The mayors and superintendents of Connecticut’s five largest cities gathered at the state Capitol in Hartford on Monday morning to call for a significant increase in state funding for their school districts.
Endorsing the recommendations of an October report by the 119K Commission, part of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, the officials from Bridgeport, Stamford, Hartford, New Haven and Waterbury called for a statewide increase of $545 million in education cost sharing (ECS) funding.
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said the state’s funding formula provides a per-student foundation amount of $11,525, a sum that hasn’t been raised or adjusted for inflation since 2013. He said that leaves municipalities in the position of needing to raise taxes to pay for education necessities, with urban districts having a disproportionate number of the state’s “high-needs” students – students who are English learners, students with disabilities, students receiving free or reduced-priced lunch, or a combination of the three.
“In the last five years in New Haven, we have increased the municipal share of our education funding by 50%,” Elicker said. “That is a remarkable increase, 50% over the last five years, that we have done to ensure that our students have the support they need, and we need to see that kind of support from the state.”
“We need to loosen the fiscal guardrails to get to that point,” Elicker said.
The state’s so-called "fiscal guardrails," championed by Gov. Ned Lamont and some leaders in the General Assembly, place constraints on state spending. Some policy advocates in various subject matters have proposed bypassing those constraints to fund things like higher education, social services and health care programs.
City schools need help meeting ‘basic needs’
“The guardrails are important, but there’s a time when the state can afford it and the need is great,” said Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim.
Acting Bridgeport Superintendent Royce Avery echoed the calls for a loosening of the guardrails, noting that 83% of the student body of the five cities’ districts are “high-needs” students.
“I think every kid in the state of Connecticut needs opportunity, and this is the time that we’re able to provide that opportunity, when the state is able to do that,” Avery said.
Hartford Superintendent Leslie Torres-Rodriguez said districts like hers aren’t looking to fund “shiny objects.”
“I want the basics,” Torres-Rodriguez said. “We’re talking about basic needs.”
Torres-Rodriguez said Hartford Public Schools has 188 teacher vacancies, “about half of those focused on special education.”
Elicker and other officials at the press conference said current funding levels have made for a significant lack of resources in terms of staffing.
“In New Haven, we have one school counselor for every 412 students. We have one social worker for 358 students, one psychologist for 595 students,” Elicker said. “Those numbers are astounding.”
Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski said his district has 42 special education teacher vacancies, “more than 20% of the required workforce.”
“Additionally, we face 29 [paraeducator] vacancies, further straining our capacity,” Pernerewski said. “The state is in a position to offer help. We need them to step up and do that. It isn’t a frivolous request.”
Elicker said the loosening of the guardrails is the “financially correct choice for our state.”
“If we don’t invest in our young people today, it will become not only a liability from a values perspective, but a financial liability for the state,” Elicker said. “That ranges from everything from our disconnected youth not being prominent taxpayers in the future… all the way to the fact that we may have to pay for incarceration for some of our youth.”
State leaders consider ‘minor modifications’
At a separate Capitol press conference Monday, House Speaker Matt Ritter (D-Hartford) said some education funding challenges could be addressed without adjustment to the fiscal guardrails, though adjustments are also on the table.
“Are we looking at ways to make minor modifications? I think [Senate President Martin Looney] and I have been pretty honest that we are,” Ritter said.
Asked whether the $545 million figure seemed meetable, Ritter said he would have to review the proposal.
“They tend to ask on the high end and we work through it, but I haven’t seen their proposal so it’s hard to comment on it,” Ritter said.
The Senate Republican Caucus issued a statement, saying the guardrails should stay in place.
"We must not tweak or adjust our smart bipartisan fiscal guardrails which have served Connecticut taxpayers so well," the statement read. "Today’s alterations to the guardrails will lead to tomorrow’s tax increases on working and middle class families. We can’t afford tax hikes in this state."
Asked about the appeal to loosen the guardrails from the mayors and superintendents, a spokesperson for the governor directed Connecticut Public to an answer Lamont gave at an unrelated press event on Monday afternoon.
“As you know, municipal aid in general has gone up way above inflation over the last six years, but I’m going to sit down and talk to the mayors,” Lamont said. “Maybe they have some ideas, in addition to just more funding, how we can get a better handle on this and take care of the kids.”
Speaking Monday morning, Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam said the key to solving the issue was, in fact, additional funding.
“What we lack is not structure or personnel,” Arulampalam said. “What we lack are the resources.”
