Students, Paras Press For Budget Boost

Isn't it interesting that all the local politicians who send us emails and texts about the state/federal money being sent for this, that and the other thing never sign on to these public conversations in the NHI.
Is it because they know their programs are not meeting public needs in so many basic areas?
Is it because they know the national government has to keep feeding the war machine and pumping money in weapons contracts and perpetual war?
Is it because they know that the government created inflation defeats any meager increase in the minimum wage?
Is it because they too have given up on universal healthcare, caring for the mentally ill and housing the unhoused?
What a shame people doing important jobs have to approach government with the equivalent of a begging bowl. Not more gruel; just working bathrooms for a start.
Meanwhile missiles, drones and bombs get more than asked for.
This is what a collapsing empire looks like.
And it will "trickle down"

Here's why you can't have working bathrooms. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/19/house-democrats-mike-johnson-foreign-aid

I've gotten tired of trekking down to City Hall, waiting hours to be able to testify for 3 minutes, and then seeing the "deer in headlights" response from the Failed Unite Here Board of Alders. So, I submitted my testimony electronically and copied Failed Mayor Elicker and the BOAs. I also created a thread on the NextDoor App that has already received 1,500 views. People are not happy with our elected officials!!

https://nextdoor.com/p/LFnCcrZQtQzK?utm_source=share&extras=MjEyNjQ1MzU=&utm_campaign=1713556009190

This is what I had to say.
During Elicker's 4 years, the city has received a $400M windfall: $105M in Federal ARPA Funds, $200M from the State, $50M from Yale, and $50M from Taxpayers/Tax Hikes.

Where the hell did all the money go?
What ever happened to the $6M sent to the wrong vendor?
Are you trying to collect the $2.5M never billed to absentee landlords for the Rental Licensing Program?
Did you ever find the $2.5M in missing parking meter revenue?
How did you fail to hire enough parking officers and miss out on $1.5M in parking tag revenue?
Why did you waste $8.2M by allowing 82 police officers to leave for other departments?
Why is there no money to pay the police?
Is it true the police and fire OT has added $20M to the pension liability?
Why does it take 5 hours for a police response in Westville?
Why do you think it's safe to have police officers working 16 hours straight?
Why does the Mayor keep saying crime is down, when it is actually up?
Why is there no public safety plan
Why can't taxpayers file a police report online?
Why can't taxpayers schedule a bulk trash appointment online?
Why is there no money to clean the parks?
Why can't taxpayers email Public Works?
How much has the city spent replacing the plastic pylons for bike lanes?
Why isn't the Mayor complying with the City Charter?

And the penultimate question, in the immortal words of the Dean of New Haven politics Mr. Bill Saunders, Who the hell is running this mess?

It is sad to see that things have not changed very much over the years since I retired from teaching in NH in 2004. If it is possible, things may be worse now than ever before despite the billion dollars of tax money spent rebuilding virtually every school building in the city. Everyone had working bathrooms that were clean and well supplied by school custodians. Why is it that no one will say that it is the students themselves that have destroyed the bathrooms as soon as they are fixed by the maintenance department? To hear that some schools will now be closed due to lower enrollment makes you wonder who was making decisions about opening so many new schools in the first place. In NHPS, the more things that change, the more they stay the same. If people are seriously looking for ways to save money, just look at what it costs to house admins on Meadow St in downtown NH. Can't one of the proposed schools that close consider housing all the educational talent thereby saving tens of thousands of dollars in rent payments so Ms. Randi can quit her second job? She deserves better treatment than that.

Taxpayers fund a cadillac version of education. We get very poor results and even worse fiscal discipline. Our responsibility is not to fund fatter paychecks. They're barking up the wrong tree. Demand more from the school board. That we don't have working functioning bathrooms is pathetic but is emblematic of what's wrong with these schools. In any case it's not from a lack of funding.

So, here is the conundrum. Increasing salaries for paras and having decent public school bathrooms (obviously good things) will necessarily make housing even less affordable for the parents of NHPS students (obviously a bad thing).

There is undoubtedly waste in the city budget. Coming to a consensus on what constitutes “waste” and substantially reducing it is not going to happen any time soon. (Dennis, this does not mean we should not look for waste or efficiencies. But we are not going to achieve major budget savings any time soon.) If taxes go up, rents will go up. Landlords are not, as a class, evil. But they are businesspeople and are in a position to pass their cost increases on to their tenants.

Heather, you are likely right on both counts. But as I said, we are not likely to see substantial savings anytime soon. And while I believe consolidating schools is necessary, it the short run it will increase costs with the expense of refurbishing buildings and moving furniture and equipment.

