant cuts.
The $385 million budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1 was submitted to the school board at its regular meeting Monday. It calls for eliminating 60 teaching jobs, 10 administrators, 19 custodians, 25 paraprofessionals — and closing a school — to close a $12 million budget gap. Mayo did not name which school that would be.
Click here to read the budget proposal, which shows a detailed breakdown of school-by-school costs, including salaries for all district personnel.
Monday’s hearing room was particularly empty; only three members of the public spoke. There was no effort to let the public know the budget would be discussed, save for an agenda posted online and in the City Clerk’s office.
“Something’s gotta go,” Mayo (pictured) said. “I don’t think we can get away without cutting something or closing a school.” Unless money “drops out of the sky,” he said, “we’re going to have to do something more drastic.”
He called the situation unfortunate: “It’s like you build your home and you have to dismantle it.”
The proposed budget for FY2012-13 includes a $178,019,297 “operating budget,” which represents an increase of $5 million, or 2.9 percent over the current year. That’s the 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.
Aldermen don’t have line-by-line control over schools spending, but they do determine the schools’ total operating budget. The $5 million increase would equate to under a one-mill tax hike for local property owners, according to Mayor John DeStefano.
The figure doesn’t give the total impact on taxpayers: The board of ed is also asking for $92.9 million in city money to pay for school-related employment benefits and debt service, another increase of $5 million compared to FY2011-12. Those costs are handled on the city’s side of the budget.
The larger $384,967,550 education package — the true cost of running the schools — also includes $101.6 million in other costs paid for by grants.
DeStefano.
The budget still needs approval from the school board, which is tentatively set to vote on it on Feb. 27. It then passes to the mayor, who can choose to incorporate the district’s requests in his proposed budget. DeStefano (in foreground of photo) is set to release his overall city budget on March 1, after which point aldermen hold public hearings and vote on a final package.
Schools Chief Operating Officer Will Clark said the district began its budgeting process with a $22 million gap — in part because $10 million in federal stimulus money that plugged the gap this year is due to expire. The blow was softened when Gov. Dannel Malloy released a budget that would increase magnet funding by $2 million.
As part of the district’s new site-based budgeting initiative, which debuted last year, the district sent each department and each school its proposed budget and accepted feedback before Monday’s presentation, Clark said.
He proposed asking aldermen for an extra $5 million to support three main rising costs.
That includes $3 million in pay raises for teachers according to the landmark 2008 teachers’ contract, which Clark called the price the district paid for its school reform drive.
He requested an extra $2 million for maintenance costs. The district has been under-funding its maintenance budget, Clark said. An outside auditor that surveyed the district’s properties called for $29.5 million in annual upkeep; the district has been allocating only $17.6 million.
Responding to criticisms posed in the last year that students don’t have adequate textbooks, Clark also asked aldermen for an extra $400,000 to a line item for “textbooks,” bringing the total to $1.2 million. That figure represents the cost of textbooks and other classroom supplies allocated by the school system’s central office. It’s only a fraction of the total amount spent on textbooks, Clark said, because other textbook costs are listed in other parts of the budget.
In return, Clark said, the district is willing to shoulder “the bulk” of its budget gap through a “budget initiative” that promises $12.4 million in cuts.
School board members digest the budget.
That includes cutting 60 teaching positions for $3.4 million in savings, out of a total teacher salary budget of $118.2 million. Clark said he hopes the district could accomplish that through attrition, but it depends in part on which teachers leave the district and how much their salaries are. The district plans to save money in part through “breakage” — when, for example, a veteran teacher with a $80,000 salary leaves the district, and is replaced by a newcomer with half that salary.
The plan also includes $2 million in savings for “school closure/ consolidation.”
Superintendent Mayo said the district is eying a couple of schools with small student populations for a possible merger, but the move is far from “chiseled in stone.” Of the 12 recommended cuts, that one would be the first one removed from the table if more funding comes through, he said.
The largest single revenue source for the schools budget is the Education Cost Sharing grant that comes from the state. In his address last week, Gov. Malloy called for boosting New Haven’s share from $142.5 to $146.3 million. The city would get to keep $2.1 million of the increase, and would have to give the rest away to its charter schools, according to Malloy’s proposal.
Clark said he didn’t include that $2 million boost in his proposed budget because the legislature still has to approve the state budget and the figures may change.
After getting the school board to approve the budget — which it usually does — the district’s next task will be to convince the Board of Aldermen to raise taxes to pay for more spending on schools.
Newhallville Alderwoman Alfreda Edwards, the new chair of the aldermanic Education Committee, attended Monday’s meeting to hear the request. She expressed skepticism towards the request.
“I think we need to look at the budget and tighten up on the budget before we start looking for more funding,” Edwards said. She asked Clark to set up a community meeting on the budget as soon as possible, hopefully next week.
“We’re going to be very cautious about how we look at the budget — very cautious,” she pledged.
Board member Alex Johnston Monday urged his colleagues to reflect on how they can do a better job in giving members of the public time to review matters before the board.
Mayor DeStefano urged the district to talk to the public as much as possible about the budget.
“I think there’s a general perception that the district is over-funded,” DeStefano said. “That misconception needs to be engaged.” He said the perception comes in part because many of the highest salaries in the city fall under the Board of Education.
He said Monday he’s still not sure whether he’ll include the extra $5 million in general funds to the schools when he releases his city budget proposal on March 1. Schools staff have “done an extraordinary job” at running the district in the face of flat funding over the years, DeStefano said.
“There will probably be a general fund increase — what it is, I don’t know.”