Hartford Schools Face $8 Million Deficit

Moms, pack a lunch for your kid, Hartford Schools could use the help.

At the Hartford Board of Education’s December Finance and Audit Committee meeting, Chief Financial Officer for Hartford Schools, Phillip Penn, told the Committee and Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez that the district was facing an $8 million dollar deficit in its general fund.

Penn stated that the main causes for the deficit were the loss of tuition revenue from the decreased enrollment in Hartford magnet schools from students outside of Hartford, stating that “we are hearing” that many folks do not want to send their kids to Hartford, and the increased tuition cost Hartford must pay to cover students in CREC schools, which caused a 10% (about $5 million) budget increase. Penn also stated that the CREC tuition costs will increase in each of the next two years.

Penn went on to say that with the Sheff settlement, there are incentives to sending more suburban kids to Hartford but there was no “upside” to Hartford in terms of revenue and at some point down the road, Hartford will be taking a budget "hit" due to this settlement.

On a positive note, the expected doubling of electricity rates in Connecticut this month will not impact Hartford’s budget as they are locked into a rate deal until December of 2024.