COVID-19 pandemic funds (ARPA) are running out — and for some CT school districts, that could mean the end of mental health programs, larger class sizes and even layoffs.
WSHU’s Ebong Udoma spoke with CT Mirror’s Jessika Harkay to discuss her article, “End of pandemic funding could spell disaster for some CT schools,” as part of the collaborative podcast Long Story Short. You can read her story here.
WSHU: Hello, Jessika. You’ve investigated the serious financial problems Connecticut’s biggest urban school districts will face in September when ESA, that’s the Elementary and Secondary School, emergency relief funds come to an end. Were you surprised that ending COVID relief funding could mean a $37 million deficit and the loss of nearly 400 jobs in the Hartford schools?
JH: I don’t think the deficit was a surprise to anyone. For months, even years, people have kind of been preaching that school districts should be preparing for this. Now, the extent of how big that deficit is, and 400 positions, I think, was a big alarm bell to a lot of people. But again, this is something that people have been tracking for months and months at this time, and knew that this financial cliff was looming and about to hit.
WSHU: You know, we knew this was coming. Why did Hartford go out and hire so many new positions?
JH: Yeah. So when I spoke with the Hartford superintendent, she mentioned that that was the only place they saw that they could actually make recovery efforts. They said that they had already invested in H-VAC systems and other programs. They felt that the best use of the money was to invest with people who could actually help students and give tutoring, give lessons, paraeducators, that kind of thing.
WSHU: How are they going to deal with the fact that they have to let go of so many of these people? Don’t the students still need that help?
JH: Yep. And I think that’s the big question that we’re seeing, not even just in the urban districts, but all across the state is, yes, these funds were amazing. They were very helpful for these districts. But now you have this quick exploration where all of this millions and millions of funding has to be spent by September 30 of this year. That’s where we see these giant cliffs. I think another big thing that we’re going to be seeing is the cut of these programs now that you don’t have the money to invest in mental health services that are targeting chronic absenteeism, we’re going to kind of see a regression back. And that’s just a matter of readjusting and seeing what worked during the pandemic, what didn’t work, and how do we keep money in some of these programs, but also withdraw back to be able to balance these budgets.
WSHU: So, what type of cutbacks is Hartford looking at? And what things are they going to try and preserve?
JH: Yeah, so one of the things they said they are going to preserve is their Student Success Centers, which were little resources that they have, within their comprehensive high schools to offer more tutoring, offer more support to students so they can graduate on time. Especially in Hartford, they said that they’re not anticipating any cuts to programs like that that are helping students be successful and graduate from the programs. But obviously, I think with most districts, we’re going to see cuts to mental health services, counselors, we’re going to see cuts to after-school programs, different things that we’re targeting chronic absenteeism, just those little supplements that were helping students recover.
WSHU: You looked at some other urban school districts in Connecticut. How are things different in, let’s say, Waterbury, Bridgeport and New Haven?
JH: Yes. So Hartford, obviously, their biggest dilemma right now is making those layoffs and staffing cuts. In Bridgeport, they had a reserves fund, which they’re going to be totally draining in the next year. So that means that their fiscal cliff is looming for the 2025-26 school year. So that’s when we’re expected to see more cuts to staffing, even school consolidation efforts in Bridgeport.
I think they were anticipating a $12 million deficit in New Haven. They said that no layoffs are coming out of that, but they’re expecting to pull back on some of those programs I mentioned earlier. And then in Waterbury, it’s a very similar situation as New Haven, where they don’t have a deficit right now. They didn’t really invest in staffing throughout the pandemic, but they did invest in those programs to help students and they did invest in bonding. So that’s another thing we might see in 2025-26. And Waterbury is more of those cuts to programs like 24/7 tutoring. They’re not going to have 24/7 access, but maybe only a few hours after high school or after the school day.
WSHU: 2025-26 means that is going to come after the big budget lift that’s going to happen at the state legislature next year. What are state lawmakers talking about regarding dealing with state funding for education?
JH: Yeah, I think one of the biggest things is just looking at that education cost-sharing formula and making sure that the weights are equal. I mean, some of these urban districts that are struggling the most to educate students with disabilities, and special education costs are rising. And right now there isn’t weight in that education formula to give reimbursement back to those schools or even cap the level of funding that they can receive. So I think that’s one of the biggest things that we’re expecting is that the cost of special education may be reimbursed by the state, which will be a huge help for a lot of these school districts. Another thing that we are talking about is just looking at taxes, right, and the pilot program, which reimburses cities and towns if they don’t have that taxable property. So that’s another thing that I heard from lawmakers about trying to expand that program and offer more reimbursements to these cities that don’t have taxable properties that are what pay for public education in Connecticut.
WSHU: Okay. In the meantime, will we see anything dramatically change in the fall?
JH: Pertaining to schools, I think that’s where the biggest change is going to be. I mean, when you’re cutting back on these programs, particularly looking at after-school programs, that’s where we’re going to start to see those huge shifts, even in classroom sizes. I think that’s another thing. When you don’t have as many paraeducators, enough teacher or enough counselors, students are really going to see the brunt of these impacts more than anyone else.