New Haven advocates fight for public school funding

In the last two years, public schools around the country have struggled with retention of staff and faculty due to economic losses from the pandemic. For students, this has created instability in classroom environments and a lack of basic educational needs.

The New Haven Public School’s board has been fighting to increase their budget especially in regard to understaffing, which Leslie Blatteau, president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers, credits to better job offers.

“We are losing teachers in New Haven because they are getting job offers in other towns around us, say 15-20 minutes from here and they could transfer from New Haven to another district and stand to make 10, maybe $15,000 more for a job that potentially is less stressful and has more support in place, so it makes sense why some people are leaving,” said Blatteau.

Similar to Blatteau’s stance, Matthew Wilcox, vice president of the New Haven Board of Education, says that the scarcity of staff has forced the current teachers to pick up the slack. Which has caused burnout across the board. This has also affected students in their ability for perform well in classes because they are not getting the resources they need such as tutors or specialists.

The Board of Alders will be voting on the budget later this month, and the Superintendent of the New Haven Schools has requested $9 million. However, the mayor has asked for $5 million in his proposed budget, which will not cover the expenses it takes to pay and get a reasonable number of teachers back on staff.

Residents have also taken to social media to give their opinion on the matter.

Hyclis Williams, president of Local 3429, an organization that supports providing quality services to New Haven students and families, hopes that if an increased budget is granted, the money will go toward teachers and educational resources instead of administrative funds.

To ensure that they are heard loud and clear, Williams and other advocates are putting together a rally.

“We are planning to do another rally to you know put our voices out there as much as we can, to talk with the Board of Alders, to talk to the governor, to talk with the mayor and everybody involved with that to ensure not just that they give the funding, but that the funding is utilized in the correct way,” said Williams.

If the Board of Alders does not approve the suggested $9 million, then the problem may continue to worsen.

Copy Written by Robyn Karashik. Podcast made by Jessica Simms