The White Knight Syndrome states that some people always feel the need to jump in and fix something, they need to help, even if it’s unwanted.  A version of the White Knight Syndrome states that some people intentionally muck things up and then ride in with a solution to fix what they mucked up, then bask in the light of their ‘success.’  Watching Hartford Public Schools’ presentation of the 2024-25 school year budget, I get the sense that Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez aligns psychologically with the later version of the White Knight Syndrome.

Historical budget deficits have been the norm at Hartford Public Schools.  Based on a document displayed during the budget Workshop earlier this month, Torres-Rodriguez makes the claim that over the five school  years between 2015 and 2019, she has overseen the cutting of $117 million in costs and the elimination of 388 “positions” in order to “balance” the budget.  The annual deficits during this time period ranged from $12 million to $30 million.  The current budget was “approved” as “balanced” earlier this year when after “mitigating” nearly $25 million, the district kicked the can down the road by using an accounting tactic called an “expense task,” which transferred $2 million of the current budget deficit to the 2024-25 school year budget, the one with the first-look $100 million deficit.  Basically put, a portion of next year’s budget problem was actually a portion of this year’s budget problem, which, if continued, means that HPS will never have a balanced budget, but they will always have a balanced budget.  Makes perfect sense, right?

What doesn’t make perfect sense is how the $100 million deficit for next school year is being presented, based on the information presented at the Workshop.  Torres-Rodriguez and Deputy Superintendent Paul Foster repeatedly exclaimed that this initial budget look, this “preliminary budget,” this “worst-case-scenario budget” rises to the $100 million level if 2023-24 spending levels are maintained and HPS has a 0% “staff” vacancy rate.

Two issues with this.  First, HPS hasn’t had a 0% staff vacancy rate since Thomas Hooker came to Hartford from Massachusetts with 100 people and a bunch of cows.  Why is the district using a pie-in-the-sky staff vacancy rate to determine next year’s budget?  I’ll tell you why.  This method of accounting allows them to budget for a full staff while knowing damn well that a full staff is well beyond the capability of HPS’ Office of Talent Management, thus an actual staff vacancy rate of 6%, for example, means that at least 6% (more with benefits, etc.) of the budgeted amount was never needed in the first place and Torres-Rodriguez can gloat about cutting 6% (or more) of the budget based on accounting smoke and mirrors.

Second issue: Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez states that the pending record deficit is based on maintaining all spending for next year at current spending levels.  This spending level, claims Torres-Rodriguez, is $517 million: “Projected 2024-2025 Cost of Maintaining all Programming at 2023-2024 Levels” equals $517 million.  However, the “adopted” budget for the current year stated that all spending will equal $420 million. 

A board member should have asked Torres-Rodriguez to give a detailed explanation on how something that cost $420 million this year is going to cost $517 million next year.  The district has never had a $517 million budget and they won’t next year, the numbers are phony and used to create a problem the size of which is not realistic, and Torres-Rodriguez will gloat like Hillary on her first and only date when the final “balanced” budget is announced.

Lost in all the smoke surrounding HPS budgets (it’s like we’re in a Bingo hall in Jersey in 1970), is the connection between the budget and student achievement, or, why the district spends money in the first place.  This will give you agita.

The image below, with data provided by EdSight, which is data sent to the state by Connecticut school districts, shows that among the 36 Alliance Districts in 2021, which are the poorest and most troublesome school districts in the state, Hartford Public Schools ranked 15th among these districts in total per pupil spending.  However, academically, HPS ranked at the bottom of the Alliance District list in ELA, math, and science as measured by the state’s District Performance Index (DPI).