Before having any discussion on the budget process currently underway at Hartford Public Schools, we must keep in mind that HPS leadership enters this process, as they do with most processes, with a handicap.  HPS does not employ a Chief Financial Officer, which is the accountant, financial strategist, and financial visionary for the district.   Former CFO Phillip Penn resigned in July of last year after only two years on the job, leaving the financial vision for HPS up to Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez and Deputy Superintendent Paul Foster.  Foster has been leading the budget discussions for HPS since Penn’s escape from this insanity and will, like the Superintendent, most likely be seeking extra compensation from the board of education based on his having to work outside his job description (“Superintendent Requests Bonus Pay”).

Similarly, we must remember last year’s legislative session when superintendents of all shapes, sizes, and abilities publicly advocated for the passage of H.B. 5003, a bill which would improve on state funding of local school districts.  Torres-Rodriguez submitted testimony in support of HB5003, writing that the bill would “assist our district in bridging the looming ‘fiscal cliff’ when federal COVID-relief dollars expire.”  The bill passed with State Rep. Jeff Curry assuring those present that “districts will have the funding” once they reach their COVID ‘fiscal cliffs.’  Seven months later Torres-Rodriguez announces a record HPS budget deficit due in part to the expiration of COVID funds.

The final thing to remember before we get into Torres-Rodriguez’s budget projections is that since the beginning of the arrival of Uncle Joe’s money (federal COVID relief funds) into HPS, Torres-Rodriguez has repeatedly championed her ability to spend this money in a “sustainable” fashion.  However, now she claims that the expected budget deficit is due in part to the expiration of COVID money.  How “sustainable” was her spending if the minute the funding dries up, she reports a record deficit?

For the five years prior to free COVID money stuffing the coffers of public-school districts everywhere ($155 million total to HPS), HPS’ proposed spending numbers ranged between $416 million to $430 million.   With COVID money at the ready, proposed spending numbers have ranged between $424 million to $441 million.  Suddenly, with the district once again COVID-poor, spending for next school year is expected to be $504 million.  How is this possible, you may rightfully ask.

HPS never included COVID relief funds in their budget’s “Revenue from All Sources” list.  Whatever monies HPS received from local, state, federal (other than COVID grants), or private entities was the number entered in the budget book as total revenue.  COVID monies were in a special fund which wasn’t recorded in the budget book.  But it was spent (“How Did Hartford Schools Spend $155 million in COVID Relief Aid?”).

Thus, because the $155 million in COVID relief was spent by HPS in a mostly unsustainable manner, if they wish to maintain those staff members or programs paid for by COVID dollars, those costs are part of the next school year’s budget, but there is no special fund revenue to reach into to cover those costs which are still used in comparison with the “All Revenue Sources” list, which results in a larger than normal deficit.

Torres-Rodriguez and her central office minions state that costs for the 2024-25 school  year are going to increase 17.4%, due in part to the COVID bank being closed.  However, over the last 9 budgets, never has the year-over-year increase been greater than 4%.   For the current school  year, HPS had $43 million in COVID money to rely on and they mitigated $26 million off of this year’s budget to arrive at the adopted $429 million spending number.  

So, if we give a more realistic 4% inflation add on to this year’s adopted budget number, we arrive at an expected 2024-25 budget spending number of $446 million.  Add in the $43 million of COVID money used this year but not available next year, and we are up to $489 million in spending required for the 2024-25 school year.  This number is close to the districts recently stated $504 million for next school year, a shortfall which I assume is due to COVID money spent in previous years for staff/programs which are still on the spending list (and I have no idea how to fix a number to that bit of unsustainable spending).

Basically, due to poor fiscal leadership or wanton fiscal negligence concerning the use of COVID relief funds, school district leaders have set up legislators at state capitals and those down on Pennsylvania Avenue to be the fall guys.  School leaders will once again seek legislation as a lifeline for friggin’ fiscal foolishness.  Once again, the loyal taxpayer foots the bill for their fiscal failures.

And of course, the story is always worse in Hartford because we have Torres-Rodriguez.  She stated during the recent public budget forum (which was reported on by the Hartford Courant, Jan.15, 2024, p. A1), that HPS’ payment of tuition to other schools is a growing part of their budget.  Which it is.  However, she also stated that HPS could be paying “an additional $44 million” in tuition “over the next 10 years.”  This is false.  HB5003, the assumed COVID fiscal cliff saving legislation passed earlier this year, does away with local districts paying tuition to non-district schools, completely in some cases and reduces it by 50% in other cases.  Thus, HPS’ tuition bill is on the verge of being wiped out completely or greatly reduced.

And if you didn’t bust a gut laughing when Torres-Rodriguez stated that as COVID funding ends, other districts will not be able to afford all of their staff, so those folks will be available for hire by HPS (which cannot afford them due to the loss of COVID funds), then you are probably a member of central office or the board of education.

Not mentioned at any recent budget meetings or forums, or in Hartford Courant news stories, is the effect of all this spending on student achievement.  Well, according to EdSight, the state’s “official source for education information,” which uses data supplied by school districts, HPS ranks 15th among Connecticut’s 36 Alliance District’s in per pupil spending.  These are the districts that look like HPS in student diversity and need.  However, HPS ranks at the bottom of the Alliance District list when it comes to scores on the math, ELA, and science District Performance Indexes (DPI).

The table below, published by the School+State Finance Project in Connecticut, shows that despite spending more per pupil than the 3 provided “comparison districts”, HPS trails all three on the states Next Generation Accountability Index.