Interim Budget Maintains Recent Cuts

The New Haven Board of Education approved an interim budget for the current school year, along with projections for the next two years, on Tuesday night that maintains recent cuts.

“The District has yet to recover from years of budget reductions,” the district stated in a press release.

According to officials, the district has made more than $26 million in cuts in the last five years. Despite Proposition 30’s passage, no new funds were given to schools; it only prevented further cuts, the district said.

In addition, the four-year $29.4 million federal Race to the Top grant is restricted to specific programs. Some of those funds, however, have been used to restore library services at all New Haven campuses.

Had the Measure H parcel tax passed, the district would have been able to restore more cuts, the district noted.

“While Proposition 30 avoided mid-year reductions, it is important to note that our costs, including health and welfare benefit increases, continue to grow,” Chief Business Officer Akur Varadarajan said. “Our District cannot avoid and will continue to have to make budget reductions in order to stay solvent and continue to manage our cash challenges.”

Under the projections for the next two years, the instructional year will continue to last 175 — five days shorter than it was just two years ago, according to the district.

Employees will also continue to have nine furlough days, a 1-percent pay cut and a freeze on step and column wage increases.

Varadarajan noted that school districts have difficulty balancing budgets as state and federal funding continue to fall short on their own mandated programs. As an example, Varadarajan pointed out that the district receives 54 cents for every $1 it spends on special education services.

In addition to the cuts it has already sustained, the district has to also plan for the federal sequester, which could cut federal funding by $500,000. The district must also implement the state’s Common Core Standards in the 2013-14 school year, which could eat up its entire Instructional Materials fund and put a $350,000 dent in the budget, according to the district.

The budget approved Tuesday night is, of course, tentative. Districts must tread carefully until the state’s budget is passed, though there is a possibility that more money could come in.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed Local Control Funding Formula — which would eliminate categorical funding and direct funds to schools and students who need it most — could restore significant cuts if approved by the state legislature.

“Many more changes will take place over the next few months before the final state budget is enacted,” Varadarajan said.

See a detailed staff report on the interim budget by clicking on the document above.