Laura Glesby photo
Negrón: "Losing sleep" over potential teacher layoffs.
Supt. Madeline Negrón may lay off 129 employees, including 56 teachers, if the state and city cannot close an anticipated $16.5 million budget shortfall for New Haven Public Schools.
She presented that sobering news to the Board of Alders Finance Committee late Thursday night, generating outrage from both alders and the teachers’ union.
“I want to be extremely honest with the entire community about what is it that we are facing,” she said. “This would be decimating our programming.”
Negrón appeared before the committee to present an annual request for municipal funding.
Under Mayor Justin Elicker’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2025 – 26, which alders are now reviewing, the city would increase municipal funding for NHPS by $5 million to a total of $69.3 million. (He has also proposed a separate $1.5 million allocation toward a volunteer math and literacy tutoring initiative.)
Additionally, the State of Connecticut is expected to allocate $142.9 million toward the school system, which includes an anticipated $1.7 million increase from the state’s Excess Cost Grant system. (If the formula is adjusted for special education students this year, as the district has advocated for, that Excess Cost increase could amount to $3.6 million.)
While city and state funds are poised to increase by a handful of millions of dollars, the upcoming fiscal year marks a significant drop in federal funding for the school system, particularly as American Rescue Plan Act pandemic relief grants are no longer available.
Meanwhile, Negrón said, a combination of inflation, contractual raises for a significant portion of NHPS employees, and rising tuition for out-of-district special education programs, among other costs, are increasing the district’s expenditures.
All of those factors leave the district with a shortfall of $16.5 million if all current services are maintained. (Or $14.6 million if the Excess Cost Grant is adjusted.)
“So then I have to say, ‘OK: Where do we find it?’” Negrón said. “When people talk about losing sleep — yes, I have been losing sleep.”
A $16.5 Million Gap
If the school system does not close the funding gap, Negrón informed alders of the parts of NHPS’ budget that she plans to cut.
The bulk of the cuts would affect student-facing staff layoffs.
Specifically, Negrón pointed to 129 full-time employees who would be laid off:
• 56 teachers (including 29 arts teachers, or as Negrón put it, “a quarter of the arts”);
• 25 literacy, math, and magnet coaches, whose responsibilities include coordinating assessments and curriculum implementation;
• 25 library and media specialists;
• 19 “support staff” such as paraprofessionals;
• and 4 “management and clerical” staff.
Those layoffs, according to Negrón, would save the district about $9.35 million — leaving $7.15 million left to cut.
On top of those layoffs, Negrón said she would nix 42 positions that are currently unfilled. Specifically, those positions include 17 paraprofessionals, 7 supportive services, 5 special education teachers, 3 science teachers, 3 math teachers, and 6 management and clerical employees.
Negrón said she may also:
• Further reduce contractual services to save $1.5 million (she has already reduced those services by $350,000);
• Minimize security and custodial overtime to save $1.2 million;
• Suddenly close a school to save $670,000 (Negrón said she does have a school in mind that she is hoping to close in the school year after next, but NHPS spokesperson Justin Harmon declined to say which school that is.);
• Reduce part-time salaries to save $400,000;
• Further reduce after-school programming to save $300,000 (Negrón has already cut $500,000 for that programming);
• And end the middle school athletics program to save $100,000.
“I am putting my energy into pleading with the state” to loosen the budgetary constraints often referred to as “fiscal guardrails,” said Negrón — constraints that currently protect the state’s $4 billion “Rainy Day Fund.”
Alders, Teachers: Cut Central Office First
Alder Anna Festa: “How about non-school, non-student facing staff?"
Listening to Negrón’s proposed cuts, New Haven Federation of Teachers Vice President Jennifer Graves found the presentation to be “gut-wrenching.”
After the meeting, she called on Negrón to prioritize laying off administrators as opposed to teachers and other student-facing staff.
“It’s never been a more scary time for teachers and students and families,” she said. “There is no more fat to cut from New Haven Public Schools.
“Any cuts need to start from the top. I think there are positions downtown that could be cut without affecting students.”
“You want to cut art and music and sports? Then let’s not talk about attendance!” she added in disbelief.
Several Finance Committee alders echoed this sentiment.
West Rock/West Hills Alder Honda Smith pressed Negrón on potential cuts from the district’s Central Office.
“You can’t run a district with a central office,” Negrón said.
“I understand that, but our kids need teachers,” Smith said.
“Yes!” Negrón exclaimed.
“How about non-school, non-student facing staff?” asked East Rock Alder Anna Festa.
Negrón said she couldn’t think of such a position. “I’m not even kidding,” she said. Maybe a “supervisor of reading” — but “We’re gonna operate without a supervisor of reading?”
(The district does have departments that impact students but do not necessarily interact with them on a daily basis, such as human resources, marketing, and finance.)
“Although it appears that it could still run without those positions, it’s not doable,” Negrón held firm.
Alders also called attention to the district’s real estate assets as potential sources of revenue.
Fair Haven Heights Alder Rosa Ferraro-Santana asked Negrón whether she plans to sell currently-vacant former school properties to bring in some revenue, such as the former West Rock STREAM academy on Valley St. or the former Quinnipiac STEM School in her ward.
Negrón responded that she is in conversations about transferring some of those properties to city ownership for the city to then sell at some point.
Festa also asked Negrón about the office at 21 Wooster Pl., which the district spent two years and $1.2 million renovating in order to serve as office space for academic administrators.
“Why are we spending a million dollars” on buildings that do not house students? Festa asked.
Negrón said that the decision to renovate the building was made by a predecessor and that, while the building sat empty for months, some staff members are now occupying the office space.
She added that she is exploring plans to move other office staff to a city building at 424 Chapel St., so that its current headquarters at 54 Meadow St. can be explored for a potential sale.
Alder Richard Furlow and Jenny Graves chat after the meeting.
It can be hard to envision what a number like $16.5 million actually means.
For context, the school system’s expected budget shortfall is approximately equivalent to:
• Nearly the entire budget for the city’s public works department ($16.76 million) this fiscal year.
• 3.36 percent of the rest of New Haven’s city budget.
• 7.8 percent of Yale’s $211 million surplus from Fiscal Year 2024.
• 0.4 percent of the state’s $4 billion “Rainy Day Fund.”
• 0.004 percent of Yale’s $41.4 billion endowment as of Fiscal Year 2024 (about a quarter of those investments are unrestricted, according to Yale’s website.)