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Tamiko Jackson-McArthur: “Do the right thing.”
The Board of Education condemned the state’s recent decision to cut off funding for most incoming freshmen who want to enroll in a popular afternoon arts high school.
In late February, the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) said that it would no longer pay for magnet-school students to enroll in ACES’s Educational Center for the Arts (ECA), the regional half-day arts program on Audubon Street. Going forward, the only New Haven students who can enroll in ECA will be those from the two comprehensive high schools, Wilbur Cross and Hillhouse
In the midst of a major budget crunch at the Capital, the CSDE said it was cracking down on alleged double-dipping into limited magnet-school funds. Even with a boost from strong state tax receipts, the CDSE hasn’t changed its mind, a spokesperson said this week.
New Haven’s Board of Education signaled its disagreement with that decision in a unanimous vote at Monday night’s meeting at Celentano School.
“They’re balancing their budget on our student’s backs and we have to say something about that,” Darnell Goldson, the board’s president, argued before the vote.
The school board agreed to send a letter written by Tamiko Jackson-McArthur. The letter pointed out that families didn’t hear about the new restrictions until just before the school choice lottery. The letter asked the CSDE to reconsider or, at the very least, hold off any changes until next year.
Educational Center for the Arts, on Audubon Street.
Four afternoons a week, roughly 310 students travel to ECA from more than two dozen nearby towns. Taught by practicing artists, the students study creative writing, dance, music, theater and visual arts. About half go on to art school after graduation.
The 13 local teens and 23 suburbanites currently in the program will be allowed to continue at ECA until graduation. But starting with the incoming freshmen class, no new magnet students will be allowed in.
Parents didn’t find that out until days before they needed to send off their final picks for the school choice lottery. After the deadline, Sherri Davis-Googe, the school choice coordinator, allowed families who’d bet on ECA to re-rank their preferences, perhaps making Cooperative Arts & Humanities School their top choice.
“We are writing with concerns about the changes in the state’s magnet enrollment policy that affects new Haven next year,” Jackson-McArthur read. “Changes in the policy only days before the lottery process closed does not honor the many months of work and very careful school selection process families have gone through.
“We ask that the state honor the school enrollment policy for all students entering next year, grandfathering in the eighth graders, if they’re fortunate enough to be accepted,” she continued. “We understand we’re all dealing with massive budget cuts, as we are. We have to make difficult choices to keep the budget in line, while still providing a quality education. But we’re committed as a board to making cuts as far away from the classroom as possible.
“We recently adopted 12 Next Generation Accountability standards, and arts access is one of these indicators. This move to eliminate admittance to ECA goes against your own initiative,” Jackson-McArthur concluded. “We appeal to you to do the right thing.”
Roughly 310 students attend ECA.
CSDE said that it’s making the change to end alleged double-dipping into magnet funds, a stance that the officials reiterated this week.
The department found out earlier this year that it needed to trim $18.5 million from its $328 million magnet account, said Peter Yazbak, a CSDE spokesperson. As it had done in Hartford in 2014, the department planned to pick up some small change by ending dual enrollments in New Haven: mere nickels, however, compared to the multi-million dollar cuts it needed.
The 36 students currently at ECA cost the state $386,815, Yazbak said. That figure represents $201,955 for the morning magnet schools and $184,860 for the afternoon ECA program.
“Not only were the cuts to our magnet operating budget an issue, but when students are enrolled in two choice programs they are taking an opportunity away from another student who can’t even enroll in one program,” Yazbak said. “The decision was both financial and one of fairness.”
Several New Haven parents, however, argue that ECA’s half-day program shouldn’t be thought of as a magnet slot but a curricular supplement. Regardless whether their child’s morning classes are funded by the state’s Education Cost Sharing formula or magnet funds, they believe the students should be able to access arts programming in the afternoon.
Toni Harp: Contact your state reps.
CDSE may not need to make the cuts, after all. As Connecticut taxpayers adjust to new federal tax rules, they sent in $915 million more than projected. Most of those receipts will be locked away in a rainy-day fund, but House Democrats have proposed using that extra revenue to restore cuts, including to the magnet fund.
At Monday’s meeting, Mayor Toni Harp encouraged families, many of whom send their kids to magnet high schools, to contact state legislators and ask to direct the extra revenue to schools.
“Evidently, the revenues from the state have come in at a higher rate than they expected,” she said. “This may be a good opportunity for those who know the state delegation to advocate for increased education funding.”
$11K/per student/per annum strikes me as a lot to pay for a "curricular supplement". I believe, all in, West Haven spends about $14-$15K per student.