Christopher Peak File Photo
Metro students call for more counselors at pre-pandemic hearing.
If New Haven principals had their way, they would hire around 100 new school counselors, librarians and other specialty staff.
The reality is likely to be far fewer new positions, if any.
Principals were invited to offer their wish lists at a budget workshop this week.
The workshop included some fiscal reality as well.
“If we were to fund all of the requests, it would probably be 100 people. We’re not in a position to put in 100 people,” said New Haven Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Phillip Penn.
Budget season is starting again at New Haven Public Schools, a time when administrators, board members and alders weigh what services they can afford to give New Haven students.
In past years, the district has laid off teachers, librarians and counselors and closed schools. In the most recent budget cycle, the cuts were less dramatic and largely steered away from impacts to K‑12 classrooms.
The first step in drafting the budget for the 2021 – 2022 school year was the conversation this week with every principal about the needs at their school and their vision for the school’s future. Librarians and school counselors were recurring positions on principal wishlists, Penn reported to the Board of Education’s Finance and Operations Committee on Monday.
Other patterns emerged, like several playgrounds in need of repair.
Penn said that he won’t know how many employee positions NHPS could realistically create out of the principal wishlist until around Feb. 1, the first public meeting on the draft budget. (See the full timeline here.)
Board member Matthew Wilcox asked Penn to prepare a list beyond the principal wishlist — a comparison of New Haven’s budget to those of model districts, like the top school districts in the state.
“What do their kids get versus what our kids get?” Wilcox asked. “As a taxpayer, I don’t want to hear that we need more money [but rather:] ‘This is what we’re missing out on.’ That’s something you can put in grants and on our legislative agenda.”
Administrators and board members have tried to turn the pattern of budget cuts into a conversation about how much money New Haven schools should get. They are investing new energy in lobbying the state and have hired a grant writer to apply for new pots of money for the district.
Wilcox brought up the district’s goal of distributing resources more equitably among schools. Penn explained how some schools get more grants than others, and then those grants often run out.
“We do not want to create a system of Haves and Have-Nots within the same district. One school has multiple funding streams, which gives it the appearance of being overfunded, where another only has the federal Title I grant and the [district’s] general fund,” Penn said. “We’re in this perpetual state of change with how funding comes into the district.”
Wilcox offered a reframing of Penn’s statement.
“I would say that some schools are more adequately funded as opposed to schools that are less than adequately funded. [I would be surprised] if any of our schools actually have everything they need, even the ones people think get everything,” Wilcox said.
Board member Larry Conaway looked farther into the future, to a time beyond the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s not too early to start thinking about year-round school. Let’s not close down. We’ve already lost 10 months [of learning],” Conaway said.
(Recent assessments indicate that the student learning loss is not as extreme as previously projected. Students nationwide are still learning during remote school, just not as fast as they would have in person.)
I'm curious if there's ever been a real effort to examine the positions at the central office? Are all the curriculum specialists and other specialists really needed? Are there positions that aren't absolutely crucial at central office? For a district to be student centered, I believe funding should be heavily skewed towards positions that work full time with students. All budget expenditures should be justified, but the burden should fall even more heavily on positions that that aren't directly serving students.