Will One Legislative Bill Wipe Out Hartford Schools' Budget Deficit?

Will One Legislative Bill Wipe Out Hartford Schools’ Budget Deficit?

Hartford Schools Chief Financial Officer, Phillip Penn, has spent the last 2 months warning about a financial storm approaching the district’s budget. Predicting deficits up to $25 million, Penn states that a “key factor” fueling this storm, is the decreasing suburban enrollment in Hartford’s magnet schools, and the increasing number of Hartford students buying a ticket out of the public school system. HPS lose state grant money as magnet school enrollment drops, and they lose state grant money as their public-school enrollment drops. The only folks making money are the bus companies ferrying these kids out of Hartford. A bill proposal for the new legislative session and currently before the Education Committee, would bring a whole new perspective on the coming storm.

Fresh off his victory in securing $1.2 million to restore a Hartford diner, State Representative Matt Ritter (Matthew.Ritter@cga.ct.gov), began the 2023 legislative session by proposing Bill No. 5003. Still in its infancy, the proposed bill would “repeal the charging of tuition for interdistrict magnet schools.” Which means that as HPS lose more and more students to suburban magnet schools, they will save on tuition payments, which represents nearly 25% of HPS’ budget, just over $100 million. This is my assuming that Ritter’s bill applies to all tuition monies paid by HPS to CREC and Open Choice schools as well. The tuition savings are more than enough to erase that $24 million expected HPS budget deficit expected for next year. This is offset somewhat by the loss of suburban kids coming into Hartford, as HPS’ expected state magnet grant money is expected to fall by nearly $7 million next year. Despite declining Hartford public school enrollment, HPS’ budget calls for the same Education Cost Sharing (ECS) dollars for 2023-2024 that they received from the state for this school year. Federal money is predicted to increase about $1 million, and Private source money is expected to decline about $3 million. It appears Ritter’s bill will actually put HPS in the black.

However, due to the Sheff settlement, Hartford schools needs those out-of-towners to still come to Hartford. HPS must still shake that money-maker to attract suburban kids in order to maintain a racially diverse student body. Under Ritter’s bill, they may still come, but it is HPS that will foot their bill. Is the court, the legislature, and the principals involved in Sheff ready to rework that settlement once again to financially protect HPS’ budget? Also, there are 169 school districts in Connecticut, many of them experiencing their own enrollment issues, and many of them not under the Sheff gun, their state reps are there to protect interests which may not align with the interests of HPS or Ritter’s bill.

Want a new perspective on school budgets and funding? Visit Youtube and search on the plight of African children in remote areas struggling to go to school. The video link and title escape me now, but months ago I viewed a video showing how 2 small children would dig and forage for anything to sell in order to get a few dollars to pay for the upcoming school session. Failing in this effort, and with the payment now due, it would wipe you out to have witnessed the sadness in these kids as they were told they no longer could attend the school. This is why when kids in these situations and in refugee situations immigrate to the U.S., they outperform most U.S. students. They don’t care if it’s a magnet school, they don’t’ care about Open Choice, or race-based enrollment, they just want to go to school. Hartford students need that perspective.