New Haven public schools are getting a big budget boost: $8.5 million to help cover operating costs and make building upgrades.
The funding comes after calls from parents, teachers and students about infrastructure concerns inside school buildings.
“This has been the effort of people voicing concern, people that are committed to ensure that our children again get the public education that they deserve,” said superintendent Dr. Madeline Negrón.
Mayor Justin Elicker announced the funding in a Thursday end-of-year budget update, where he said the city has $16.4 million in surplus savings. He’s proposing $3 million of that go to operating expenses and $5.5 million from unused ARPA funds go to capital improvements.
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Elicker said the money will help after calls for action over building conditions that he says haven’t been maintained enough over the years.
“Our buildings in some cases have libraries, or a library that is closed because there’s mold in the building, our buildings have leaks in them,” he said, adding that there are also breakdowns with HVAC systems.
New Haven Federation of Teachers union president Leslie Blatteau has been a leading voice in addressing the infrastructure issues. Most recently, she was part of a demonstration on Monday calling for more federal funding for public schools.
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“It’s really powerful to have an action and then see a response come directly a few days later,” Blatteau said. “And again, we want to make sure accountability and transparency are a part of this.”
She says she’s excited about the money, which means layoffs are off the table, and there’s funding for building repairs. She says wants to make sure their voices will continue to be heard.
“We need to know that the community and labor will be at the table for those decisions for how that $5.5 million will be spent for capital funds,” Blatteau said.
Superintendent Madeline Negrón said there’s a list of projects that need to get done - and now there’s a way to address the immediate and long-term issues.
“It’s a great start, we know it’s going to take more, but again this is the power of collective advocacy,” she said.
This is the fourth year that the city has ended with a positive budget after facing a $66 million dollar budget shortfall in 2021.
“And so when you look back to three years ago when we were at, frankly a real crisis moment and how dramatically our situation has changed, it is because the state has increased their funding, it’s because Yale has increased their funding, it’s because of the work our team has done to really use that funding in a way to stabilize our finances,” Elicker said.
The city has also made a dramatic turn in its savings. Elicker said the rainy-day fund was negative $10 million dollars in 2018. With the remainder of the year’s $13.4 million dollar surplus, there’s now more than $50 million dollars in the city’s savings fund.
“The city of New Haven's financial situation is on stronger footing than it has been in many, many years, and we have a lot more work to do,” Elicker said.
He went on to say the city still faces serious challenges. They have $2.5 billion in unfunded liabilities due to underfunded pensions, overborrowing over decades and retiree healthcare payments.
And, while they’re contributing more to the pension payments and have now $50 million in savings, the mayor says financial planning points to a goal of $113 million in savings.
