Aliyya Swaby File Photo
De La Paz: State cuts loom.
The Board of Ed’s top fiscal officer suggested the schools seek a $7.5 million raise from the city in the coming year’s budget to pay paraprofessionals more and redesign alternative schools, amid expected state funding cuts.
School district Chief Financial Officer Victor De La Paz unveiled his suggested new budget for the next fiscal year at a Board of Ed meeting Tuesday night in the auditorium of L.W. Beecher School on Jewell Street.
The new fiscal year starts July 1.
De La Paz suggested that the board seek $7.5 million more in that budget than the $180 million it has received this year in city funding (including state cost-sharing money that comes through the municipal government).
The ed board is scheduled to vote on a proposed new budget at its next meeting, this coming Monday night. Then the proposed budget gets forwarded to the Board of Alders for consideration.
The new proposed ask is less than the $10.5 million increase the board requested from the city last year. It is more than the $3.3 million increase the city ultimately approved last year.
Superintendent Garth Harries said he wanted Tuesday night’s discussion to “culminate in an official request” next Monday night, with the board voting on the amount to ask the city. Local and state funding levels will guide the way schools and central office are funded, he said.
De La Paz said there is a total of about $6.6 million of known cost increases in the schools, which will be absorbed by cutting 7 percent in central office costs. The cost increases include about $2.8 million in teacher salaries, $905K in non-teacher salaries, $590,799 in transportation contractual increases, $275,698 in electricity costs, and $1 million for a special fund called “school hold harmless.”
The “school hold harmless” fund is intended to offset any unwanted program cuts prompted by a proposed change in the district’s school funding model for next year. The model will result in some schools getting their budgets cut and others having their budgets boosted, in the name of equity. The fund will be used to fill gaps in schools losing money through the new model, De La Paz said.
Here is the draft budget De La Paz distributed.
Board of Education
Draft budget proposal.
In addition to cost increases to be absorbed internally by central office, district leaders plan to invest about $7.5 million in a set of six major initiatives: (Click here to see the outline of those initiatives and their costs.)
• Increasing the salaries for 500 paraprofessionals by 25 to 40 percent, costing about $1.7 million.
• Increasing standard substitute pay from $62.40 to $85 per day, which would cost about $765,887.
• Continuing Saturday reading and math academies and running extended day programs at specific schools, which would cost about $1.4 million.
• Expanding preK services to meet growing demand, by keeping Zigler Head Start open after the Mayo Early Childhood Center opens, which would cost about $987,739.
• Redesigning alternative schools for the 150 high-risk students who attend them, increasing per-pupil costs from around $15,000 to $24,000, which would cost about $2.2 million total.
• Hiring six technicians to troubleshoot new technology in the schools, which would cost about $336,000.
The state, which faces its own budget crunch, is looking to reduce the interdistrict magnet grant, capping it at current enrollment, instead of allowing for a $1.5 million increase in funding, according to De La Paz. It also may cut the Priority Schools grant for early childhood education by about $300,000. De La Paz estimated an additional $1.3 million reduction for special education funding from the state.
Even with the cuts to central office and an increase in local funding, “we still might be a bit short,” he said. He is seeking additional sources of revenue, including increased special funds from the state, and charging increased tuition to suburban districts for students enrolled at New Haven magnet schools.
“Slave Wages”
Mayor Toni Harp called on Superintendent Harries to increase starting salaries for paraprofessionals from $18,000 to between $25,000 and $30,000.
At Tuesday’s board meeting, newly elected board member Darnell Goldson asked how the decision was made to focus on salary increases for paraprofessionals and substitute teachers, instead of increases for all teachers. He asked how the pay increase would connect to filling vacancies in teaching positions marked shortage areas by the state.
Harries said that the district is working on creating a “pipeline” for paraprofessionals into teaching positions, especially since many of them have at least associate degrees, if not bachelor or masters degrees.
Board member Che Dawson asked whether the requirements for the job would change.
Harries said they might change the work responsibilities and performance expectations for the jobs. Paras might ultimately be evaluated on the teacher evaluation system, he said.
Dawson asked whether the district had considered not increasing paraprofessional salaries by 40 percent, so it could hire more of them.
Harp vehemently disagreed with that idea. She called the current paraprofessional salaries “slave wages,” since they do not provide enough for people to afford market-rate apartments in the city. “We ought to be ashamed that we ask people to work full time for $18,000 a year,” she said.
Board members will continue to discuss the budget proposal through March.
Meanwhile, Colon wants to stop growth of the Grand List, so all this cost lands on existing taxpayers. The city needs to green light the replacement of CSS with market-rate development and approve the conversion of the proposed laboratory and market-rate housing project to the north of CSS. Grow the Grand List!