100 jobs, middle schools sports targeted for cuts in Hartford schools due to $6.7M budget gap
During an emotionally fraught Hartford Board of Education meeting Tuesday night, a handful of parents, students and educators pleaded with board members to demand the city give more money to the reeling school district that is facing a $6.7 million budget deficit.
More than 130 Hartford Public Schools staff members, including some teachers, are facing pink slips at the end of the school year if the district can't find a way to close the nearly $7 million budget gap, a task that advocates say is impossible without additional funding from the city.
The board on Tuesday approved the district's $452 million balanced budget for the next school year, while making an unprecedented appeal directly to the city by adding a resolution asking for funds to help close the $6.7 million funding gap.
The budget vote included several cuts to middle school athletic programming, security guard positions, student support and success centers, and on-track graduation programs. while also attaching a resolution that formally requests the city to 'identify an additional appropriation' for $6.7 million to fund its programs.
The district, which was facing a $30 million budget deficit earlier this year, already made several reductions and realignments at their central office totaling around $15 million, according to Hartford Superintendent Leslie Torres-Rodriguez. Those reductions, along with an expected $5 million in additional state funding, have brought the budget deficit down to $6.7 million. The district expects around $3 million from the City of Hartford.
Among the challenges facing the city's school system are ballooning operating costs, including tuition and special education funding, a decline in student enrollment, loss of federal funds and continued flat funding on the city level for necessitating the cuts. The city continues to flat fund Hartford Public Schools on education spending. Hartford allocates $284 million, which represents a zero increase over the last decade despite rising costs. Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam has previously contended the majority of district funding comes from the state.
Also at issue is a decline in student enrollment between Hartford Public Schools and the Capitol Region Education Council or CREC, which operates interdistrict magnet schools that draw interested students by lottery from Hartford and the surrounding suburbs. Torres-Rodriguez has said that the district has seen increased enrollment of Hartford students at CREC schools, which has added to costs. The district must pay tuition for Hartford students who enroll at CREC schools and also loses funding due to decreased enrollment figures within the district.
Since the 2016-17 school year, enrollment across the district has decreased by more than 4,000 students. The largest decrease in enrollment came during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic with a loss of more than 1,100 students during the 2020-21 school year. Since 2010, the district has seen a 21% decrease in enrollment and a 197% increase in magnet and open choice tuition costs, according to the district.
The district said that under the current plan, Hope Academy, a program that offers small class sizes for students who need support in staying on track for graduation, would lose more than half of its funding. The city's Opportunity Academy, a school which serves approximately 155 students in grades 9 through 12 through project-based learning, would be eliminated.
'It's hard to fathom the lasting impact of additional cuts to our public school system. Over the last 11 years of flat funding from the state of Connecticut and the city of Hartford, the district has mitigated almost $144 million in budget reductions, eliminating 644 positions to adopt balanced budgets,' said Hartford Public Schools Superintendent Leslie Torres-Rodriguez.
'We've closed schools and consolidated programs, and we've lost many talented educators because the district did not have competitive compensation. We were able to bring back some essentials, including middle school sports or student support and success centers that are community priorities. But now we are on the brink of closing down those programs as well in order to balance next year's budget,' she said.
Carol Gale, president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers, said that if the cuts go ahead they will have a negative impact on student learning and growth. The Hartford Federation of Teachers said the district has already cut 194 employee union positions over the last few years.
'Our students are taking the hit of losing 134 staff members in order to reduce an already $30 million deficit to the current $6.7 million deficit,' said Gale. 'For our students, this means higher class sizes, less course offerings, less support, less enrichment, and less opportunities. Further cuts only exacerbate the losses.'
Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com.
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