nothin Stratton Calls For Panel To Probe Schools… | New Haven Independent

Stratton Calls For Panel To Probe Schools Budget

In a budget season in which school spending has taken center stage, Alder Michael Stratton is floating a new proposal to examine the Board of Ed budget more deeply.

Stratton wants to create a Civilian Volunteer Task Force” to oversee Board of Ed spending. He has drafted a proposal that would create the body, with the approval of the Board of Alders.

Click here to read his proposal.


According to Stratton’s proposal, the task force would comprise no more than three people and would report to the Board of Alders Finance Committee. The task force would review Board of Ed expenses and make short and long term local contribution recommendations regarding education spending” to the Finance Committee. The task force’s recommendations would be non-binding.

Stratton proposes that the first three members of the task force be, if they accept, James Alexander, Christine Bishop, and Alex Marathas. These three persons all have extensive knowledge of city finance and organization and have done work that has been praised by the mayor and Board of Alders in the past.”

Although Stratton’s proposal calls for the task force to review the proposed city budget currently under review by the Finance Committee, it’s unlikely the task force could be created and complete its work before the Board of Alders is due to approve the budget, at the end of May.

Stratton has emerged as the most outspoken critic of the mayor’s proposed $511 million budget for the fiscal year starting July 1, particularly the money spent on education. He claims that the Board of Ed has been spending more per student than it should, and has questioned the legality of the city paying for health care for Board of Ed employees. (Click on the video at the top of this story for a sample of his take.)

In response, Board of Ed officials last week shared a PowerPoint presentation with the Finance Committee, detailing how many city taxpayer dollars go towards the schools. Click here to see it.

Asked about Stratton’s task force idea, Board of Alders President Jorge Perez said he hasn’t read it yet and could not comment.

Schools Superintendent Garth Harries released this statement Tuesday evening: Both I and the rest of the Board of Education are committed to public, transparent and responsible discussions of fiscal priorities and local prioritization of spend on education – and we are committed to working with the mayor, the Board of Alders, and every other stakeholder to ensure appropriate investment in the education of our children. The Board of Education budget has been and is in the midst of being publicly debated, vetted, and voted on through a series of long standing budget committees, protocols and review. At last week’s finance committee meeting, we agreed to meet and follow up with Alderman Stratton once he synthesized his questions, in preparation for a follow up meeting with the full finance committee. We have not yet seen those questions. Re-inventing process and renewing calls to defund the schools shows to us a lack of genuine engagement in the essential question of what kind of investment our children deserve.”

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