Having been on this site before to support our amazing paraprofessionals who need an immediate increase in salary. Our children deserve to learn in a healthy and clean environment with the basic supplies. How can our Superintendent sit with a blank look in her face knowing that she is making so much money and has brought in additional positions that cost more money in our school budget than ever before. Complete lack of care about those that took time to speak. She is not committed to our children’s best interest nor her staff. Are the parents and public going to be allowed to have input in her review that was addressed in previous meeting? Be great to see a survey go out to us so we can have input. Obviously the board will yes everything out infront of them. Students are trying to leave out school system any way they can .. numbers are going down. How much do the administrators spend on their expenses? Surely they expense meals, travel, have toilet paper and such. Let’s see those figures!!

While comparing the operations of businesses and educational institutions can sometimes be inaccurate as they are inherently different, there are some important similarities. In the business world, if a company delivers poor service or low-quality products, customers can always choose to take their business elsewhere. Unfortunately, this is not an easy option when it comes to public schools, which are essentially a monopoly. Although public schools provide an essential service for our children, they often deliver an inferior product. It is time to criticize the public school system for its mismanagement, ever-increasing budgets, too many highly paid upper administrators, poor service delivery, and low student outcomes. The grunts, such as paras and teachers, are the most important members of the organization, and we must compensate them fairly for their work. Determining the appropriate compensation or worth for services provided is essential. When it comes to NHPS, we need to evaluate what we are paying for, and why we are always being asked/told to pay more. We can evaluate this by looking at students' academic test scores and the effectiveness of support for students and staff. It is evident that NHPS is selling us an inferior product, and it has been doing so for a long time. It's time for us to demand better from our public school system. Pay the paras and teachers. Evaluate why the need for so many highly paid school administrators and their effectiveness. Administrators and staff, take back control of your schools so that they are tight, no-nonsense places of real, no-excuses learning. Close some underused buildings, and fix the damn broken buildings. We are being sold "a bill of goods." The state needs to audit the entirety of the NHPS system (it won't), and that includes Mayor Elicker/BOE.

CY2, here is a link to the current and proposed budgets. https://www.nhps.net/cms/lib/CT50011002/Centricity/ModuleInstance/81/2425 budget proposal.pdf The biggest item, by far, is full-time teacher salaries. The next is transportation.

There is undoubtedly waste in the budget. But since the bulk of the budget is covered by contacts, I doubt we will see substantial change any time soon. This does not mean we should not seek change and I applaud the efforts of Dennis and others. But changing budgets is not a matter of snapping one’s fingers.

CY2, I walked to school through high school. I would not be surprised if you did as well.

But the growing reliance on buses to transport school kids is not primarily the result of public policy. For a variety of reasons, contemporary parents are less willing to have their kids walk even moderate distances (say one mile) than our parents were. The decline in the school age population led to the closure of several neighborhood schools across the city.

And the nature of student transportation has changed. When we were young, virtually all students who were bused rode in vehicles that carried dozens of kids. With the rise of Special Education (a good thing) many students are transported in much smaller vehicles, which are much more expensive on a per-student basis.

The increase in the BOE budget is 3.44%. It is a result of no increase in materials, staff, training or anything compared to what schools have this year. It is based on contracted salary increases and regular increases in bussing, materials, utilities, and other expenses the district already uses. The BOE is asking for nothing new.

Out enrollment is down across the district. We need to close a couple of schools to save money and disperse those students throughout the district. There is no need for two schools to have one class per grade level. That's a waste of money. Our paras definitely don't make what they should. There are paras in my building who are better equipped for the classroom than the certified teacher.

CY2, let me try again, I may not have been clear.

Neighborhood schools often were walkable. But as school enrollments plummeted, districts closed many of them. Several former New Haven schools, including one in my neighborhood, are now apartment buildings. And even when schools are within what we would consider walking distance, parents often do not let their kids walk to them.

While I can certainly empathize with Ms Randi's financial struggles, the position she has is essentially a part time position. (180 school days x 7 hours per day=1260 hours per year) an FTE is 2080. Based on the earnings she has stated ($27,165/1260) this equates to $21.55 per hour. If the position was 'full time' then her annual salary would be closer to $45K. I'm sure her experience and education warrant more but lets be cognizant of the fact the annual salaries should be correlated to part time not full time salaries

Miss Randi is amazing. My older daughter benefited from her experience and warmth. She made a huge difference in her life. I am sure that thousands of other children did too, over the past 38 years.

For those suggesting she is paid fairly because her job is technically part-time, you know nothing about what we dedicated educators do. On the clock, we are paid, and working. Off the clock, we are not paid, but still working. And almost all of us work second jobs. Just not six hours every night after school hours, like Miss Randi does.